Keeping the PML-N under the cosh
It all went in vain, yet it has to be acknowledged: the PML-N’s Punjab government was quite inventive in its attempt to ‘subvert’ Imran Khan’s rally. Not one but three musical concerts were laid out by a thoughtful PHA in Lahore to compete for the youth’s attention! Still reportedly the PTI’s rally was unqualified success while the PHA’s endeavour a damp squib! Mirroring its supremo’s public persona, the PTI is fast emerging as the party channelising public fury into rallies. With the blockade of the NATO passage in KP in protest against drones strikes deflating, Imran is obviously seeking wider appeal through his ‘nine-point agenda’ to “end inflation, unemployment, corruption and various socio-economic problems”, direly promising expansion to Sindh and Rawalpindi the party’s ‘tsunami’ against price hike and oppression.
While those critical of the PTI do point out that Imran must first look at what he is not doing in KP than preferring a spoiler’s role, as opposition the PTI has every right to take the PML-N governments on issues of public interest. And not many can disagree that the ‘nine point agenda’ – equally unachievable even if the PTI was in power – reflects the peoples angst. For the PML-N, the shoe is now on the other foot and it quite visibly hurts. But then Imran and PTI are not doing anything that the PML-N hadn’t in the recent past, and in the late 1980s and mid 1990s to subvert the PPP. A case of being administered a taste of its own medicine is always unpleasant, but with the local government elections round the corner, it is that much harder to swallow.
Those advising the PTI to raise its voice in the parliament must appreciate how frustrating it must be with the kind of vise-like grip the PML-N has over the proceedings, with its brute majority in Punjab and an almost similar control in Islamabad. And then there is the irresistible temptation of taking political mileage out of the common man’s torment against its arch foe that fires the PTI rank and file. If Imran Khan and the PTI can stay in control of the rallies, and the crippling Bangladesh model is not replicated here, it is fine. Powerful governments need to be kept under sustained pressure or they forget their primary job. But fanning public discontent is one thing and controlling this monster is quite another. The flip side too must remain in Imran’s sight.
