Declining foreign direct investment, rampaging short term inflation, aggravated political turmoil post May 9 Imran Niazi’s party instigated.
Attack on military institutions and a spike in terrorist related fatalities, the Islamic Republic of Pakistan today is at total war with itself with constitutional institutions playing part in the rot.
The Pakistan Army stands humiliated by the image of its then Lahore Corps Commander Lt Gen Salman Fayyaz Ghanni pleading before the PTI rioters on May 9 to spare Jinnah House, the commander’s residence, and his family.
While Ghanni was thrown out for his cowardice, his replacement apparently refused to take up the job of the most powerful Corps Commander in Pakistan, signaling a divide within the Army over action on Niazi. The new Lahore Corps Commander is Lt Gen Syed Aamer Raza.
The Army under General Asim Munir has now retaliated and is booking PTI politicians and rioters, who even desecrated the statutes of Pakistan war heroes, under the stringent Army Act and Official Secret Act in order to bypass a judiciary which is overtly soft on Niazi and his erstwhile troopers.
The process of isolation of Niazi has begun with top leaders of PTI abandoning the former cricketer and there is a strong possibility that the PTI party, once upon a time darling of Rawalpindi GHQ, will be banned.