Opposition’s options
While still united over the issue of Panama Papers, the opposition has differences over tactics to hold Nawaz Sharif accountable. There is an agreement that all avenues available under the constitution should be availed before resorting to agitation. The opposition has thus approached the Speaker of the NA and ECP seeking the PM’s disqualification while the PTI has indicated that it would approach the Supreme Court also. To build up pubic pressure on the government and assert his credentials as the real opposition leader, Imran Khan has however initiated a series of protest marches without taking the opposition into confidence.
The government has meanwhile made a somewhat belated attempt to reactivate the parliamentary committee on ToRs by agreeing to investigate the Panama Leaks under a new law. The opposition has demanded assurance from the Speaker that unlike the past the government would henceforth display flexibility during the talks. As several meetings of the ToRs’ committee turned out to be fruitless, one is not sure about the future of the committee. What could however make the government yield to some of the opposition’s demands is the pressure from the newly completed ECP, which has issued notices to the prime minister, finance minister and the PM’s scions ordering them to respond to the opposition’s charges by September 6. But will the government agree to offer any meaningful concessions acceptable to the opposition?
Meanwhile, Imran Khan has announced two rallies in Gujrat and Jhelum before a march to Lahore on September 3. One of the reasons given by parties to justify agitation is the dysfunction of the constitutional bodies created to mediate in disputes. In case the ECP is seen to be acting fairly, the parliamentary committee on ToRs starts meeting and the government is sufficiently flexible, the PTI will be left with little justification for taking to the streets. Insistence on agitation in such a situation could cause dissensions between the PTI and the opposition parties leading to a type of isolation that PTI faced in 2014.