The persistent attempts by PTI to foment political instability and chaos at a time when the country actually stands at a crossroads reminds me of two couplets from my ode that I wrote during the political turmoil triggered by the PNA movement against the Bhut­to government in 1977. They were “Wohi Rastey Phir Wohi Pustian Hein, Udasi Mane Doobi Hui Bastian Hein, Tareekian Hein Watan Key Ufaq Per, Raqeebone Ki Ab Bhi Wohi Mastian Hein.” The English translation of these couplets is: We are treading the same lowly path and sad­ness hangs over all habitats. There are dark clouds on the country’s horizon, but its ill-wishers are continuing with their mischievous acts.

Imran Khan started fomenting political instability and chaos immediately after the 2013 general elections and took it to a higher level after the success of a no-confidence motion against him through a constitutional process.

He invented a false narrative of rig­ging in the 2013 general elections pre­mised on 35 punctures allegedly done through courtesy of the caretaker chief minister Punjab Najam Sethi in favour of PML (N). He along with Tahir ul Qa­dri - who came all the way from Cana­da - resorted to a 126 day sit-in in front of the parliament house almost paralys­ing the functioning of the government and insisted on the formation of a judi­cial commission to probe rigging in the elections. When the Judicial Commission constituted by the government after in­vestigating the matter threadbare came with the findings that there had been no rigging in the elections, Imran Khan un­ashamedly admitted that 35 punctures were only political talk. Somebody had told him about it.

PTI had 33 seats in the National As­sembly and the only thing that these members did was to disrupt assembly proceedings and create rumpus as well as boycotting its sessions while enjoying all the perks. The party never acted as an opposition in the assembly and low­ered the prestige of the House through un-parliamentary antics.

During its three and a half years of rule courtesy of the crutches provid­ed by the establishment, Imran Khan practiced politics of vendetta. He impli­cated leaders of the opposition parties in false cases and incarcerated them. But they were all ultimately acquitted by the courts. The judges of the SC and high courts during the hearing of these cases repeatedly remarked that the government was using NAB for political engineering.

Imran Khan adopted unconstitution­al measures to thwart the no-confidence motion through a ruling by the deputy speaker with reference to Article 5, ad­vising the President to dissolve the as­sembly and announce new elections. This happened within minutes. Thank­fully the apex court took suo moto no­tice of it and declared the whole exercise unconstitutional.

Instead of showing the grace to play his role as an opposition leader in the par­liament after his exit from power, he pre­ferred to foment political instability in the country by forcing the PTI members to resign from the Assembly. As if it was not enough he dissolved the KP and Pun­jab assemblies to aggravate the political crisis without any legitimate and consti­tutional reason. What happened in the aftermath of the dissolution of these as­semblies is known to everybody.

He introduced a culture of violence and impudence in Pakistani politics. The Frankenstein turned against the Army after losing power and started building an anti-Army narrative which culminat­ed in tragic incidents on 9th May when for the first time in the history of the country PTI supporters and leaders at­tacked military installations and monu­ments of the martyrs.

Come February 8 general elections, the party has refused to accept the split mandate given by the people and like the 2013 general elections is again propa­gating the mantra of rigging. Instead of relying on the legal and constitutional avenues available in the country to ad­dress its grievances, the party has tried to invoke the intervention of IMF and other foreign powers.

A sustained campaign on social me­dia has been unleashed to denigrate the state institutions. The anti-judiciary and anti-establishment narrative is being re­iterated besides rubbing in the notion of the new government being illegiti­mate. The PTI members continue to cre­ate ugly scenes in the National and Pro­vincial Assembly of Punjab in an attempt to disrupt their proceedings. The par­ty stalwarts have repeatedly vowed not to let the new government function until and unless its allegedly stolen mandate is returned to the party. The KPK gov­ernment is on a war path with the feder­al government.

As if the foregoing happenings were not enough, the party has found a new punching bag in the form of a letter writ­ten by six judges of the Islamabad High Court regarding alleged interference and pressure on them by intelligence agen­cies. The party is hell-bent on politicis­ing the issue. It has expressed solidarity with the judges and also announced the launch of a movement for the indepen­dence of the judiciary.

It is hypocrisy of the first order con­sidering the fact that when Justice Shau­kat Siddiqui was dismissed from service for having made a speech at the District Bar Association Rawalpindi regarding interference in the judiciary’s affairs by the ‘powerful quarters’ none of the PTI leaders raised any voice for the indepen­dence of the judiciary. The PTI was the ruling party at that time.

The party even sent a reference to the Supreme Judicial Council against the current CJ Qazi Faiz Isa and when he was acquitted of all the allegations, Imran is on record to have admitted that sending a reference against him was a mistake. The foregoing incidents speak volumes about PTI’s so-called love for the inde­pendence of the judiciary.

The SC has done well to constitute a seven-member larger bench taking suo motu notice of the judge’s letter to hear the case after the former CJ Tassadaq Hussain recused himself from head­ing the Inquiry Commission formed by the government after consultations with CJ Qazi Faiz Isa. The bench com­menced hearing of the case on Wednes­day and the CJ indicated the possibility of hearing of the case by a full court. In the meantime, reportedly, some Judg­es of the Supreme Court including the Chief Justice, Islamabad High Court, and Lahore High Court have also received threatening letters containing some chemical substance.

These are very ominous portents which ostensibly seem a well-orches­trated campaign to reinforce the an­ti-establishment narrative by the ele­ments that prefer their narrow political agenda over national interests. They are treading a very dangerous course which can have disastrous consequences for them as well as inflict irretrievable damage on the Pakistani polity. They need serious rethinking.

Malik Muhammad Ashraf
The writer is a freelance columnist. He can be reached at ashpak10@gmail.com