- Need to hammer out a realistic strategy
The opposition is being driven to desperation both by NAB and the PTI government. What the Chairman NAB told a well-known anchor and columnist recently corroborates that the one-sidedness displayed by NAB is motivated by political reasons, euphemistically called the greater national interest. The Chairman reportedly said, “If we arrest government allies, the government would fall in 10 minutes…The country would suffer and we don’t want this”. Not contented with NAB showing partiality to it, the PTI leadership continues to nag it make short shrift of its opponents.
Discontent is fast spreading among the masses who find that, with the change of government, living conditions have worsened. The opposition is within its rights to take on the PTI-led government inside Parliament for its apathy to the sufferings of the masses and the way it has gone back on key promises made to win the elections.
The opposition would however do well to consider the hazards of public agitation that some of its hotheads are itching for. The two mainstream parties should not be seen to be exploiting public resentment against the government for the sole purpose of getting relief for their leaders. In case the opposition wants a government change, it has to spell out precisely how it wants to achieve the aim. That the PTI-led alliance is intact and the establishment is at the PTI’s back, leaves little hope of an in-house change. What is more, the opposition has to convince the public that it has a better and more workable plan to bring the country out of crisis.
Today opposition leaders will be discussing the future strategy at Bilawal Bhutto Zardari’s invitation. Tomorrow the PML-N leadership will meet to work out a plan for the future. With every passing month the public pressure on the government will increase. While exposing government policies in Parliament, the opposition needs to iron out its differences, evolve greater cooperation and devise common policies on matters related to the economy, internal security, and foreign affairs, besides planning how to win back the turf lost by the civilian administrations. It should however avoid any course that amounts to jumping out of the frying pan into the fire.