There are vibes of reconciliation in the air. After a severe and contested political bickering, the PTI of incarcerated former Prime Minister Imran Khan now apparently believes in talking it out. After a stiff climb-up, the opposition party wants the die to be cast with the powers-that-be, and that instantly means rubbing shoulders with the military establishment. This new fervour, as many of the PTI stalwarts had hinted at entering into a meaningful dialogue, is meant to reclaim their lost territory and reassert themselves as an organic political force.
Almost two years of political crisscross and victimisation at the hands of PDM-1 dispensation, which dislodged the PTI government, as well as the caretakers, who ruled for an extensive period of time, good sense seems to be prevailing. This notion of rapprochement is a welcome development, and should graduate with both the parties holding cards to their chest to explore the common denominator of ushering in political stability, and driving the country out of the mess it is in.
The gesture to talk it out was never lost on the PTI. Imran Khan himself, well before his arrest, had time and again offered to hold a tête-à-tête with those who matter in Pakistan’s power corridors. That is squarely a reference to the Army and ISI chiefs, as the buck stops at their doorstep. While the PTI and the Establishment are at odds over a number of policy issues, especially since April 2022 and after February 8 elections, and to add to it the judiciary and the entire political strata was also found to be on the other side of divide, Khan’s interlocutors will have to prudently chart the course of action for laying the roadmap for a constructive dialogue.
Though nothing is officially confirmed, whether they intend to talk it out or not, the euphoria should not be lost. There are already many preconditions from both the sides, and that had literally incapacitated them to go ahead. What is desired is a dialogue to address the broader canvas of stability, and that too with a logical give and take. Let either side draw the onus of favour where desired by law and the constitution.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 30th, 2024.
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