Politics in the long, hot summer

Perfect time to cool down

With mercury touching 45 degree in Lahore and 48 degrees in several places in interior Sindh on May 1, it would become increasingly difficult for the political parties to hold public rallies in the coming weeks and months. Despite the heat, Imran Khan managed to collect a large crowd of charged men and women in Lahore. He was, however, careful this time. Wary of any agent provocateur giving a call for a march to Raiwind, Imran Khan decided to be the sole speaker. He said he wanted to take the opposition along and that his party would jointly formulate the TORs with the opposition on Monday. To keep party workers alert he sought their promise to march with him to Raiwind estate whenever he gave the call. Meanwhile Imran Khan announced a public meeting at Faisalabad before the sit-in.

Nawaz Sharif, who was the first to announce a series of public meetings, has already canceled the ones at Shergarh and Okara, both because of rising temperature and threats from terrorist networks. Under the circumstances, the Parliament presents the safest venue for debates and for resolution of the difference over the Panama affair.

While the government considers itself secure, two imponderables loom ahead: the possible moves by the Supreme Court and the army. The CJ is expected to respond to the government’s letter requesting him to head an investigative commission for probing the Panama leaks case this week. The PM has offered the CJ to rewrite the ToRs if he so desires. Whatever decision the CJ takes would affect the course of events. Hints have been thrown by the government regarding differences with the army. In democracies the elected government has the final word in such cases. With the major opposition parties calling upon the PM to nominate someone else in his place during the proposed probe, the PM’s position vis-a-vis the army has been weakened – all the more reason for him to settle the affair with the opposition.