Daily Times

Drawing a parallel between the notorious Colombian drug lord and the leadership of PTI, PML(N)’s Malik Ahmad Khan called on the caretaker government to take action against a wave of anarchic outrage. Fair enough. To borrow his words, May 9 would definitely go down in the country’s history as a black day, which should never be repeated. No protest can be used as an excuse to fan the flames of anarchy. But would Mr Malik and the rest of his colleagues apply the same principle to his own party?

If the government is supposed to “preempt” any distasteful episode, should the dire consequences of former federal minister and a mouthpiece of one of the largest and most prominent political parties, Marriyam Aurangzeb, stepping in front of cameras and demanding the beheading of Imran Khan and other members of his party also be considered? No concern was shown for tensions reaching pitch-high as she asserted that these beheadings should have happened in 2014 when Mr Khan had attempted to topple a PML(N)-led government.

The outrageous remarks have sparked a wave of outrage and condemnation on social media; leaving political commentators in shock over the confrontations reaching the point of no return. That the PML(N) has chosen to fight a battle of vengeance on a day they were supposed to gather strength and divert all energies towards making a government speaks volumes about their skewed priorities. How can these leaders be expected to sit together and think about the welfare of the common man when their narrative is driven by such exceptional hatred?

The chaos unleashed on all of us ever since we went through the most significant political exercise known to sovereign democracies shows no signs of resolving any time soon. And while we, at Daily Times, have repeatedly held the glaring biases of the election commission of Pakistan responsible for exacerbating political discords amid accusations of blue-eyed treatment and absence of a level playing field, the political parties would also have to realise their share in the game. Their unexplainable loathe of each other has thrown any likelihood of reconciliation out of the window. These end-game tactics cannot continue anymore. The ruling elite chose the worst point in the economic trajectory to let their egos make the rules.

Never before have we faced a crisis, sucking in all state institutions, just because the two (or should we say, three) sides of the coin are not ready to talk to each other. PML(N) should reconsider the wisdom of making the entire system controversial as a part of its same-page narrative as it asks the state to cut legs out from under its political rivals. *