Having successfully fooled the government and others involved in allowing him to proceed abroad, Nawaz Sharif had kept silent until recently and so had Maryam Safdar. They had hope for more relief or at least permission for Maryam to proceed abroad. In fact, meetings between the army chief and other military high brass at the one end and Zubair Umar on the other, was probably meant to probe such a possibility. However, hopes faded when the army chief advised that Nawaz Sharif & Co., to seek legal remedy from courts and raise political issues before the parliament. Eventually, losing all hope, Nawaz Sharif went berserk.
Shahbaz Sharif, for his part, is likely to hedge his bets while Asif Zardari may also not want to lose his government in Sindh. It is fact that the PML-N lacks street power, and division in the leadership has made matters worse. Moreover, a possible second wave of Covid-19 may further dampen public enthusiasm. In sum total, the PDM poses no real threat to PTI.
The threat to the PTI government comes from within. PM Imran Khan has already instructed his army of spokesmen to fight the opposition tooth and nail, which is about all they seem to be good at. Also, massive increases in drug prices, coming on top of a steep rise in the prices of all essential commodities – with PTI government demonstrating neither the capacity nor the will to control things - is further enraging the masses. The government’s complete insensitivity stands exposed with the PM’s recent statement - in his third year and despite the presence of the so-called ‘tiger force’ - that the government was trying to find the causes for the price-hike.
Imran Khan’s attempts to protect his team-mates from the NAB by claiming that he personally gets all complaints against them investigated, reinforces the opposition’s claim of one-sided accountability. The army chief’s recent statement that the country was going in the right direction may be claimed by Imran Khan as a blanket endorsement of his policies and governance. Surely, the armed forces’ support for Imran Khan cannot and must not be unqualified.
Being fed up with the massive corruption of the PML-N and the PPP, the masses saw some hope in Imran Khan. Even so, he could not win even a simple majority and had to seek coalition partners. However, he cannot continue to keep fooling people with his gimmicks, the latest of which is to ask his aides to work out a roadmap to end stunting of children in Pakistan, for which there is no simple, one-step remedy. At the same time, he wants Pakistan to emerge as a global power. Whoever heard of a stunted global power?
Displaying dictatorial tendencies, the PTI has already passed the Pakistan Islands Development Authority (PIDA) Ordinance, 2020. President Arif Alvi contacted real estate tycoon Malik Riaz, businessmen Aqeel Karim Dedhi and Arif Habib regarding the development of Bundal and Buddu Islands, without doing environmental and other studies in respect of the project. The project had already been rejected in the Musharraf and Zardari eras for various reasons, including objections by courts.
There is no doubt that the Imran Khan experience has failed and there is no hope of improvement while Imran Khan remains in the top position, surrounded by, and defending his team-mates, some of whom are being accused of corruption, coupled with bad governance. In these circumstances, even an in-house change will not solve problems. A fresh election has, therefore, become unavoidable, but even that will improve things only if it is free, fair and transparent and without any outside intervention whatsoever.
Of course, the eligibility of the prospective candidates must be thoroughly vetted so as to keep out criminals and convicted persons. Hopefully, in the meantime, the Supreme Court would have ordered a duly empowered local government for Karachi and the rest of the country. Hopefully, the Karachi population will also be accurately counted, giving the city its fair share in the country’s financial resources as well as the deserved number of seats in the Parliament. Perhaps, this way, there could be a better government and a worthwhile opposition which will together legislate to restructure political parties on the right lines, and prevent them from becoming mafias.
Also, the goal of punishing corrupt politicians and recovering stolen money has become almost impossibility. Perhaps the plea-bargain mechanism should be encouraged and reasonable offers accepted. 
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