ISLAMABAD: By announcing their resignation from the National and three provincial assemblies on Monday, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan is ratcheting up the pressure on a government that is, by all accounts, not reacting fast enough.

Despite three drastic announcements from an aggressive PTI — resignations, a call for civil disobedience and entering the ‘red zone’ — the government is yet to offer something concrete, for which it has been criticised as much as PTI’s brinkmanship.

On Monday, the PTI further stunned an already tired nation by announcing that its parliamentarians would resign from the National and three provincial assemblies, Punjab, Sindh, and Balochistan.

It may be mentioned the PTI has no representation in Balochistan.

The decision came after a lengthy meeting of the party’s core committee.

It was announced by Shah Mahmood Qureshi who told the media that the decision to resign in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had been delayed for the moment.

Talking to Dawn, Dr Arif Alvi, a PTI MNA from Karachi and member of the core committee, accepted that a few in the party weren’t in favour of submitting resignations. “However, in the end all PTI MNAs have unanimously decided to resign from the National Assembly.”

According to party sources, PTI president Javed Hashmi questioned the decision of resignation, but in the end he also fell in line with the party leadership.

About the KP assembly, Dr Alvi said that since the PTI was part of a coalition, it would be unfair to announce its dissolution without consulting the Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) leadership, which was its main ally in the provincial government.

In reaction to such a drastic decision, all the government managed to do was announce a five-member cabinet committee to facilitate mediation efforts of opposition parties. This was announced by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

Federal ministers Ahsan Iqbal, Saad Rafique, retired Lt Gen Abdul Qadir Baloch, Akram Durrani and Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on National Affairs, Irfan Siddiqi, will be part of the committee.

This move came after a visibly irritated opposition, which had offered more than once to mediate between the government and the PTI, refused to be part of the committees announced by the interior minister.

On Sunday evening, Interior Minister Nisar Ali Khan announced constituting two separate committees for talks with PTI and PAT, comprising both members of the government and opposition. However, the next day names for these committees were announced without consulting the political parties.

As a result, opposition parties in the parliament refused on Monday to become part of the government committees; instead they decided to constitute two separate panels of four members each to reach out to PTI and PAT leadership.

This was announced by Syed Khursheed Shah after he held a meeting with the members of the major opposition parties at the Parliament House.

He said that Haider Abbas Rizvi (MQM), Aftab Sherpao (QWP), Ijazul Haq (PML-Z) and Senator Hasil Bizenjo (NP) will approach Dr Qadri, whereas, Khursheed Shah (PPP), Ghulam Ahmad Bilour (ANP) and G.G. Jamal (independent) and a representative of the JI whose nomination was yet to be finalised will try to talk to the PTI leadership.

Mr Shah said efforts would be made at all levels to contact the PTI leadership. However, by the time the politicians sitting in the parliament took these decisions, the PTI had already announced its resignation decision.

This is not the only time the government has expre­ssed its lack of seriousness.

Earlier on August 12, the prime minister had written to the Supreme Court, asking it to constitute a three-member judicial commission to investigate the allegations regarding the May 2013 general elections.

But till now, there is no information on whether or not the SC has responded to this request.

Political analysts and politicians have filled hours on news channels, criticising the government for its lack of urgency and action. They are agreed that a timely intervention by the government in collaboration with the opposition parties could have prevented the present crisis from emerging.

This was made clear by Leader of the Opposition Syed Khursheed Shah.

When asked about the reluctance on the part of the government to hold talks with the protesting leaders, he said, “Over the last one week or so, I have personally requested senior members of the government to talk to PTI and PAT leaders. But, eventually it has to be a government call.”

His reluctance to say more made clear the government’s hesitation.

Veteran politician Aftab Sherpao told Dawn that the government had made a critical mistake in reading the writing on the wall and failed to engage Mr Khan and Dr Qadri in time.

“Now the two protesting parties seem to have taken firm positions,” he added.

In fact, the opposition parties’ criticism of the PML-N despite their reiteration of support for the system makes it clear that the ruling party has alienated the very people who are its closest allies.

Aitzaz Ahsan’s speech in the Senate is a case in point.

Published in Dawn, August 19th, 2014