ISLAMABAD – The PTI’s first-ever election victory in the strategically located Gilgit-Baltistant (GB) and the alarming rise of infections in the second wave of Covid-19 amid the opposition’s anti-government campaign have increased chances of elevating the ruling party’s political fortunes.
After getting a smooth sailing in the November 15 elections of the Gilgit-Baltistant Assembly followed by the formation of its government in the region, the ruling PTI now feels confident to consolidate its position at the political landscape of the country. At the same time, the second wave of coronavirus has also given Prime Minister Imran Khan’s party a breather in the wake of opposition’s mass rallies as part of its anti-government campaign. The second wave has provided an opportunity to the PM and his close aides to berate the opposition for allegedly “playing with the lives of the people.”
The opposition-led Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) that during last couple of months had held its shows of power through large public gatherings now seems to be coming under social as well as political pressure to stop public rallies due to the alarming rise in the Covid-19 cases in the country. Given the rising number of positivity rate of infections and deaths, the situation can turn out to be difficult for the opposition parties to continue with their future political agitation till “the ouster of the government.” Though the opposition parties have announced to go ahead with their schedule of the rallies yet mobilization of public for political purposes can become grim for them under the circumstances.
Earlier, it was becoming hard for the PTI to oppose the PDM’s anti-government rallies due to the repeated public remarks given by then opposition leader Imran Khan during his 126-day long protest sit-in. PM Imran Khan during his opposition days used to say that he would provide shipping containers, for setting the stage, to the opposition to protest it came into power. Due to the same reason, the PTI government in a public announcement had to say that it would never disallow opposition to hold rallies.
However, the government now looks comfortable to criticize the opposition for holding rallies what it says that opposition is playing with the “health and lives of the people due to the rising number of new infections.” The ruling party that was earlier feeling pressure due to the political rallies of opposition held in Gujranwala and Karachi, one after the other, now feels that it can give a tough time to the opposition when it comes to the PDM’s narrative about its anti-government movement.
In September this year, as many 11 opposition parties had formed an alliance with the name of PDM to start an anti-government movement seeking ouster of Prime Minister Imran Khan and holding of fresh elections.
Secondly, PTI’s election victory in GB, where it emerged as the single largest party, has also added to the confidence of the party which now has started claiming that it would get a landslide victory in the next elections of Azad Jammu & Kashmir (AJK) which are due next year. During the election campaign, the ruling party was fearful at some point when Chairman Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Bilawal Bhutto Zardari was spearheading a full-fledged election campaign in the mountainous northern areas of the country. With this, the Imran-led party now thinks that it has something to its credit to keep its voters intact and solidify its position at the political scene at a time when the government is facing difficulties to tackle the rising inflation in the country.
But the question remains how will PTI be successful to counter the anti-government campaign and strengthen its position in future? To some extent, it depends on how much it will solve the problems of inflation, governance, and unemployment. The unity among the opposition ranks and its consistency will determine the success of its goals it wants to achieve through this anti-government movement. For some time, the second wave is providing respite to the government.
