A SENSE of déjà-vu prevails as cases pile up against PTI politicians, many of whom, along with their allies and other PDM critics, are being detained. The latest crackdown started with the arrest of Fawad Chaudhry for allegedly criticising the institutions. Then came the turn of AML chief Sheikh Rashid, who was arrested for accusing PPP leader Asif Zardari of plotting former PM Imran Khan’s murder. Meanwhile, a sedition case was registered against PTI’s Shandana Gulzar, for ‘spreading hatred’ against the institutions. The third arrest was of PDM critic Imran Riaz Khan — a court later ordered his release — also over hate speech accusations.

These arrests and cases against government critics follow the playbook of the PTI when it was in government. Arresting critics, opponents, journalists and dissenters over serious charges like sedition was the hallmark of the PTI regime, which this paper vociferously condemned. Unfortunately, little seems to have changed. The PDM parties protested the treatment meted out to them when in opposition, likening it to a political witch-hunt, but now have resorted to the same excessive force and underhanded tactics. Such tit-for-tat behaviour is expected only of the immature — it certainly has no justification in the world of national politics. The PDM government is perpetuating the same vicious, unjust cycle of treating opponents like common criminals, parading them in handcuffs and surprising them with night-time raids. This pettiness must come to an end. At a time when the government and opposition are required to sit together to address the grave threat posed by terrorists, such vindictiveness is counterproductive. PDM politicians may feel that PTI leaders and those associated with them are getting a taste of their own medicine, but the best revenge, as a wise man once said, is not to be like one’s enemy. Saner elements in the PML-N, such as Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, have publicly spoken against such arrests, and should urge their leaders to think twice before continuing with this viciousness. When in power, Imran Khan claimed that law enforcement was doing its job, and even ‘blamed’ some of the arrests and harassment of journalists on the intel agencies. The PDM cannot hide behind the agencies and get pliant LEAs to do its bidding, otherwise there will be no end to this politics of revenge and Pakistan will continue to cement its reputation as a banana republic.

Published in Dawn, February 4th, 2023