What Is the Destination of PTI?

The path PTI has chosen is one of chaos and destruction. The party keeps making one blunder after another. If it finds itself in serious trouble tomorrow, it will have only itself to blame.

Vote of no-confidence was not the end of the world. Yet the party’s reaction was anything but political. It was driven by agitation, anguish and anger.

A political party should have moved beyond the bitterness of that vote of no-confidence. The vote had gone through, but all avenues remained open. Had PTI reached out to other political parties and relied on political strategy, it could have found a way out of what appeared to be a dead end.

Then came the issue of Imran Khan’s arrest. This, too, was hardly the catastrophe it was made out to be. Politicians are arrested, and they are subsequently released on bail. But the attempt to arrest him was labelled an abduction, and the way groups of supporters were mobilised to establish positions at Zaman Park was not the conduct of a political party.

What happened on May 9 was another grave blunder. It was not a political protest. It was something else: an attempt to create a situation resembling civil war in the country. Political parties do not behave this way.

. Repeated protests and shutting down cities were no way to conduct politics either. How long can any society or state tolerate the repeated disruption of daily life simply because a party has lost power?

The government should have been opposed, because that is the role of the opposition. But PTI failed to distinguish between opposing the government and opposing the state. Whether the state was grappling with economic problems or terrorism, PTI’s response was one of non-cooperation.

Politics is about living and letting others live. It requires tolerance for those who disagree with you. PTI’s mistake was that it began to consider itself indispensable. It came to regard everyone else as if they had no reason to exist.

PTI’s conduct was not political. It was frightening, for society, for politics and for the country.

It appears that a point eventually came when a decision was made to deal with this conduct of PTI. What has happened since, and what continues to happen, is a response to that very conduct.

This is what PTI needs to understand. It has taken its protest politics to the extreme and seen the results. It has gained nothing.

The movement that began to prevent Imran Khan’s arrest has now reached a point where the demand is simply to have him treated at a particular hospital. What is achieved, apart from retreat?

The tidal wave unleashed by YouTubers and social media failed to change anything. The party tried mobilising lawyers as well, but that too achieved nothing. The lawyers themselves made it into the assemblies, but Imran Khan could not secure his release. YouTubers rode the ratings wave and created financial opportunities for themselves, but what did the party gain?

With every new adventure, PTI continues to shrink. A political worker is not a fighter, nor can he remain in a constant state of irrationality.

PTI must now exercise political wisdom. All PTI needs to do is act like a political party. Instead of relying on YouTubers and fiery parachuters, it must sit down and reconsider rationally.

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The path PTI has chosen is one of chaos and destruction. The party keeps making one blunder after another. If it finds itself in serious trouble tomorrow, it will have only itself to blame.

Vote of no-confidence was not the end of the world. Yet the party’s reaction was anything but political. It was driven by agitation, anguish and anger.

A political party should have moved beyond the bitterness of that vote of no-confidence. The vote had gone through, but all avenues remained open. Had PTI reached out to other political parties and relied on political strategy, it could have found a way out of what appeared to be a dead end.

Then came the issue of Imran Khan’s arrest. This, too, was hardly the catastrophe it was made out to be. Politicians are arrested, and they are subsequently released on bail. But the attempt to arrest him was labelled an abduction, and the way groups of supporters were mobilised to establish positions at Zaman Park was not the conduct of a political party.

What happened on May 9 was another grave blunder. It was not a political protest. It was something else: an attempt to create a situation resembling civil war in the country. Political parties do not behave this way.

. Repeated protests and shutting down cities were no way to conduct politics either. How long can any society or state tolerate the repeated disruption of daily life simply because a party has lost power?

The government should have been opposed, because that is the role of the opposition. But PTI failed to distinguish between opposing the government and opposing the state. Whether the state was grappling with economic problems or terrorism, PTI’s response was one of non-cooperation.

Politics is about living and letting others live. It requires tolerance for those who disagree with you. PTI’s mistake was that it began to consider itself indispensable. It came to regard everyone else as if they had no reason to exist.

PTI’s conduct was not political. It was frightening, for society, for politics and for the country.

It appears that a point eventually came when a decision was made to deal with this conduct of PTI. What has happened since, and what continues to happen, is a response to that very conduct.

This is what PTI needs to understand. It has taken its protest politics to the extreme and seen the results. It has gained nothing.

The movement that began to prevent Imran Khan’s arrest has now reached a point where the demand is simply to have him treated at a particular hospital. What is achieved, apart from retreat?

The tidal wave unleashed by YouTubers and social media failed to change anything. The party tried mobilising lawyers as well, but that too achieved nothing. The lawyers themselves made it into the assemblies, but Imran Khan could not secure his release. YouTubers rode the ratings wave and created financial opportunities for themselves, but what did the party gain?

With every new adventure, PTI continues to shrink. A political worker is not a fighter, nor can he remain in a constant state of irrationality.

PTI must now exercise political wisdom. All PTI needs to do is act like a political party. Instead of relying on YouTubers and fiery parachuters, it must sit down and reconsider rationally.

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