Which way he goes will determine his political legacy
Imran Khan is within his right to demand that the government refrain from using force against the 14th August march. PTI chief’s call for an independent and high level probe into the evidence collected by him regarding a planned rigging of the May 2013 elections provides a way out of the crisis. The demand should therefore be given due consideration. There is a dire need on the part of the government and PTI not to prolong the ongoing conflict as it is having a heavily negative impact on the economy. Political tensions and uncertainty caused by the lethal mix of the Azadi march and Inqlab march have already led Karachi stocks plummet over 1,300 points.
The welcome extended by Imran Khan to Qadri’s decision to join the march has given birth to apprehensions. It is difficult to comprehend why the PTI chief considers Qadri a part of the ‘democratic forces’ after the cleric’s Sunday address which exposed him as a man preaching violence. Qadri told his workers to attack the police in case they tried to arrest them. He further called on his followers to physically eliminate anyone (which he later changed to either Imran Khan or himself, instead of anyone) who returns from Islamabad without achieving the aims of the march as conceived by him and to kill the Sharifs, their entire male issue, and members of their kitchen cabinet in case Qadri was assassinated during the march. With agents provocateur of the sort joining the march, there is a possibility of bloodshed engineered by them.
Imran Khan carries a heavy cross. Realising that politics is the art of the possible, he can put up demands which are within the ambit of the constitution and bring the stand off to an end. This will raise his public stature and strengthen his perception as a clean politician motivated by high ideals. He can alternately prolong the crisis till it is too late and be remembered as a person who brought down the system in sheer pursuit of power.