When the PTI took over in 2018 there was an expectation that the deterioration in the level of political discourse that had gone on for the better part of the PML(N)’s tenure, when the party was in opposition, would stop. That has not happened and instead there has been a doubling down of sorts when it comes to the PTI government berating opposition politicians both inside and outside of Parliament. Minister for Aviation Ghulam Sarwar Khan has said that “PML(N) and PPP leaders who had looted the country for 35 years are liable to be murdered.” A year ago, Federal Minister for Water Resources said in a TV talk show that, “Hanging 5,000 people would transform the future of the 220-million strong nation.” A few days later he stated on the National Assembly floor that the ‘corrupt money-launderers (read opposition) should be tied and dragged behind a vehicle before being hanged’. Such statements are a product of years of the same sort of overly-aggressive violence-inducing rhetoric coming from the very top of the PTI that not only encourages its ministers to speak about opponents with the same viciousness but also gives fuel to the party’s many followers and online trolls. These are dangerous words being spoken by senior leaders of the party, endorsed by the Prime Minister, and it would be highly unfortunate, equivalent to an incitement to violence, if an overly-passionate PTI supporter takes these statements literally as instructions to act and attacks an opposition party politician one day.
Politics can never be completely devoid of mud-slinging and slanderous attacks between parties, and certain debates can occasionally get to a point where some things are said that should not have been said but apologies are made and the process moves forward. The atmosphere in Pakistan under the PTI government is quite the opposite with hardly any meaningful debate reaching any logical conclusion, with some very unsavoury and nasty things being said from both sides of the aisle. There is a need to control this practice as it has clearly gotten out of hand and unless a change is made at the top, it will not trickle downwards. However, as things stand, with the opposition and government at each other’s throats, one should only expect more of the same with a scuffle or two inside Parliament to boot.
Deteriorating by the dayWhen the PTI took over in 2018 there was an expectation that the deterioration in the level of political discourse that had gone on for the better part of the PML(N)’
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