Pakistan in Turmoil

Pakistan is in deep turmoil and is following an uncertain trajectory. Signals emanating from the conflict brewing between ousted prime minister and former cricketer Imran Khan and the current establishment led by Shahbaz Sharif seems to be focused at disqualifying Khan from contesting election due later this year.

With two leading political families Nawaz Sharif and Zardari having exhausted much of their credibility and halo, Imran Khan and his party Pakistan Tehrik e Insaf (PTI) remain the most potential contender for power in a nation in the grip of a grave economic crisis.

Hot on the heels of Khan following several cases, many of which seem to be pure witch hunts, the Punjab Police has been laying siege around his Lahore home for the last few days. Khan has so far successfully evaded arrest but how far he can do so is a matter of guess. The Police who raided his home in his (Khan’s) absence on Sunday have arrested a few of his party activists.

Ever since Khan was ousted from his seat on April 11 last year, the nation has faced unprecedented instability. The PTI lost the majority in the National Assembly following engineered defections in the ruling party. But the new incumbent Shahbaz Sharif has been in a state of decision paralysis. Climate crisis--first intense heat wave and later unprecedented floods--have wrecked the nation’s agriculture dependent economy. Drastic dip in forex reserves and mounting balance of payments have led to spike in prices of fuel and its cascading effect on prices of all essential commodities.

Khan had been blaming the United States’ policy of ‘regime change’ for pursuing an independent foreign policy and has also alluded to the powerful military being responsible for his exit. Khan’s adversaries had alleged him to be the choice of the military bigwigs, especially the ISI when he emerged as the frontrunner in the prime ministerial race with the help of a few minor political parties in 2018. But it seems he has fallen afoul of the new military chief Gen. Syed Asim Munir. With his equation with the powerful Military under the new chief in tatters, Khan apprehends grave threat to his person as well as fairness of the polls.

Even Shahbaz Sharif ’s grip on the government seems shaky what with the popular mood turning against the Government. Sharif government has levied new taxes to mobilise Rs. 170 billion in order to comply with the conditionalities of the International Monetary Fund’s bailout package. Meanwhile, the Pakistani rupee has hit the nadir with a US dollar fetching Rs 282.

Although the ‘hidden hand’ of the military is behind all that happens on the political landscape in Pakistan, the political parties point their finger at it only when they are in opposition. All is hunky dory when they are at the helm and ‘on the same page’. With the turmoil threatening to get out of hand, the nation has turned a political tinderbox. It is the common Pakistani who has to ultimately bear the brunt of it all.