Imran Khan and PTI’s policies
Both Imran Khan and the PTI he heads seem to be living in a make believe world of their own. Last week Khan met the NATO ambassadors who tried to convince him of the need to unblock the road for the military alliance’s traffic from Afghanistan. An undeterred Khan refused to change his stand. Subsequently PTI’s Khyber Pukhtunkhwa chapter chalked out a plan to keep the traffic blocked for a month. The blockade has already gone on for 19 days. The statements by the PTI leaders show they consider Pakistan a superpower capable of arm-twisting the US which is a third world country.
Speaking at a PTI sit-in near Peshawar, a party leader claimed the PTI’s correct strategy had brought the US to its knees. In a similar fit of euphoria, the PTI information secretary claimed that her party’s unflinching position on drones and stoppage of NATO supplies had ‘successfully pressured’ the US to send its Secretary of Defence to Islamabad. Further that it was for the federal government now to demand that the US halt drone attacks.
While the PTI had made its point on the issue, it needs to call it off now, for taking the confrontation to a point of no return would harm the country. The US Secretary of Defence had come to Pakistan to deliver a grim message. To put it in plain language bereft of diplomatic niceties, Pakistan was asked to keep the GLOCs open as it had promised, eradicate terrorist havens in the tribal areas and put an end to the enhanced activities of militant groups, including the Haqqani network. The second message was an answer to the demand to stop the drone attacks. Islamabad was told that in case of failure to comply, it could be difficult for the Obama administration to maintain political support in Washington for the ongoing aid programme.
While Imran Khan can afford to keep his head in the clouds, Nawaz Sharif cannot. Despite a similar fondness for unrealistic rhetoric during his opposition days, Sharif knows he is now supposed to steer the country out of the economic and security doldrums. Any doubt in his mind regarding cooperation with the US must have been removed by the finance minister who was present in the meeting with secretary Hagel. It is now a test for Sharif’s political skills to persuade the PTI chief to end the blockade of the NATO supplies. Dismissing the PTI government is out of the question as it could be hazardous for the system.
Jihadi khan has to realize that if US does not release the funds, pakistanis will not have fuel for the winter, which for a rich person like him is inconsequential but for a poor pakistani, it is a matter of survival. These poor people form 70% of the population of pakistan.
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