The Supreme Court verdict has significantly dispelled political uncertainty in the country. Within hours of the decision, the rupee markedly appreciated in the open market. Once a new government with a solid support base is in office, this would hopefully create an enabling environment for improvement of business sentiment. However, disregarding national interest Imran Khan continues with his gimmicks in a futile attempt to save his government, the appointment of a so-called commission of enquiry and presentation of the original records of the ‘threatening’ cipher before Parliament being stunts of the sort.
Mr Khan whose tenure was restored by the Supreme Court for three days faces the no-confidence move today. The only facesaving option for him is to resign before going to the National Assembly. In case he doesn’t he would be booted out of the office of PM. Last week he recounted the three choices he faced: resignation, no-confidence motion and elections. He insisted that he would fight the no-confidence motion, would never resign and would prefer to fight elections. He would be out of job as a result of the no-confidence vote today while the elections which he desired at the earliest will not be held before six months. It is time Mr Khan resorted to another U-turn and resigned as the PM to avoid the humiliation of being voted out of office.
Mr Khan has failed to realize that his tricks cannot save him. Any decision to offer en masse resignations from national and provincial assemblies would do no harm to the next government which possesses more than 172 seats in the National Assembly and can, along with other opposition parties, get like-minded candidates elected on seats falling vacant. Mr Khan currently holds more seats in the House than any other opposition party. This has led PPP-P President Asif Zardari to welcome Mr Khan as leader of the opposition. But can people trust a leader who jeopardizes Pakistan’s relations with an important country only to remain in power? Mr Khan will have to prove over coming years that he abides by democratic values and rules of the game before he can be trusted.
