This is apropos two back-to-back letters to the Editor “Escalating political temperature” by this writer carried by the newspaper on Thursday and yesterday, the writer is of considered opinion that the government should also avoid giving knee-jerk reactions to every political move made by the opposition.

It is a proven strategy of the opposition to counter every move the government makes, aiming to unnerve the government and provoke knee-jerk reactions that lead to mistakes and errors. The opposition will gladly seize upon these lapses, amplify them, and increase their impact by isolating slips of the tongue, wrong phrases, or mistakes from their context.

The government in general, and the establishment in particular, should desist from holding counter press conferences to bash and name-call the opposition.

This is exactly what the opposition wants and thrives on. Soon after the conference, all phrases and sentences that suit the opposition’s narratives will be clipped, given added value, and presented in the most sensational contexts across all forms of media, both traditional and social.

A new round of bashing on the government, and especially on the establishment, will then begin, eroding the political capital of the government and conversely increasing the political capital of the opposition.

In this scenario, the ideal approach for the government and establishment would be to adopt a more collaborative and less confrontational stance, focusing on governance and addressing the people’s concerns rather than engaging in constant political warfare.

Qamar Bashir

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024