IMRAN Khan has once again threatened to take to the streets. The reason this time, he says, is the government’s frustrating stance on the probe into the Panama Papers. The PTI chief’s warning, coming some 10 days before Eid, throws up the possibility of the country returning to the 2014 protest days after the festival — a protest that, though a democratic right, will be at great cost to the economy, while causing much inconvenience to the people. Soon there will be advice for the PTI leader to show restraint in the name of the national interest; there will be reminders about how his previous campaign had ended with him wasting crucial political capital. There will be calls — with considerable merit to them — insisting that Mr Khan use parliament to air his views, or take his case to court. These are all sane suggestions. But the problem is that the PTI leader is not convinced the matter should be left to either of these institutions. Maybe a general election that ends with the decimation of one side … short of that, there is little chance of the PTI giving up its protest.

There is a larger problem. In the democratic debate in Pakistan, there exist many fundamental questions crying out for quick answers. Not least of them is the one pertaining to politicians’ ability to instal a system that can help them find solutions to political disputes arising from time to time. What choices does an opposition have for running a campaign for dislodging a government that it finds incompetent or corrupt? In the past, the opposition would either appeal to the president to fire the prime minister and his government or ask the military chief to take over. The presidential sacking is now constitutionally not possible, whereas the knowledgeable insist that exercising the military option is not as easy as it once was. Pakistanis will have to be patient with politicians and their reactions. The new code will take lots of time to craft.

Published in Dawn, June 26th, 2016