PTI walks tightrope as it prepares for fresh street push

With the political horizon darkening, the PTI appears to be searching for an off-ramp to buy itself some breathing space, with some in the party claiming that their overtures are currently limited to taking careful calibrated position on security issues – an attempt to send subtle signals in the hope that the establishment picks up on these cues and meets it halfway. The party's central information secretary, however, has categorically rejected any such reading. At the same time, PTI seems to be hedging its bets. The party is expected to roll out another street movement - earlier announced by K-P Chief Minister Sohail Afridi - and has summoned its parliamentarians to Peshawar, where the contours of the campaign are likely to be drawn. However, the announcement has stirred unease within the ranks, as many see it as treading a well-worn path, as similar exercises over the past three years have yielded little more than sound and fury. Afridi, along with PTI Secretary General Salman Akram Raja and Asad Qaiser, is expected to lead the deliberations. Party Central Information Secretary Sheikh Waqas Akram said he was not privy to the plan finalised by the K-P CM and his team. Speaking about the party's posturing on foreign policy issues, he said that party decisions are taken in the best interest of the country. This thought did not even cross our minds when these policy decisions were being finalised. He said that the party would continue its democratic struggle within the ambit provided to it by Imran Khan. He added that Imran Khan himself had on several occasions made it clear that they were not against state interests in any way and that the party fully owned state institutions. However, he stressed that this should not be conflated with the party's recently adopted policy. However, a leader from Punjab, speaking to The Express Tribune on condition of anonymity, said that in K-P the party had differences with the establishment over dealings with Afghanistan, but once the government took a definitive position, it openly backed the state's actions. Additionally, he said, the party also welcomed the government's mediation efforts between Iran and the US. According to him, this was PTI's way of signalling to the establishment that it was time to end any misgivings. He further conceded that Tehreek-e-Tahafuz Aain-e-Pakistan had not given PTI any breakthrough on any front whatsoever. He said that the existing party leadership, titular in every sense of the word, had very limited authority in taking key policy decisions, and therefore, nothing significant was expected from them either. He added that PTI's only available bargaining chip was its ability to restore the establishment's tainted credibility among the masses. Another leader from the central leadership conceded that there were growing concerns about the party's political future in the next elections. He said that even if the establishment were to accord PTI an open field today, it would still take the party twelve to eighteen months to resolve its multi-layered legal battles, meaning that the window for a comeback in the next elections was rapidly closing. He added that, in his understanding, PTI could not even approach the establishment given the ever-growing gulf between them. He further said that several leaders wanted active mediation efforts to be initiated at some level.