Pakistan : Ending the sit-in standoff

While PTI Chairman Imran Khan continues to hang on to his maximalist position refusing to call off the sit-in until the acceptance of his demand for the Prime Minister's resignation, his party's protest politics partner, PAT chief Tahirul Qadri, is slowly but surely opting for the compromise route. The latter told supporters from Lahore, Gujranwala, Faisalabad and Karachi on Friday they could go home. Even though PAT's stated objective, aside from staging a revolution, was also to seek the PM's resignation, he made no mention of it in his speech. Instead the shrewd operator that he is, Qadri proclaimed victory and announced a new plan of action. He declared, "we succeeded to create awareness among the people and brought a change in their mindset", telling PAT activists to go and make preparations for the party's upcoming rallies in Faisalabad and Lahore "because the struggle for revolution and the campaign for elections will continue side by side." In other words, he is saying the sit-in has served its purpose and the way forward and hence out of the current stalemate - contrary to his earlier stance that the system is so rotten it is useless to participate in elections - is to continue struggle for revolution from within the electoral system.

The PTI, on the other hand, seems to have painted itself into a corner with its hardliner position. Indeed, Imran is getting an overwhelming response from the public with his daily anti-status quo rhetoric and 'go Nawaz go' slogans. But while his daily harangues are irritating for the government, unconditional support it received from a joint parliamentary session offers strength and reassurance to the ruling party. Aware that the sit-ins and rallies cannot force him into resigning the PM has dug in his heels. Yet the stalemate cannot last forever. If the two sides fail to resolve it, something else will. A direct military intervention is not possible anymore; but an indirect intervention is not completely outside the realm of possibility. Already, certain political leaders have been dropping hints about installation of a technocratic government to preside over fresh elections. If that unsavoury suggestion turns into reality, excuses will be invented to delay elections, under one pretext or the other, for at least a couple of years. In such an eventuality all genuine political forces, the PML-N and PTI included, will be the losers.

Notably, talks between the two parties on electoral reforms and constitution of a judicial commission to investigate alleged electoral rigging broke off when the PTI along with PAT marched on to the Parliament building and the Prime Minister House, and the PTI blamed the government for resorting to crackdown on its workers. Both sides since have continued to accuse one another for the standoff. Meanwhile, political uncertainty is causing serious harm to an already struggling economy. Needless to say, the situation does not serve the interest of genuine political players. It is good to note that the six parliamentary parties' jirga is continuing to try and bring the two sides to the negotiating table. According to a press report, the jirga has the go-ahead from both PTI and PAT to take the dialogue process forward. Hopefully, the government will also show flexibility to resolve the situation as soon as possible.