The Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaaf (PTI) and its Chairman Imran Khan held rally at Raiwind near Lahore on September 30 (apparently to pressurise Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to submit himself and family members for accountability as their names had appeared in the Panama Leaks Papers sometime back).
The PTI leadership should undergo catharsis to find out whether the party had gained something from the rally or lost much in the process.
In all fairness, in the first instance the timing as well as the venue of the rally was not liked by many around. The rally was held when tension was mounting between India and Pakistan, New Delhi was resorting to unprovoked firing on Line of Control (LoC) in utter violations of all human rights and diplomatic norms, the Indian prime minister was hurling all sorts of accusations and allegations against Pakistan and threatening to scrap the decades old Indus Water Treaty brokered by USA and World Bank.
Opposition parties and their leaders had also advised PTI leadership not to risk political isolation by holding the rally with no opposition party supporting it and also not to set bad traditions by protesting outside the residence of a political opponent.
Even many PTI supporters were heard saying that the rally should not be held in the prevailing circumstances. In fact, the PTI had lost more than what it supposedly gained by holding the rally at Raiwind against all sane advices from opposition leaders.
Punjab Government on its part had surely done well by not only allowing PTI to hold the rally at its selected venue on the agreed conditions but virtually gave a free hand to PTI leadership and organisers in this respect.
Asim Munir
Rawalpindi
