Imran Khan changes tactics, not stance
After taking a maximalist position it was nothing short of a Houdini act on the part of Imran Khan to wriggle out of the situation. He has nevertheless done it. All the more so when he had led the protest march to Islamabad and was threatening on Saturday to enter the Red Zone. The PTI chief has instead announced civil disobedience involving refusal to pay taxes and utility charges.
Imran Khan has said he was changing his strategy because he didn’t want bloodshed followed by military rule. There were however numerous other factors also which might have forced him to change his decision. The major opposition parties had opposed his unconstitutional demands for the prime minister’s resignation and mid-term polls. The media too had warned Khan of the possible consequences of the confrontation for democracy. Meanwhile the Supreme Court had disallowed all state actors from removing the elected government through unconstitutional means. The standoff created by PTI and PAT was also criticised by western media. Imran was reportedly unhappy over the false expectations created by some of his party leaders like bringing together a hundred thousand outriders on motorbikes accompanying his ‘million march’ from Lahore. The media had also criticised the hype and insufficient arrangements made by the party for the marchers.
It remains to be seen if Imran Khan can really implement his call for civil disobedience which has been made without weighing its pros and cons. The appeal not to pay utility bills was followed by Abid Sher Ali’s warning that anyone failing to pay electricity bills will lose his power connection.
While Imran Khan’s sit-in no more poses an immediate threat to the system, there is a need now to persuade Tahirul Qadri also to call off his protest. Keeping in view the large number of women and children in his camp this should be done without taking recourse to force. Once this is done, all political workers arrested in connection with the protests in Punjab should be released.