From deadlock to confrontation
With neither the government nor the opposition giving an inch over naming Nawaz Sharif in the ToRs, the deadlock was bound to turn into a confrontation sooner rather than later. And PPP threatening to petition the election commission, and PTI actually doing it, means the day of reckoning might be closer than PML-N wants to believe. The Ishaq Dars of the party, especially in the absence of the prime minister, have taken to the usual ‘derailing democracy’ and ‘vendetta politics of the ‘90s’ rhetoric to play for time, but nobody buys this argument anymore and the fissures inside the party are not helping.
Imran Khan, once again, made sure his party’s position was not without irony; approaching the ECP while badmouthing it as ‘Nawaz Sharif’s ECP’ at the same time. By the look of things, therefore, Islamabad’s politics might be about to get considerably uglier; a throwback to the politics of the ‘90s indeed. The timing of this confrontation, from the country’s point of view, could hardly be worse. Zarb-e-Azb, although successful enough, is far from coming full circle. And as recent tragic incidents of terrorism demonstrated, the fight is not yet won. The economic window room is also shrinking; oil is up, election spending is needed, and there’s no IMF program this year.
The opposition could, and should, have played its hand better. The fuss over Nawaz’s name makes little sense, since the PM will be dragged in by association in any case. Why, then, the petition and threats of marching to the Supreme Court and, in the extreme case, on the streets? And the government, too, did nobody any favour by blocking proceedings. Once the PM said publically he would put himself up for accountability, he should have kept his word. It seems both the government and the opposition are more inclined to fight it out than talk it over.
