Daily Times

Academically, politics is all about running the affairs of the state. Then why the political tug-of-war between the government and furious opposition is hurting the state?

To be more precise, it is damaging the well-known interests of Pakistan. The opposition camp is not coming slow! After completing a series of flop protests cum long marches; the leadership of the party is not in any mood to rationalize the agitational strategy. Unnecessary jubilation in the opposition camp over the nomination of any advisor in the team of American presidents doesn’t make any sense. Such tendencies reflect a lack of political maturity and unawareness of statecraft.

The nomination of Richard Grenell is an internal matter of the USA and by no means it should be attached to the domestic politics of Pakistan. Reportedly, one of his tweets in favour of PTI’s founding chairman has triggered enormous sensation in the opposition camp. The immaturity of the keyboard warriors is beyond any doubt, but active contributions from senior PTI stalwarts are more disappointing for saner quarters.

Ironically, the former president of Pakistan also jumped into the social media arena with a meaningful tweet in appreciation of Mr Grenell’s tweet. The matter turned more complex with some misplaced tweets from mainstream media houses.

Dragging foreign officials into the internal politics of Pakistan is no less than spoiling the state-to-state bilateral relations.

Grenell’s retaliatory tweet repeating the demand for the release of PTI’s founding chairman is the ultimate achievement for the party. This hollow campaigning is neither good for the state nor beneficial for the PTI. Dragging foreign officials into the internal politics of Pakistan is no less than spoiling the state-to-state bilateral relations.

Undoubtedly, PTI is the pioneer of this imprudent tendency in domestic politics. Certain aspects merit introspective deliberation to identify the grey parts of political protest campaigns. PTI, being the former ruling party in the Centre, is well aware of the sensitivities attached to diplomatic ties. Bi-lateral ties with the USA merit a careful approach amid the prevailing geo-political environment via a vis multiple challenges being confronted by Pakistan on internal and external fronts.

Extra-ordinary reliance of PTI leadership on foreign players for seeking relief in matters awaiting investigative and judicial processes in Pakistan; is not justifiable. Interestingly, it is a blatant U-turn from the past populist rhetoric revolving around the attractive slogans of ‘Real Freedom, Hadeeqi Azadi and Not’. Desperate lobbying in the USA and UK for the release of the founding chairman has unmasked an entirely different face of PTI stalwarts.

Slogans being chanted inside Pakistan contradict the actions being pursued by the supporters running polls to bounds on foreign lands. The Party’s track record on matters related to the fundamental interests of the state is very disappointing. After defeat in a vote of confidence, the former PM left no stone unturned to push the country into the dark pits of economic default.

Later, party strategists wrote a letter to the IMF specifically opposing the renewal of much much-needed financial program. Ironically, some of the handful of supporters led by a former cabinet member pursued the default mission by staging malicious protests at IMF HQ in the USA. Controversial timings selected for the protests further substantiate the impression that PTI is striving hard to dent the credibility of the state instead of the ruling party. Hosting a major event like SCO was a unique honour for the country in the diplomatic domain.

Disappointingly, the leadership of PTI gave a call to stage a protest right in the heart of the federal capital without taking into account the ill impacts of the nonsense move. A recent episode of the ‘Final Call’ protest was precisely scheduled on the dates of the Belarussian President’s visit. These are not coincidences. Moreover, minor rescheduling of the protest was not a big affair. PTI is a former ruling party and a major stakeholder in present state affairs amid the third term of her government in KP province.

While holding such important positions in the country’s political landscape, why did the PTI leadership repeatedly launch dubious manoeuvres hurting the interests of the state? It is a very malicious and irresponsible display of statesmanship from a party which always claims to be the most popular stakeholder in national politics. It is a well-known fact that architects of populist narratives are stationed abroad and rashly driving the party vehicle on bumpy tracks.

In the civilized democratic world, mainstream political parties do not outsource their control to the foreign-based masked handlers of the social media accounts of jailed party leaders. Besides this, the victory of any political party or nomination of any official in the USA or anywhere else should not be made a point-scoring factor. The leadership of a major political party should avoid stooping so low. Storm raised in a cup by PTI on a tweet of US citizen was unwise but unmeasured contribution of mainstream media subsequently multiplied the damaging effects.

The writer is a student.