Why could PTI not Manage TLP Challenge?

There is no NCOC for TLP. This unfortunate point was brought home repeatedly in the last three days; as violent cadres of the TLP unleashed mayhem across the length and breadth of the country. In the absence of a National Command and Operations Centre for such situations — recall the centralized control and decisive action from the NCOC for Covid-19 — the government appeared adrift.

In fact, it was absent. Somewhere deep within the bowels of the Red Zone; men and women of power dithered, and vacillated, and dillydallied, untethered as they were from the steel frame of a hierarchical, clearly demarcated, and un-overlapping decision-making structure.

In other words, most were clueless about who was in charge of what. This particular governance ailment is now acquiring an air of quasi-deliberate permanence within the federal government. It is cause for deep concern.

The government waited and waited as the TLP cut off motorways, blocked highways, vandalized public property, smashed cars, thrashed and even killed policemen, and held normalcy hostage for three days; yes, the government waited, and watched, and stayed silent; even the most voluble brigade of spokespersons — in face of this anarchy. In Islamabad, high officials and their political bosses struggled to hide their nervousness under the garb of silence.

They did so because most of them were at least savvy enough to recognize the cluck cluck cluck of their chickens coming home to roost. Retreat into the oblivious comfort of the Red Zone is often the preferred option for rulers in such inconvenient circumstances. PTI did not disappoint.