It cannot always be used as a tool to escape from real issues
Earlier in 2014, Imran Khan had to end his 126-day long dharna for the sake of national unity. The attack on Army Public School, Peshawar that claimed around 148 innocent lives became the reason back then
It is no less than an irony that whenever the noose tightens around Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, be it for rigging in the general elections of 2013 or owning offshore holdings as revealed in the Panama Papers in April this year, there comes a dire need to present ‘national unity’.
This time again, when Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan had strengthened his Accountability Movement against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, the India-Pakistan war frenzy has demanded national unity. The Indian claim of a surgical strike across the Line of Control (LoC) got a strong response from Pakistan’s civil-military leadership as the country is ever ready to give a befitting reply to its oldest rival in the region, without considering the pros and cons of a war. Foreign policy is given only a little attention and emotional sentiments have taken over diplomacy at all levels.
Earlier in 2014, Imran Khan had to end his 126-day long dharna for the sake of national unity. The attack on Army Public School, Peshawar that claimed around 148 innocent lives became the reason back then. All Parties Conference (APC) and joint parliamentary sessions were called. The entire political leadership forgot party differences and gave a message of ‘unity’ to the enemy.
Imran Khan had this time started an Accountability Movement against the corrupt lot and after successfully holding a protest march towards Raiwind, near the prime minister’s 1700-acre palace, and the Pak-India war of words has again called for national unity. Imran Khan again gave up his movement and attended the APC. Similar points were raised this time too in the APC and the same pledge to take serious steps for implementing the not-yet-implemented National Action Plan was repeated. Nothing new, same old statements were given that the “people, government, political parties and the armed forces of Pakistan stand firmly united”.
Surprisingly, Imran Khan after attending the APC boycotted the joint parliamentary session called by the prime minister on Wednesday to discuss the tense situation along the LoC and continued Indian atrocities in Kashmir. History almost repeated itself but the parliamentary session did no good and only presented disturbing scenes of a fish market. A so-called show of national unity was not presented in this parliamentary session, one of the few which got a guest appearance from the prime minister. Key issues were left far behind and the political parties only voiced their differences.
Imran Khan is coming up strong against the prime minister as he has announced to shut down the capital on 30 October. Looks like Khan is not ready to give up his movement for the call of national unity
Imran Khan is coming up strong against the prime minister as he has announced to shut down the capital on 30 October. Looks like Khan is not ready to give up his movement for the call of national unity. But no matter what he does, if he succeeds to shut the capital or even the whole country, Nawaz Sharif will again make his way through these troubles. He knows how to get everyone on one page. Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, who had earlier called Sharif a friend of Modi, also criticised Imran Khan for not attending the joint session, saying: “Some of our friends did not do the right thing by boycotting the session. Politics is not like cricket in which you try hitting back-to-back sixes and hope that one of these sixes may help instate you as the prime minister.”
Khan in turn slammed Bilawal and said he cannot play with hypocrisy and finally admitted that he is not a ‘good politician’. This is sad though, that Pakistan only has politicians, good or bad, and not a single leader – someone who could take everyone on board and had strong governing ethics. Ever since the inception of India and Pakistan, both countries have been mongering war and anti-India sentiments are cleverly used in Pakistan to unite everyone. No matter what the differences are, when it comes to India vs Pakistan, the entire nation and civil-military leadership stands on one point. This is not just the case in Pakistan; similar sentiments prevail on other side of the border too.
It is, however, interesting that these sentiments could not touch Imran Khan this time and he is determined to hold the prime minister accountable at every cost. National unity cannot always be used as a tool to escape from the real issues. It remains to be seen if Imran Khan continues to pressurise the government by coming out on roads or he also gives up for the sake of national unity as its need is created every now and then. By whom and how? No one really knows.