A day after he expressed willingness to talk to ‘anyone’, which was taken as a sign of reconciliation by political observers, founder Chairman of PTI Imran Khan reverted back to the same old rhetoric of hurling abuses on his political rivals and asking his supporters to come out on roads again. During an informal conversation with media at Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi on Monday, he called PML(N) Quaid Mian Nawaz Sharif as ‘certified money launderer’, alleged ‘a mother of all selections’ is underway and urged his workers and supporters to come out on Sunday to lodge a protest against the ‘selection’.
We have been emphasizing in these columns, time and again, that given the kind of grave challenges facing the country, no political party alone can tackle them to the satisfaction of the people and, therefore, there was an urgent need for national reconciliation and dialogue. However, the PTI leader slammed the doors of dialogue on his political opposition throughout the tenure of his party and persisted with this approach when his party assumed the role of the opposition after successful no-confidence resolution against the Prime Minister. Ironically, while lamenting the so-called process of ‘selection’ now, the PTI leadership conveniently forgets they were the beneficiaries of the same policies in 2018 and everyone knows whose fate changed after the RTS (Result Transmission System) went down in the last general election. PTI is in trouble today mainly because of extreme policies and protest politics but instead of gleaning lessons from the past mistakes a call is being given to people to come out on roads to protest. No doubt, peaceful protest is democratic right but the track record of the party is not encouraging in this regard and any attempt to create law and order situation could seriously threaten the electoral process. As against this, the PML(N) leader is making pledges to overhaul the economy and put the country back on the road to progress and development. PPP Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto Zardari too is talking against politics of revenge, hatred and divisions among the society and this is the way forward.
