A dangerous narrative

In keeping with the general temperatures around the country, politics too refuses to cool down. We have seen another set of meetings – Hamza Shahbaz meeting the Jahangir Tareen group in Punjab; the government meeting allies; the opposition meeting more government allies and so on. For the moment, the allies – being wooed by the government and also of interest to the opposition it seems – are being coquettish about their options. There have been vague statements of discontent with the government but the MQM and the PML-Q seem to have decided a wait-and-see game suits them better. Till such time that they openly take a side, this part of the political situation remains fluid. The opposition has said that though it will welcome the allies on its side, it does not need them for the magic number – 172 – in the vote of no-confidence and has enough numbers from within the ruling party to oust the prime minister.

If things weren't chaotic enough, the ruling party has given a call for a grand rally on March 27 at D-Chowk in Islamabad. This has followed alarming statements from government representatives on how people at the rally will react to those from PTI who try to go and vote in parliament on the day of vote of no-confidence; to call the statements and the jalsa inflammatory and poor judgment is an understatement. It is pointless to wonder whether these are just threats or will actually translate into some sort of untoward action. When there are charged crowds, it becomes difficult for anyone to control the consequences. Not to be left behind, the opposition, too, is not taking this lightly and PDM chief Maulana Fazlur Rahman has also announced that there will be a long march to Islamabad starting on March 23 and a sit-in till the vote of no-confidence is complete.

With the political temperatures this high, and speeches from all sides just adding fuel to a burning fire, just the thought of a clash between supporters of the government and supporters of the opposition March 27 should be enough of a reason to worry about what the next few weeks bring to the country. Nothing good can come out of two opposing sets of charged crowds in one space. In this situation, the onus is on the sitting government to show restraint, curb its enthusiasm for toxicity and try to work matters through by urging dialogue and peace. That, however, seems to be far from what the PTI government is thinking. The prime minister refuses to step down from the container, and we wonder what exactly the government is hoping for. Perhaps someone could remind the government and the opposition too that at the end of the day, any such showdown between political workers will most certainly neither benefit Pakistan’s democracy nor any political party.

Then there's the matter of the actual voting in parliament. The government has consistently been issuing veiled threats regarding its own party members not being allowed to reach parliament on the day of voting. Needless to say, that is anything but parliamentary. There is, and can be, a larger debate on whether any party’s members should vote against party lines or not, but there is a document that has the answers to such dilemmas – the constitution, which has specified the legal ramifications of what happens when or if a party member votes against party line. Nowhere in the constitution does it say, though, that you can physically stop someone from casting their vote. Simultaneously, there have also been voices from within the government saying that if the opposition takes back the no-confidence motion, they can discuss options, including early elections. The opposition says it has no plan to take back its motion, which according to the constitution is a legal move. All in all, there is little sense in asking 10 lakh people to congregate at a political rally at the same time as a vote of no-confidence and refusing to see what that could possibly lead to. One hopes better sense prevails at least in the government corridors failing which there will be little incentive for the opposition to call off its sit-in either.