PTI founder has announced protest in Islamabad on November 24, which he would call a battle of determination. He threatened that any party leadership, if doesn’t resist the state oppression during this protest would not have any future place in the party.
He has presented four demands: annulling the 26th Amendment, restoration of democracy and the constitution, democracy and the rule of law as guaranteed under the constitution, original electoral rights, and mandate, and the freedom of wrongly arrested party workers with cancellation of false charges against them. All this comes when PTI leadership faces a range of cases, with him along with other leaders of the party in prison and political activities of the party have been suspended to a large extent. There is no doubt that PTI is passing through the gravest crisis of its life.
Since May 9, PTI has faced its worst time. Although PTI still holds reasonably good political position, even its political opponents would not deny the fact, the party leads in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and remains in the opposition in the National Assembly, the Punjab Assembly, and the Senate, at the same time bringing to the fore the fact that PTI and its leadership have remained a political reality. The reason a political party lives is its vote bank, and when the leadership of that party enjoys popularity, it cannot be disregarded in political discourse. PTI’s resistance politics has kept the party alive with its leader attaining sympathy by portraying himself as a symbol even behind bars.
Still, PTI is under grave crisis. The leadership feels frustrated over the fact that even members of the party from all walks of life, whether in the National Assembly and Senate or at the activist level and leadership of the party, haven’t been able to generate sufficient amount of public pressure on the government or establishment because of his arrest. It seems there is a justification for the call for mass protest on November 24 in Islamabad: The party’s external leadership, along with those enjoying posts in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa or parliamentary committees, are challenged to prove their loyalty.
The surprise was this protest announcement, which came to the political opponents as a bit of a shock because they thought that PTI would not be moving towards such a large demonstration or sit-in under the current circumstances. Other protests didn’t really put much pressure on the government or establishment and hence gave an impression as if PTI couldn’t really raise the stakes in the face of state pressure.
External leadership of PTI, most of whom are appeasers to the establishment, has failed to offer significant relief to the party founder despite efforts in this direction. Relief it has obtained is partial as the leader with other colleagues remains in prison. Internal fissures have worsened within PTI partly due to factionalism as well as favoritism in giving party positions. What seems to overshadow party decisions very much in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur, who has snatched away the leadership from other provinces. As a result, there has been a natural crisis as leadership from Sindh, Balochistan, and Punjab are usually absent in large numbers.
The most crucial question perhaps is whether the November 24 protest or sit-in call will be able to mobilize an impressive number in its forces despite PTI’s internal tensions. If they do not, then the future of PTI’s resistance politics is already at stake. They might not let this protest take place at such a scale, and now that this sit-in call has been given, chances are that the resistance will be met with arrests and suppression-all under the pretext of keeping Punjab under strict government policies.
The protest to be staged represents the very struggle of PTI for survival in the political arena. In case such resistance driven by mere enthusiasm is not well worked out by well-strategized decisions, they may become a cause of backward reaction. PTI needs a way out that need not rely on a confrontational approach to politics; it should also be remembered by the government and establishment.