Thing are not proceeding in accordance with PTI chief Imran Khan’s expectations. The promised two-to-three million crowd turned out to be a gathering of a few thousand. There were threats of self-immolation, bloody clashes, suicide attacks and civil war if any attempt was made to stop the march. These turned out to be no more than a load of hot air. The promise to announce another march within six days failed to materialize. Today’s gathering in Islamabad, billed as the biggest in the capital’s history, comes after a month. Mr Khan had threatened to become ‘khatarnak’ or dangerous if prematurely removed from office. The threat has largely been contained. Mr Khan’s warning regarding the country turning into another Sri Lanka, where enraged mobs burnt over 50 houses of ruling party leaders, was another fantasy
Imran Khan had tried to use mobs to deter National Assembly members from participating in the no-confidence move. The Supreme Court however shifted the gathering to another venue. There being fears that the party might again try to use the Islamabad public meeting for creating chaos, the GHQ which controls the Army Parade Ground has made the PTI agree to 39 conditions. Most important among these require participants not to block any road and end the gathering by midnight. It will be the organizer’s duty to ensure the dispersal after the event ends. There will be no anti-state, anti-religion, and anti-national slogans and no effigy or flag of any party shall be burnt. Participants shall not indulge in violence or clashes. President PTI Islamabad will be held responsible for any violation of the code. Many would have appreciated if the PTI and the coalition government had agreed to sign a similar charter before the Islamabad march.
There is a need on the part of Mr Khan to realize that wishes may not always be realities. Many PTI leaders were shocked when in a majority judgment a Lahore High Court bench did not send Hamza Shehbaz home. Imran Khan claimed he was informed by two PTI candidates that they had received calls from unknown numbers advising them not to accept PTI tickets. This he said amounted to changing the Punjab by-poll results. Mr Khan never took notice of similar complaints by the PML(N) before the 2018 elections. Unless all parties join hands against interferences of the sort, these will continue as before.
