Prime Minister Imran Khan said in the run-up to the no confidence motion against him that he was not the type to throw in the towel early and dug deep into his days as a cricketer to declare that the game was not over until the last ball had been bowled. That last ball turned out to be the National Assembly’s ruling on Sunday that the no confidence motion, submitted early in March, went against a provision of the constitution demanding all citizens’ loyalty to the state. After this ruling, Khan pulled up stumps by dissolving the National Assembly and the four provincial assemblies, and declaring that he would seek a fresh mandate from the people at elections. He now equates the political moves against his government as a conspiracy against Pakistan itself.
Whichever way the verdict goes, it seems as if the ultimate resolution of this political showdown does lie in an election. Until then, Pakistan seems set for a prolonged period of political uncertainty. In the midst of all this, it is yet too early to arrive at definite conclusions about the significance of the remarks of the Pakistan Army chief, General Qamar Javed Bajwa, that Islamabad wants to resolve the Kashmir issue through dialogue and diplomacy, particularly as his outreach seemed to indicate that the India-China border dispute and the Kashmir issue are linked. However, as he pointed out, and as has been stated by Indian Army chief General M M Naravane as well, the Line of Control is quiet after the two armies arrived at an agreement last year reaffirming their commitment to the 2003 ceasefire. This gives hope that once matters settle down in Pakistan, there can be some forward movement in a relationship that has been frozen for far too long.
