Published 10 August 2025
Islamabad:
A year ago, August 5 would have thrown the twin towns in chaos. Roads would have been sealed and containers mounted, yet crowds would have been roaring in protest. But on August 5 this year, the anniversary of Imran Khan’s arrest from Islamabad in 2023, the streets of Rawalpindi and Islamabad remained calm, undisturbed by the opposition’s call for a protest. Only scattered police miles, prison cars and a visible security presence tingled larger crosses and also not to control the turmoil, but to keep an eye on the conspicuous silence.
This not only marked a shift in public response, but symbolized a deeper collapse in the country’s largest and highest political strength: Pakistan Tehreek-E-Insaf (PTI). The day the party hoped to restore the street resistance of the second anniversary of its basic President’s imprisonment, it became one of the darkest days for the party when the remaining top parliamentary leaders in the Senate, the National Assembly and the Punjab Assembly were disqualified and de-recognized in connection with the judgment of the 9.
Politically and geographically, the party that once claimed unmatched public support and alleged institutional blessings is now apparently limited to Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, where it still has power. Elsewhere, PTI is largely wiped out from the ordinary political map.
An example of this is its lack of mobilization of people for August 5 protests, which the party’s Supremo had wanted to exert pressure on the PMLN-led government and the powerful stakeholders for his release. As the irony wanted it, Imran Khan had given one last call for his release last November, which had also failed.
PTI’s political decay has been anything but sudden. The party, which once drove high on populist slogans and support of powerful quarters, began to lose the earth after the events of May 9, 2023, when violent protests broke out after Imran Khan’s arrest.
For the first time in history, military installations were attacked, triggering what would be a crucial turning point. In the wake, a sweeping crash followed mass arrests and party leaders forced to change party, abandon politics or differ from the party completely.
As the top leaders disappeared from the stage during hardness, rejection, litigation or because of being thrown into prison, the party’s internal coordination crushed. Despite the crashes, the party’s workers continued to support large numbers until recently. However, the continuous disorder of the party and the absence of the management began as the rank-and-file staff faced arrests or prosecutions that began to create gap between the people and the party leadership.
This repeated pattern of remission has not gone unnoticed within PTI’s support base, which once proud of being ideologically driven and deeply loyal, both on social media and on earth. The absence of organized resistance on the symbolic August 5, when Imran Khan called on the party to rise in protest, highlighted how far PTI has dropped from its previous position for street dominance.
To add insult to injury, the disqualification of opposition leaders from the Senate, the National Assembly and the Punjab assembly as well as parliamentary leader demonstrated further PTI’s decline in legislative houses. With the removal of its parliamentary leadership, the party now finds itself unable to influence the legislation, challenge government policy or even issue symbolic dissence within parliamentary boundaries.
This parliamentary vacuum has come on the heels of the Supreme Court’s recent decision on reserved seats that provided a crucial advantage to the ruling alliance. The court gave advantage to award reserved seats previously intended for PTI to parties within the prevailing coalition. As a result, PMLN emerged as the largest party in the National Assembly, while the ruling alliance is now enjoying a two -thirds majority.
PTI’s failure to maintain internal cohesion and external alliances have left the directionless. Instead of holding conversations with the political elite, it has repeatedly said that it only wants to hold conversations with the powerful stakeholders. However, the answer from the other side has so far been extremely cold. Once seen as cordial, the party’s relationship with the establishment is now completely broken. From being perceived as a product of tacit institutional support, PTI is now an example of what political insulation in Pakistan looks like.
Although the party is in power in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, it is still under pressure. Its previous attempts to organize major activities beyond KP have been constantly met with preventive state action such as arrests, prohibitions and curbs on public gatherings. Last September, after holding a demonstration in the capital, the law enforcement officials were initiated into parliament to arrest PTI legislators for whistling a law on political events. Then the party only managed to reach the capital in November, but only to give up the party workers and without getting anything. Since then, it tried to flex muscle and announced that the protest movement would start shortly after Eid, but it never happened.
Lack of clarity on the future course of action, Party Management’s inability to design a political narrative according to impressed, grouping in the party and almost no control over the current party’s chairman over its members has all contributed to its current paralysis. Currently, with Imran Khan in prison and his appeals zigzagger through the courts, the party’s entire political strategy remains centered on his personality, but linked from political realities.
In contrast, the PMLN-led reigning coalition has capitalized on PTI’s weaknesses. With the opposition effectively sideline, the government has moved to consolidate power both legally and politically. With the 26th constitutional amendment, the decision alliance changed the legal structure and the process of appointing the country’s supreme judge by nominating Chief Justice among the most older judges rather than the most senior judge who automatically assumes the position. In addition, the legal decision on reserved seats not only handed in numbers, but legitimacy to the alliance and rumors is that it was ready for a different constitutional change.
By avoiding great political controversy and projecting a tale of stability and economic recovery as well as victory over India in recent war, the ruling alliance is now busy making the image of a functioning and American government, although government issues continue. For the time being, the political arena seems to be a one -sided competition. With a crippled opposition, a solid parliamentary majority and slightly visible public resistance, the ruling alliance seems to have full control, at least until the next big shift.
PTI’s downfall is not just about arrests or disqualifications. It is about a party that lost its organizational discipline, confronted the forces themselves, which once helped it rise only to demand the same thing again and could not protect or gather its support base when it matters most. From dominating national headlines to being pushed to the margins, PTI’s journey in the last few years is a study in political reversal. And without any clear path forward, no functioning top-level leadership and no signs of reconciliation with power centers, the party that once ruled from Islamabad is now seeing from the sidelines; increasingly limited to KP.
Currently, the streets are quiet, the opposition is broken, and the ruling coalition prevails undisputed.
