PTI remains tangled

The PTI faces legal battles aplenty, ranging from the trial of its Chairman Imran Khan and Vice-Chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi under the Official Secrets Act over a diplomatic cipher to the detention of a number of women activists for the May 9 actions. The latest developments have indicated that the PTI has won some victories, but still remains embattled, and thus unable to concentrate on the real battle ahead, the one which will be fought in the ballot box on February 8. Some skirmishes in that connection have begun, before returning officers, and there too it remains to be seen how much the PTI is given the level playing field it has claimed is being denied it.

Where the PTI’s legal team has managed to stop Mr Khan’s and Mr Qureshi’s trial after the acceptance of an application to the Islamabad High Court, the Returning Officer for NA 122 has reserved judgement on the application by the PML(N) candidate against Mr Khan’s papers, where the objection was raised that Mr Khan had been convicted in the Toshakhana case, and though his sentence had been suspended, his conviction had not. If the judgement goes against him, the certainty that Mr Khan will not contest will damage the party’s prospects. While the party will benefit from the permission given by the Islamabad High Court for Mr Khan to be consulted over the allotment of tickets, it really needs him out on the campaign trail.

One of the more appealing pieces of good news for the PTI has been the release of fashion designer Khadija Shah, who obtained bail from an Ant-terrorism Court in Quetta, in a case of muder and attempted murder. She had originally been arrested in cases involving the June 9 attacks. Her case had drawn attention because she was the grand-daughter of of a former COAS and daughter of a former caretaker federal minister, but had evolved  into a symbol of the travails of the party because of the May 9 incidents and the plight of a number of female prisoners who had been arrested in that connection. She had obtained bail from the trial court in all the cases, but was then arrested by the Quetta police. With her bail now, she has finally been released after an odyssey of over six months. The PTI is facing a bleak immediate future, but the court victory here and there shows that it should not lose all hope.