Who’s talking to whom?

The PTI seems to have really taken to the confrontational path it has been on the past year or so. Unlike its genesis, and its time in power, the party has now turned on the establishment as well. When it comes to political opponents like the PML-N and the PPP, Imran Khan’s party has had a consistent policy of not engaging with them at any cost and consistently demonizing them. However, with the powers-that-be, the PTI has had a dual policy ever since a successful vote of no-confidence (VoNC) ousted its government. When its good cop-bad cop routine didn’t work, things took a turn for the worse after May 9, 2023. All hell broke loose and the party dismantled quicker than one could say ‘mutiny’. However, the 16 months of PDM rule did give the PTI narrative a boost as the economy was nose-diving. On top of it, the bat symbol was taken away from the PTI just before the elections and some court cases did more damage. The iddat case verdict against Khan and Bushra Bibi was controversial and led to justifiable outrage by progressive women, both pro and anti-PTI. Analysts say that these verdicts, especially the iddat case, led to anger among PTI supporters and this turned the tide for the party in the February 8 polls where it scored the most National Assembly seats. And just when the PTI could have sat on the Treasury benches, the party refused to form a government with the PPP despite an offer on the table.

There seemed to be newfound confidence in the party due to the poll results. This may be why, in recent weeks, we saw the PTI leadership talking about talking to the establishment only. To many, it seemed like the PTI may be overestimating its ‘power’ – and underestimating the state’s anger at the May 9 riots. The signs have been there: it was quite unlikely that the party would have managed to make any headway with ‘deals’ without some overt show of remorse over the May 9 riots. Instead, Imran Khan and his party have been calling it a ‘false flag operation’. Thus, when ISPR DG Major-General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry issued a stern statement regarding the perpetrators and facilitators of the May 9 riots during a press conference in Rawalpindi, and later a statement by the army chief came on the same issue, it became crystal clear that there were very slim chances of the talks the PTI may have been hoping for. 

In response, the PTI has not come slow. The party has said that it has nothing to apologize for. In fact, if anything it seems to be on the warpath – if one looks at one side of the party’s representatives. While one is unsure about what exactly the party is hoping to achieve, there is an idea that this policy will not bode well for the PTI in the long run. With Imran Khan still behind bars and infighting within the PTI – Sher Afzal Marwat’s PAC controversy being one example – the party seems directionless. And that may just be the main issue: the party has been sending out confusing signals and there is little idea of just where exactly the PTI stands. If it stands against undemocratic interventions, then why the need to try and hold talks with institutions? And if it does wish to talk, perhaps it may wish to rethink its messaging. There is still time for PTI to talk to its political rivals and bring the temperature down. Such rigid and confrontational politics will also be detrimental to the democratic system in the country.