Tough time ahead for PML-N
A perception is gathering roots in the PPP circles that after the MQM it is now the turn of the party to be subjected to media trial and arrests. Party leaders believe that the operation in Karachi initiated against criminals and religious and sectarian terrorists is gradually being diverted towards the opposition parties. The PPP maintains that Ch Nisar has failed to implement most of the tasks defined in NAP and made no serious attempt to activate NACTA. The understanding between the PML-N and PPP to live and let live is meanwhile being violated. Khursheed Shah and Nisar Khuhro have demanded the Interior Minister’s resignation. Opposition leader in Senate Aitzaz Ahsan has called for the formation of a National Government. In case Bilawal Bhutto, who is leaving for the US, decides to stay on abroad for the time being, the top PPP leadership would be virtually in self-exile.
On Saturday, Lahore PPP activists joined residents protesting against the Metro Train which is the Punjab government’s flagship project. The local PPP leaders issued a ten-day ultimatum demanding a plan for an underground train failing which they would protest outside the Punjab Assembly. Meanwhile, Imran Khan has announced he would join protests with slum dwellers against the project next week. After some of the recent statements from Imran Khan caused umbrage to PPP workers, provincial leaders of the PTI were heckled and stopped from addressing the protest on Saturday. That senior PPP leaders intervened and later apologised to the PTI indicates that the likelihood of the two joining hands in the protests cannot be ruled out. Meanwhile, capitalising on the tensions between the PPP and PML-N, the PTI has already started demanding a Karachi like Rangers operation in the PML-N ruled Punjab province.
The government faces a strike in the PIA. The elite schools in Punjab and KP also remain closed. Unless Nawaz Sharif intervenes to allay PPP fears, he will find the beginnings of an anti-government united front in weeks and months to come.
