AND, just like that, the PTI’s ill-timed ‘Second Pakistan Movement’ seems to have been put to rest. The party’s bête noire these days, KP Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur, announced on Sunday that the PTI will be reconsidering its options over an extended 90-day period rather than going all out before the Aug 5 deadline given by its jailed chief. It may be recalled that Imran Khan had said last week that the PTI would no longer engage in talks and should instead prepare for a protest movement that would ‘peak’ on Aug 5, coinciding with the two-year anniversary of his incarceration. When the party’s on-ground leadership met on Sunday, many were expecting a comprehensive plan for the protests. Instead, supporters were informed that the showdown would now occur after 90 days.
The KP CM’s statement left many scratching their heads. On one hand, he said that “We have to decide within 90 days whether we should even do politics in this country,” while also regretting that there was no use of politics in the country as “there is no politics.” PTI supporters also got no clarity on the Aug 5 protests, because Mr Gandapur said the campaign would peak that day, but using ‘political means’ instead. Further, the KP CM also contradicted what Mr Khan had said about talks. “Now we are giving an open offer to hold dialogue with us, or we will tread on our own path with a clear timeline and targets,” he said. Interestingly, this U-turn could have been sanctioned by the PTI chief himself, given that other party leaders did not contradict him on the occasion. Such chaos is typical of the PTI, but it seems that the party may just have been walking itself back from the brink. It was clearly in no position to launch a major protest movement, as wished for by Mr Khan, and perhaps realised in time that it would be better to weigh its options carefully. What its next move will be is anybody’s guess. Pressure from the rank and file to secure Mr Khan’s release has been growing, and the party’s on-ground leadership seems at a complete loss as to how to pacify the voices of discontent. One wonders what cards its leaders are hiding up their sleeves, or if they even have any left.
Published in Dawn, July 15th, 2025