- The opposition at bay
After being hectored for nearly 11 months, opposition parties got together on Wednesday to evolve a joint strategy to take on the government. All were resentful of the ongoing witch hunting of government opponents. They also condemned the way government policies were making the life of practically every section of society miserable. They maintained that the elections were engineered to install Imran Khan as Prime Minister. The combined opposition decided to observe July 25 as a ‘black day’. It remains to be seen if the opposition can organize an impressive show.
Some of the opposition members advised extreme steps to create a crisis-like situation leading to fresh elections. Others however advocated a gradual building of pressure. The suggestion that the opposition parliamentarians tender mass resignations and the workers of the parties lock down the federal capital were rejected as being premature. Instead the APC decided to undertake the exposure of the government’s policies both inside and outside Parliament. The opposition will try to remove the pro-administration Senate Chairman, albeit through legal and constitutional ways.
To enhance the sphere of its political influence, the combined opposition decided to raise some of the social issues the government has consistently ignored. These include forced disappearances and arbitrary detentions. It called for the production orders of the two Waziristan MNAs currently under detention and demanded forming a parliamentary committee on Waziristan so that all facts can be laid before the nation. There was also an agreement to call for legislation against the torture of prisoners and for detention centres in the tribal areas to be converted into regular jails. The APC demanded open courts to decide cases against the prisoners. The APC was opposed to giving any role to the institutions in politics. The gathering also called for the removal of unannounced restrictions and censorship of the media besides legislation ensuring protection of the journalists.
There is a need on the part of the government to abandon its rigid and unwavering stand against the opposition that can only turn the government into a hostage to unscrupulous allies. The PTI administration can have a more peaceful tenure if it develops normal working relations with the opposition.
