Pitched battles ahead of possible arrest of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan in Lahore and the protest demonstrations held by his supporters in all the major cities of the country have added a new but extremely worrisome dimension to the ongoing government-PTI war of attrition.

In addition to at least one death, so many people including policemen have been injured by these ugly clashes that have turned the Zaman Park neighborhood of Lahore where Imran Khan’s house is situated into a ‘war zone’ leaving the other residents in a state of fear and anguish. It is quite true that Imran Khan has so far been successful in evading arrest.

But the government of the day will ultimately overpower him should it decide to step up pressure through use of more force. His arrest will surely trigger a countrywide protest that may ultimately lead to violent clashes between his supporters and law enforcement agencies, including police, in all the four provinces.

Things will go out of the government as well as Imran Khan’s hands. But the parties comprising the Pakistan Democratic Movement PDM government, particularly Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz PML-N, do not want to give up power by accepting Imran Khan’s general election demand.

PML-N senior leader Maryam Nawaz has repeatedly made it clear to all and sundry through her speeches at public rallies that elections wouldn’t be held until the accountability of Imran Khan and some former Generals and judges is carried out Little does she realize however the fact that veteran Pashtun nationalist politician Khan Abdul Wali Khan had made the ‘pehlay ehtesaab baad may intikhab’ (accountability first and elections later) demand upon Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s arrest by Gen Ziaul Haq.

Everybody knows how the then army ruler cashed in on the opportunity a fairly astute but deeply embittered politician had thrown up for him. Maryam’s approach to the situation is hardly different from Wali Khan’s.

Shahid Kakar (Karachi)

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023