NAWAZ Sharif seems to be recovering from the shock of the February election result and asserting himself, perhaps, realising that just as his party can’t do without the support of the establishment, the latter isn’t exactly spoilt for choice either when it comes to civilian partners.

Against the backdrop of diehard PTI and Imran Khan supporter retired Lt-Gen Naeem Khalid Lodhi’s multiple-point ‘reconciliation proposal’ — which received considerable traction in the media, with two major broadsheets carrying his bylined piece on consecutive days — came his jailed leader’s article in UK’s conservative Telegraph newspaper.

Imran Khan’s piece blew to smithereens any idea of reconciliation that the retired general was pushing which, according to the latter, had reached the right military quarters even as he conceded he had not heard back from them. Even if he was being presumptuous, it was a well-meaning move.

In his nine-point proposal, Gen Lodhi called for a ceasefire between all the warring parties in the country and a period of calm reflection. He suggested bringing down the boiling temperature by letting the incumbents stay in office for two years under protest of just black armbands and avoiding more dramatic, potent or disruptive such as public demonstrations.

The politically astute politician scents an opportunity to create more elbow room for his party.

He called for the winding up of court cases, an end to the imprisonment of PTI leaders and cessation of harsh verbal exchanges between rivals. His party leader had other ideas and named........

© Dawn