Daily Times

The dust has been settled and the status quo, uprooted. Imran Khan is no longer the prime minister and the ground has been paved for the new setup. While it may sound appealing for the new victors to relish siezing the day but given the pressing times, they are in no position to push out boats and have a night at the tiles.

Challenges are a plenty and no homework has been done. Whether the emerging government has a secret plan up its sleeve will be revealed in due time but the crises are for everyone to see. Since Shahbaz Sharif already enjoys the confidence of the (former) grand opposition coalition, he must have had his eye set on the crippling foreign debt and rising inflation.

Now that Mr Khan has lost, the new leader needs to steer clear of stangant growth. With the US dollar tearing through the roof, what else is there to see? There are widespread reports of militancy rearing its ugly head and swirling talk of seperatist movements gaining momentum in Balochistan. The opposition benches left no stone unturned in slamming the former governmet’s approach to Washington but undoing the damage of the last four years would not be an easy job. The long, long list of problems can only be resolved if the ruling quarters adopt a united stance towards issues of governance.

May it be charting through domestic puddles or looking at foreign policies, the leadership would be better of keeping the celebration galas at bay, for a while. Building the bridges with foreign powers would only work after one’s own front door has been fixed. Instead of spending days drowning each other in vile abuses and petty squabbles, all parties should join hands in tackling these wild bulls. Maybe, this time, the political history would go through another route. *