The Dilemma of Grand Opposition Alliance

Amid of political crisis, a new political allies has been formally announced on 13th April 2024: led by Pakhtunkwa Milli Awamy Party’s (PkMAP) supremo, Mahmud Kahn Achakzai, to kick off country wide protest for the restoration of democracy. Along with PkMAP, the Grant Opposition Alliance also includes: Pakistan Tahreek Insaf (PTI), Jammiat Islamic (JI), Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC), Majlis Wahdat Muslimeen (MWM) and the Balochistan National Party- Mangal (BAP-M). They aimed to protect the rule of law, civil supremacy and to protest against the alleged massive ragging in the February 8 elections. Achakzi says in his press conference: ‘they are against the political role of Army as it is the violation of the spirit of the constitution.

Despite their warm gestures, the external and internal rifts among political parties will challenge them in upcoming days. PTI seems as the pivot of the drive, nonetheless, owing to the absence of their central leaderships, particularly, the founder-father Imran Khan, the party itself is muddling with leadership crisis, and also the struggle of power between the former office bearers, and the new faces- lawyers, who have surfaced as severer for Khan and his party after the May 9 Tragedy. Moreover, the political mistrusts among the parties can’t be ignored, as the BAP-M and PkMAP have contributed to topple Khan’s regime in 2022 and also have given legal and political legitimacy to the non-political actors to intervene in political and executive affairs to usurp the political power of PTI. Moreover, SIC and MWM are primarily deemed as religiously motivated factions having minimal political acumen and social recognition which will test the other parties to develop political cohesion. Lastly, massive political mobilization and gathering look bleak in near future, due to the hyperactive role of non-democratic forces in state affairs, even one of the major parties has yet failed to get permission for a political activity in Islamabad from the local administrations despite the High Court verdicts.

People, more importantly, political analysts are quite sceptic about the outcomes of the newly formed opposition group because of the past experiences and the prevailing conflicts within the interests of the allies’ members. However, political platforms like the grand opposition allies become inevitable to fix the various crises such as, exacerbating political culture, jeopardizing institutional harmony and the increasing social distrusts.