Daily Times

Clearly it was not enough for former prime minister Nawaz Sharif to open the Pandora’s Box just once. For little, if anything, about what other opposition leaders said was really different from what they have been saying all along, at least since the last election, but the way in which Nawaz Sharif has thrown down the gauntlet has surely redefined the way politics is going to be practiced in Pakistan from now on. Even his allies in the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), sitting on the stage in Gujranwala, must have been rattled. Surely the government must have been left thinking that it would have been better not to allow the speech to begin with.

Now the ball, as they say, is in the government’s court. So far senior ministers, even the prime minister, have dismissed it in the usual way by playing down the significance of the show. But it will not be so easy to divert everybody’s attention from everything that was said. For the people are indeed burdened very heavily by high prices, reduced wages and not much light at the end of the tunnel. The government has promised on numerous occasions that it will crack down on all mafias responsible for the artificial price hike in essential items, just like the prime minister vowed to do yet again just a few days ago, but these promises have not translated into any sort of action in more than two years and people seem to have had enough of it.

Now all eyes will turn to Karachi to see if the momentum can be maintained. Two is a trend, they say in the world of politics, and if the oppostion is able to pile more pressure, with many more rallies yet to come, then the government will have its work cut out for it. It would be unwise, at this moment, to look to lock horns with the opposition and try to overpower it. The government faces not just political headwinds at the moment, but also considerable anxiety on the economic front. And if the economy collapses, which is a very real possibility, it would itself be responsible for giving the combined opposition yet another stick to beat it with. Therefore it’s best to keep its eye on the ball and not try to meet the opposition punch for punch. As PTI must know from its own days as an agitating opposition party, it’s much easier to make noise when out of power. Now, it’s actions must speak for it and the best it can do is make sure that lives of ordinary Pakistanis are not made any worse by its policies. *