The way PM Imran managed to get 178 votes from NA on Saturday and the scene created outside Parliament House the same day give rise to disturbing questions.
Only days earlier Finance Minister Hafeez Sheikh had lost Senate elections getting only 164 votes despite PTI claiming to possess 180. A day after the shell shocked PM held a meeting with COAS and DG ISI raising questions about the signals the meeting was likely to send. Claims have been made regarding two dissenting MNAs being kept in custody by agencies without producing any solid proof. But such proofs normally take years to come, and that too when insiders spill the beans. The perception however is as important in political affair as proofs. Secret agencies have been accused of getting the PTI elected and if these are required to keep the party in power also, they really have a heavy cross to bear. In case the opposition alliance loses the race for the offices of the Chairman and Deputy Chairman of Senate despite possessing majority, agencies would have to face a lot of public criticism. If one was to go by the PM’s logic that a candidate losing elections despite commanding majority proves that his voters have been bribed, the defeat of PDM’s candidates would imply that PTI has used money to win the Senate offices.
Outside Parliament House, a group of PTI supporters pushed and kicked PM-N Spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb, and attacked some of the top leaders of the PML-N. Incidents of the sort are reminiscent of Fascist Italy. No immediate action was taken by the government; Sheikh Rashid wanted the PML-N to lodge a complaint first. NA Speaker promised to ‘probe’ the incident without specifying the body that would conduct the inquiry or when the investigation would start. PML-N vice president Maryam Nawaz has meanwhile condemned the hooliganism in strong terms warning the PTI that the PML-N will not take such behavior lying down and the PTI would have to pay a heavy price for it. Unless the PTI leadership stops the multi-pronged and centrally controlled hate campaign against political opponents calling them thieves, dacoits and traitors, there is likelihood of political rivalries turning into personal enmities in the country. Stop it before it’s too late.
