PTI-PAT friendship

A different course, please

It is only natural for a PTI-PAT interaction to trigger speculation of another dharna, however fanciful the idea might sound now. Nobody – not even the government – can deny how strongly their last joint production jolted the PML-N. But once talk of the ‘third umpire’, etc, subsided the dharna lost steam and the rest, as they say, is history. Since then, while Dr Qadri has been away, PTI has had a rocky journey. From the controversy surrounding the resignations, to the journey back to parliament, to embarrassing defeats in the by-poll and local body elections, the party has had its share of reality checks, to say the least.

Now that the two parties are talking again – about a combined agenda – hopefully agitation will no longer be on the list. And no better person than Ch Sarwar to cultivate this friendship. He has known Dr Qadri since he was a respected Pakistani-British politician in the UK and the doctor was little more than a well-respected scholar. He also tried to talk Qadri out of the dharna on the government’s behalf as then Governor, Punjab. He carries valuable experience in proper parliamentary democracy, which not just PTI but PAT can also benefit from.

The first order of business must be internal party reform. PTI seems to have realised that its way of politics of the last few years has failed. Fewer people took the constant rigging allegation seriously as its defeats piled up. It must, therefore, speed up the process of party elections and reform. PAT, on the other hand, despite its ability to raise large numbers for protests, is not a significant political force. For these parties to be able to affect the political process in any way, they will have to become stronger politically. Unless they adopt a different course this time, their future will be much like their past.