Finance Minister Asad Umar’s misogynist salvos against Bilawal came after Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi’s speech. He had invited opposition leaders to help with the foreign policy narrative and asked them to come to the Foreign Office. When Asad Umar hit Bilawal for addressing the assembly in English, it seemed he forgot that most of Qureshi’s speech was also in the same language. It became clear that it was not Bilawal’s language but his politics that bothers the ruling party.
Two days later, Prime Minister Imran Khan visited Tharparkar in Sindh and repeated the same petty taunts against Bilawal. A day earlier in Islamabad, Khan had also mocked Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) and its leader Ahsan Iqbal. With Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry and Railways Minister Sheikh Rasheed already continuing their vitriol against the opposition, Imran Khan siding with such toxic messaging confirmed the direction of the wind and its source.
“It is clear that those who have handed him power on a silver platter want to use him against mainstream political parties they don’t trust. They have not handed him power to play ball with the ones they threw out of the field,” said a veteran journalist in the valley of Margallas while commenting on Khan returning to his container politics.
“They have hammered it in hard that Khan’s power insurance policy lies neither in his reform legacy nor good relations with the political class. His survival rests in good relations with the miltablishment and carrying out their agenda as sincerely as possible,” he said.
The drawback of such confrontational politics is that it has emboldened smaller allies of the PTI who have begun blackmailing the party for a greater share in power
It is in this context that some journalists, including Talat Hussain, have begun saying that Khan is seriously considering an extension for COAS General Qamar Javed Bajwa. The superstitious PM thinks this will help his political karma.
Political developments show that with storms gathering on many fronts, the last thing Imran Khan wants is any kind of reconciliation with the opposition.
The most recent constitutional crisis relates to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP). The commission remains incomplete as two of its members from Sindh and Balochistan have completed their terms but their replacements have not taken up office as Khan did not wish to consult with Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif, as mandated by the Article 213 of the Constitution.
Section-2A of Article 213 reads: “The prime minister shall in consultation with the leader of the opposition in the National Assembly, forward three names for appointment of the commissioner to a parliamentary committee for hearing and confirmation of any one person.” There is no ambiguity here it is mandatory for the prime minister to consult with the leader of the opposition. This has been ignored by Khan in total disregard of the supreme law of the land.
As if this was not enough, some PTI hawks once again pulled out the issue of the chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, suggesting that this was another attempt to remove Sharif from the position. Instead of reconciliation, the PTI is back with its combative and confrontational politics.
The drawback of such confrontational politics is that it has emboldened smaller allies of the PTI who have begun blackmailing the party for a greater share in power. This has forced Khan to appease them and keep the opposition at bay. For now, he seems to be acting on the idiom: when in a hole, keep digging.
All this is happening at a time when the former prime minister Nawaz Sharif is going through the worst time of his life, with his medical condition worsening every passing day. A meeting of Bilawal Bhutto Zardari to inquire after the health of the former premier, requested for last Saturday, had to be postponed till Monday because the Punjab government raised unnecessary objections.
The meeting was seen by many as a meeting of Asif Zardari with Nawaz Sharif, something both have been trying since June 2015.
Soon after the meeting, Maryam Nawaz Sharif thanked Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Twitter. Bilawal replied that he would be happy to meet Maryam as well.
Since the PML-N’s leaders are under pressure from their own rank and file to agitate against the poor health of the former premier, Sharif’s lawyers have approached the Supreme Court once again for an early hearing of his bail. This was earlier rejected by the Islamabad High Court as well as the registrar of the Supreme Court.
All this is happening in the backdrop of the deteriorating economic indicators and the reform agenda seems to have taken a backseat. Pushing the opposition against the wall may seem easy now but it will be harder to suppress the masses if the economic downturn continues. This summer may hotter than usual for everybody.