Living on a chessboard

Pakistan’s political system is at a crossroads, but political parties are busy checkmating each other. From the PTI dissolving two provincial assemblies and calling it a checkmate to the PDM government accepting 35 resignations – 34 of PTI members and Sheikh Rashid’s and also calling this a checkmate, this game has started resembling chess less and desperate pantomime more. Ironically, both measures could easily have taken place last year: the PDM could have accepted all PTI resignations in April and the PTI could have dissolved both assemblies after it formed a government in Punjab back in July. What the PDM government has done now may be constitutional but can lead to certain consequences. It was the PDM that had been saying for long that the PTI should return to the National Assembly. Now that the PTI finally seemed to have softened to the idea, following the dissolution of the Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa assemblies, the PDM's move can only be seen as a way to thwart the PTI's decision – most likely in response to the PTI’s announcement that once it came back to the National Assembly, the leader of the opposition would be from the PTI along with the parliamentary leader in the National Assembly and the head of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC). The PTI saying it may move a vote of no-confidence against Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif or President Arif Alvi could ask the PM to take a vote of confidence also probably did not go down well with the government. According to some calculations, if PM Shehbaz is asked to seek a vote of confidence and he is unable to do so, another election for the PM would take place – and the PDM would like to make rather sure that there is no doubt about the strength of numbers on its side of the aisle. While all this is still speculation, accepting 35 resignations while also saying that the PDM will not be contesting these elections seems rather odd. But odd may be the name of the game, what with the PTI saying Imran Khan will be contesting 33 of these seats come the by-election.

All this may be fodder for some legitimate amusement at what can now be a political circus that lives up to the name. Legitimate if not for the fact that political parties are busy one-upping each other at what they think is a chess game at a time when the country is facing the very real danger of completely unravelling in the midst of an economic meltdown. These 'games' such as it were could cost the country and its people far more than a few laughs at the lengths to which every party is ready to go for power. If all we are getting from these parties is 'gotcha' moments for each other, one wonders why they even bother with the pretence of representing the people. There have been – and are – easier ways to come into power, something each of them realizes in varying degrees of enthusiasm. Pakistan can keep holding by-elections, as the economy crashes and burns – taking the people with it.

The fact is that the much-vaunted general election (for the PTI) will only help matters if the PTI wins. In fact, whoever loses will refuse to accept the result. This is the extent of political polarization and lack of trust at the moment. The only way out is to first calm the waters. Nothing can move forward without political stability, not even a general election. By all accounts, Pakistan is still on the verge of an economic meltdown if the IMF conditions are not met soon. In this situation, it is near criminal for political stakeholders to continue on their warring paths. They need to agree to at least a bare minimum consensus on the political future of this country. In this, it is now important also for Imran and his party to realize that unless they sit with the PDM government and agree on a new social contract, there will only be chaos in the country. And this chaos will certainly not favour any political party or democracy. In case of an economic crisis, unconstitutional steps would be very easy to maneuver for anyone . The political class needs to sit together and stop this circus before it is too little, too late.