Much ado about nothing

They came, they saw, nothing happened, they left. This was the news cycle on Sunday which saw (yet) another attempt – if one can call it that – at arresting PTI Chairman Imran Khan. The Islamabad Police arrived at Zaman Park to arrest Imran in the Toshakhana reference but were told by Senator Shibli Faraz that the former prime minister was not available; Faraz received the summons on Imran’s behalf. Almost immediately after the police had departed, a smiling Imran appeared inside Zaman Park for a luncheon given in honour of those leaders and members who had been arrested during the now-over Jail Bharo Tehreek. He later also addressed his supporters. The Islamabad Police have said that action will be taken against Shibli Faraz for misrepresenting facts. This strange cat-and-mouse game is now bordering on the ridiculous. Is the government arresting Imran? We don’t know; if the interior minister is to be believed, ‘when the government wants to arrest Imran, he will be arrested’. What then of court orders? Legal experts say that the court had ordered Imran’s arrest and that the Islamabad Police was just following court orders – as it is supposed to.

Despite the bravado regarding not being afraid of being arrested, one thing is now quite clear: Imran Khan does not want to go to jail. From his party members allegedly misrepresenting facts to law enforcement, to his party members rushing to court for bails at the drop of a hat, the PTI chair is adamant to stay away from incarceration. That is not difficult to understand: though people have varying explanations for his reluctance. Some say he is afraid for his life and feels there is a threat he may be in danger if he gets arrested. The sceptical though say that this is far more about the fear of losing the limelight – something Imran Khan is now very used to and something he gets far more even now when out of power than those that are in power.

While political observers say that perhaps Sunday’s Zaman Park fiasco was the government testing the waters for an eventual arrest, it is difficult to see what exactly the government will have achieved by that. For the less astute observer, Sunday seemed to be another day of victory for Imran and his PTI and another day of the government and its departments looking indecisive and weak. This is not to say that an arrest would add to the government’s credentials but that the optics of one police force outside Imran’s home while the interior minister making it seem like the government didn’t even want to arrest him makes it all seem so last-minute and haphazard. What is the government banking on as it prepares for election? Because till now Imran Khan has pretty much come out on top in the face of all challenges, with a ready spin on everything – even as damning a case as the Toshakhana or the foreign funding issue. If the government and its allies believe – rightly so – that their strength lies not in narrative building but in governance, we would like to see a glimpse of that now. With the economic situation a disaster of epic proportions, it may take a miracle to work public opinion around.