The door has been closed, the die cast, and the path forward is now unmistakable. There will be no reconciliation between the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and the government. The politics of confrontation and force will persist.
Despite multiple opportunities for conciliation with both the establishment and the government, PTI has seemingly refused for the final time. Imran Khan’s full endorsement of the inflammatory remarks made by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Amin Ali Gandapur has only exacerbated tensions. Not only did Khan wholeheartedly support Gandapur’s statements, which included veiled threats of pitting the entire province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa against the state and open calls for violence to free their leader from prison, but he also labelled anyone who disagreed with these views as cowards. This denunciation includes senior members of his own party, who have recognised that Gandapur overstepped but now find themselves in a precarious position. Branded as cowards by their party leader while publicly acknowledging the Chief Minister’s fault, they are left stranded. Imran Khan has made it clear: the door to negotiations is closed, and the power show on September 21 in Lahore will go ahead at all costs. In practical terms, this means another surge of PTI supporters will converge on Lahore from across the country, with the majority coming from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Once again, the government and local authorities will scramble to contain the violence, and once again, the lives of Lahore’s citizens, police officers, and even PTI’s own workers will be upended by the party’s cult-like politics. Whether driven by obstinacy or the ego the former Prime Minister was once known for, this path of confrontation serves no one’s interests.
It certainly does not benefit the PML-N, which is left managing a rebellious province while trying to present Pakistan as a stable environment for investment and economic recovery. Nor does it benefit PTI, which will only deepen the stigma it has carried since May 9th, further marginalising its leaders until they are pariahs. And most importantly, it does not benefit Pakistan. In yet another year where opposition and government battle in the streets with blunt weapons and tear gas, rather than in parliament with words and policies, Imran Khan has chosen violence— and must now be prepared to face the consequences.
