The PML(N) MPAs wanted by Lahore’s Qilla Gujjar Singh police for hooliganism in the April 16 CM’s election had their houses raided, in Lahore, Gujranwala, Narowal, Rawalpindi, Sheikhupura and Sahiwal, but all managed to flee to Islamabad, leaving Punjab Home Minister Hashim Dogar to face recriminations from his own partymen, for a botched operation. That they raised the issue indicates how anxious they were that there be vengeance for the events surrounding that election. It was to be noted that those MPAs who are accused of attacking the Deputy Speaker, who was then in the chair, are not being sought, but then, they belong to the ruling PTI. Before it came back to office, they were being sought by the Hamza Shehbaz government.
It is unfortunate but true that the PDM and the PTI are willing to use whatever state means at their disposal to harm the other. The split has become so deep in society that it has become impossible to have a civilized discussion any longer. It has become impossible to see any end in sight. It is true that the guilty must be held to account, but if the government holds that the only guilt is having opposed it at some time in the past, it will not be possible for it to move past o the purpose for which it was presumably elected, which is the service of the people, not installing one person or another in a particular post.
The only way out of the corner in which the two parties have painted themselves is a dialogue, a frank admission that there is a problem, and a discussion about how to end it. Easier said than done, because the question naturally arises about who will be the honest broker, after the bitterness of the history between the parties, and not just after the PTI government was toppled. President Arif Alvi has offered his services, and is the right person by virtue of his office, but his conduct after Imran Khan’s removal has left him labelled as the PTI’’s President. But, evben if not him, there is no other way out.
