Politics in Pakistan has now become a game of one-upmanship with principles and concerns over people's plight thrown out of the window, according to a report by Policy Research Group (POREG).
Despite scepticism across the political spectrum, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) along with its allies, proceeded with the dissolution of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa assemblies. There were rumours of dissent within the party and some PTI lawmakers even went public with their concerns but the party supremo, Imran Khan did not budge, the report said.
According to the report, Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) initially opposed Imran's games but has since been preparing for an election, rather than attempting to delay it. Pakistan's military establishment is not in favour of early elections but did not act decisively to defeat Imran Khan and steal his thunder, it said.
Simply put, politics in Pakistan now has become a game of one-upmanship with principles and concerns over people's plight thrown out of the window, the POREG report said.
It said that Imran Khan after dissolving Punjab and KPK assemblies tweaked his plans.
"No resignations now. We will go back to Parliament and defeat the Shehbaz clique in a trust vote," he said in what is no more than a U-turn. Till yesterday, he was taunting the Speaker for not accepting the resignations submitted by PTI lawmakers, it reported.
According to the Policy Research Group, Imran is now challenging the Speaker for accepting some resignations. He wants the courts and Election Commission to intervene and nullify the Speaker's action so that the PTI contingent can vote out the Shehbaz government on the floor of Parliament.
Khan is now backing on Pakistan president Arif-ur-Rehman Alvi, a dentist turned PTI activist, to force the trust vote. If determined that Sharif has lost the majority's trust, the President can ask him to face a trial on the floor of parliament.
According to the POREG report, put simply, Imran Khan has craftily played his cards and dented the Shehbaz Sharif government's chances of surviving for long. Multiple factors have pump-primed Imran Khan's brash moves.
The report also said that in contrast, Shehbaz Sharif's PML-N faces the challenge of regaining its power in Punjab after the assembly's dissolution. With an uncertain future, the party's strategy is uncertain as well. Currently, Maryam Nawaz Sharif has announced her return to Pakistan, with rumours of Nawaz Sharif's return as well to handle the situation.
The PML-N is thus at a disadvantage and so is the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) coalition government.
Recently, former Pakistan Senator Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar said that Pakistan has become "politically and morally bankrupt".
"We have become politically and morally bankrupt. Even today, people are not being told the truth, which the country needs," Khokhar said while addressing the second session of the national dialogue in Quetta.
During the conference, the former Pakistan People's Party (PPP) leader said that communication between Pakistan's people and political parties is broken. He said there is a need to address people's issues rather than being engaged in irrelevant political discourses such as the Panama Papers and the Toshakhana case, the paper said.
( With inputs from ANI )
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