Pakistan is ‘dangerously’ near to civil conflict : Mustafa Khokhar.

KARACHI: Former Senator Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar has warned that the present scenario in Pakistan is “dangerously” close to civil war.

He said on Friday that the credibility of the institutions, including parliament, as well as politics, has gone as the nation is in political chaos.

“I have been drawing attention to this dangerous situation from the platform of Reimagining Pakistan,” said Khokhar, who left the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) in December last year, only weeks after resigning as a senator.

Mustafa Khokhar believes that Pakistan is perilously near to civil conflict.
The outspoken lawmaker blamed Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan, the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), and the establishment for the country’s current position.

To prevent Pakistan from becoming a failed state, he believes all parties must convene quickly.

Political upheaval
Pakistan has been mired in what can only be described as “unprecedented” political and economic turmoil in recent days. While the country’s economic and political troubles are not new, things took a dramatic turn on May 9 when paramilitary soldiers arrested the PTI chairman from the grounds of the Islamabad High Court on the orders of the country’s anti-graft organisation, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).

The forces burst through the windows of the IHC’s biometric section and arrested Khan in a spectacular fashion. The arrest was later pronounced “legal” by the Supreme Court.

The former prime minister was then driven to the NAB headquarters in Rawalpindi.

As soon as the news circulated, PTI employees and sympathisers flocked to the streets in increasingly violent rallies throughout the nation.

As the protests that killed at least nine people and injured many more erupted into attacks on government and army properties, such as the General Headquarters (GHQ) in Rawalpindi, the building that housed Radio Pakistan in Peshawar, and the core commander’s house in Lahore, the government retaliated by shutting down social media platforms and blocking cellular phone data.

Undaunted, the protestors persisted, pronouncing Khan’s detention a “red line” that must not be crossed. The administrations of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) then stated that the army would be sent to the provinces to assist with the growing violence.

Following the horrible events, various nations and worldwide organisations expressed their worry about the country’s condition.

During this time, Pakistan’s currency plunged to a record low of Rs 300 per dollar, disrupting daily life as schools and businesses stayed closed, putting more pressure to an already stressed economy.

On May 11, however, a Supreme Court panel headed by Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial ruled that Khan’s detention was “illegal.”

Yesterday, the PTI chairman received sweeping relief from the IHC, which banned police from detaining the ousted prime minister in any instance till Monday morning.

While the rallies have subsided, the conflict between the PTI and the present administration is far from finished.