Daily Times

It was only a matter of time before the PTI’s well-oiled lobbying machinery began to offer results. The first implication of help sought from heavyweights in Washington had set forth last week in the US House of Representatives, whose extremely rare display of bipartisanship called on Pakistan to address the irregularities’ allegations in its recently conducted general elections.

To rubberstamp the narrative, now, the peacekeeping organisation UN has also been dragged into the controversy as a report by its working group castigated Pakistan for a supposed “politically motivated” exclusion of PTI Founder Imran Khan. When questioned in a presser about what the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres thought of the recommendations of immediate release, his spokesperson cautiously remarked, “The current situation of Mr Khan (should) evolve in a much more positive way.” Although these opinions may not be legally binding, they do carry a significant reputational weight. And this is exactly why the US State Department refused to take the high-stakes bait, seconding Islamabad’s position and declaring it an “internal matter.”

However, “malicious” or not, there is a lot that the state could have done in the months gone by to avoid an embarrassing stand-off. A group of experts working under the Geneva-based committee was legally bound to reach out to the relevant authorities for their part of the picture before submitting any conclusion. If the circumstances, as narrated by Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar, were by the book, why wasn’t any information provided in response to the queries asking for the relevant legal provisions?

Of course, no sovereign state can sit back and allow the international community to launch a crusade against its institutions. But then again, the same responsibility falls on the mandate of those institutions to defend their credibility.

More disturbingly, our lawmakers tend to show an inclination towards prioritising their individual vendettas over the national position. As was seen in the case of US Resolution 901, the opposition benches have thrown caution to the wind, determined to show the world a spectacle of a divided house. It is simply bizarre to keep witnessing their skewed preferences. Any foreign criticism that advances their cause is welcomed, no matter how scathing it may be to the country’s reputation. *