Pakistan Democratic Movement where all top political leaders of Pakistan are together against Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan. PDM is quite active and vocal in spreading their narrative against the incumbent government. But how this narrative PDM trying to push is actually helping Imran Khan?
The government will be able to strengthen its relationship with the establishment at this time when PDM is wasting time in attacking them.
Lack of substance
Imran Khan is living his life in a pattern where he always comes stronger after every crisis; Pakistan Democratic Movement lacks substance in its ideology and stance. Why would the people of Pakistan believe them when they will not make sense to their own argument? PDM created a historic moment in Multan Jalsa where Maryam Nawaz blamed the establishment for disqualification of Yousaf Raza Gillani while he was standing next to her.
It was quite astonishing to see that PDM leaders think people of Pakistan have weak memories because Nawaz Sharif was a petitioner against Yousaf Raza Gillani in his disqualification, which Maryam was blaming on the establishment. Even if the establishment was involved in a disqualification case, still Nawaz Sharif is equally responsible for it.
Read more: PDM Lahore Jalsa: How big a threat for IK government?
Tale of Nepotism
PDM often gets criticized for being a group of kids trying to save what their fathers did in the past by doing a politically arranged marriage. Maryam Nawaz and Bilawal Bhutto were leading this campaign which was totally the reason to drop cases against Nawaz Sharif and Asif Zardari, otherwise, they would not have tried to bargain with Imran Khan during the FATF bill issue in the National Assembly by removing 35 out of 37 NAB laws.
Now with Aseefa Bhutto joining politics and getting launched, which for the record was not the first time she was launched. She was quite active in Sindh during the 2018 general elections especially in Lyari for PPP candidates who later got less vote than the TLP candidate. With Aseefa’s launch, PDM has actually made this argument of being nothing but a desperate effort to save the sinking boat of Nawaz Sharif and Asif Ali Zardari very strong despite how some people are finding it ‘Cool’.
PDM created a historic moment in Multan Jalsa where Maryam Nawaz blamed the establishment for disqualification of Yousaf Raza Gillani while he was standing next to her.
Attack on Army:
The Pakistan Democratic Movement is confused regarding their stance on the army, one section in PDM (the Nawaz sharif side) is ready to name and blame, and other side (rest of PDM) feels they don’t need to attack individuals but use the word ‘establishment’. The confusion has led them even to throw Mohsin Dawar out of this movement, which was quite sad for some pseudo-liberals in Pakistan. This confusion of attacking the army is making the people of Pakistan think that what these arranged married political parties have done over the years.
It forces people to think about how Nawaz Sharif joined politics. How did he become Chief Minister of Punjab? How a businessman became a politician overnight? How PPP and PMLN kept toppling each other governments back in days. What’s happening in 2020 might be an evolution process according to Ishaq Dar, but in reality, if any of these PDM leaders gets a green signal of support from the establishment today, they will throw their narrative of ‘Civilian Supremacy’ in the dustbin.
Read more: PML-N’s lawmakers contacting PTI ahead of December 13 rally?
Politics on Corona:
PDM is playing with fire by continuing to hold gatherings during the second wave. Firstly by continuing to ask people to join their gathering while one of their prime leaders Bilawal Bhutto is suffering from corona and was unable to attend his sister’s engagement. More PDM will continue to hold gatherings during this second corona wave, more dangerous it will keep getting, and eventually, people will stop coming to Jalsa, which actually happened during Peshawar Jalsa.
PDM created a historic moment in Multan Jalsa where Maryam Nawaz blamed the establishment for disqualification of Yousaf Raza Gillani while he was standing next to her.
Eventually, it will lead to a lack of public presence, which PDM would not want when they’re trying to achieve something out of nothing. Politics on Corona can be extremely harmful for this movement; if leaders of PDM don’t understand it they should study US elections. Trump might still have won the election if it was not for his lack of seriousness on Corona. He was living on the edge with his racist remarks with 90% of American media opposing him; politics on corona put a huge dent on Trump’s chances in elections.
Now with this entire happening around and with PDM, they will make the government stronger. The government will be able to strengthen its relationship with the establishment at this time when PDM is wasting time in attacking them.
Fahad Qureshi is a MPhil scholar, analyst, and journalist with an expertise in national and international politics. He can be reached at thefahadqureshi@gmail.com, or Twitter: @iamFahadqureshi. The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Global Village Space.