ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan is in a Lahore hospital for treatment after he survived an assassination bid.
He was on his way to the federal capital along with his thousands of supporters to pressurize the Shehbaz-led Pakistan Democratic Movement’s (PDM) government to announce snap polls when attacked near Gujranwala.
Tensions are high amid the last-ditch efforts being made by the government and the PTI to survive, politically. Political parties on both sides of the conflict understand, and rightly so, that losing what seems to be the last round of the match is no option. They believe that it’s the last chance to succeed in a given situation and put forth the utmost energy and effort in achieving it.
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None of the warring parties seems willing to offer political space to the other. They remain to stick to their previously-held positions and unfortunately are not willing to sit for negotiations to find a way out of the political impasse.
The political postures adopted by the two sides suggest that Pakistani politics has entered a dead-end street where no party is sure how things will turn out in the coming days. The outcome of the much-touted PTI’s long march is not known even to the marchers and their leadership, especially after the Wazirabad incident. The objective of the long march still remains elusive.
It merits mentioning here that before the start of the march, Imran Khan said that the purpose of the march was not to topple the government or establish a new government. The political situation suggests that at this point, one’s success may usher in the other party’s defeat. Being the knockout round, retreat seems no more a choice for either side, making things more complicated, politically.
Imran Khan had played a big gamble by starting the long march against the government. It’s do or die situation for him now. He has announced to be in the container once he recovers. Developments on the national horizon in recent days suggest that the conflict has reached a dangerous point.
Unfortunately, the situation lacks any effort for conflict resolution. Under the circumstances, conflict seems imminent unless serious efforts are made to defuse the situation.
Politics in the country has never been far from uncertainty and at the moment, uncertainty is unprecedented. If the capital witnesses a confrontation in the coming days, it will cause irreparable loss to the political system of the country. There will be no winners from the controversy and the masses would be the losers by all means.
