The party is expected to roll out another street movement – earlier announced by KP Chief Minister Sohail Afridi
A child waves a PTI flag and gestures during a rally in support of former prime minister Imran Khan in Islamabad on April 10. Reuters
LAHORE:
As the political horizon darkens, the PTI appears to be looking for an off-ramp to buy itself some breathing room, with some in the party claiming that its pronouncements are currently limited to taking carefully calibrated stances on security issues – an attempt to send subtle signals in the hope that the establishment picks up on those signals and meets it halfway.
However, the party’s Central Information Secretary has categorically rejected any such reading.
At the same time, PTI appears to be hedging its bets. The party is expected to roll out another street movement – announced earlier by KP Chief Minister Sohail Afridi – and has summoned its parliamentarians to Peshawar, where the contours of the campaign are likely to be drawn.
However, the announcement has caused unrest in the ranks, as many see it as treading a well-worn path, as similar exercises over the past three years have produced nothing more than sound and fury. Afridi along with PTI Secretary General Salman Akram Raja and Asad Qaiser are expected to chair the discussions.
The party’s Central Information Secretary Sheikh Waqas Akram said he was not aware of the plan finalized by the KP CM and his team.
Speaking about the party’s stance on foreign policy issues, he said that party decisions are made in the best interest of the country. This thought did not even cross our minds when these policy decisions were finalized. He said the party would continue its democratic struggle under Imran Khan.
He added that Imran Khan himself had made it clear on several occasions that they were not against state interests in any way and that the party fully owned state institutions. However, he emphasized that this should not be confused with the party’s recently adopted policy.
However, a leader from Punjab, who spoke to The Express Pakinomist on condition of anonymity, said that in KP the party had differences with the establishment on relations with Afghanistan, but once the government took a final stand, it openly supported the state’s actions.
In addition, he said the party also welcomed the government’s mediation efforts between Iran and the United States.
According to him, it was the PTI’s way of signaling to the establishment that it was time to end any misgivings. He further admitted that Tehreek-e-Tahafuz Aain-e-Pakistan had not given PTI any breakthrough on any front.
He said that the existing party leadership, titular in every sense of the word, had very limited authority to take key policy decisions and therefore nothing substantial was expected from them either.
He added that PTI’s only available bargaining chip was its ability to restore the tarnished credibility of the establishment among the masses.
Another leader from the central leadership admitted that there was growing concern about the party’s political future at the next election.
He said that even if the establishment were to give the PTI an open field today, it would still take the party twelve to eighteen months to resolve its multi-layered legal battles, meaning the window for a comeback in the next election was fast closing.
He added that as per his understanding PTI could not even approach the establishment given the ever widening rift between them.
He further said that several leaders wanted an active mediation effort to be undertaken at some level.
