WASHINGTON: “Enough is enough, this has to stop,” said Waheeda Mani, a PhD in environmental sciences from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Cha­m­­paign. She was one of around 50 people gathered at a market near Washington, known as ‘mini-Pakistan’, on Thursday night to protest against the assassination attempt on PTI chairman and former prime minister Imran Khan.

Dr Mani said she was not a political activist but “felt helpless” and joined the vigil “to let her feelings out”.

The protesters said they were not against any institution, but wanted them to respect people’s rights.

“We want them [the institutions] to know we have feelings too. We want them to respect our rights,” said Junaid Bashir, a local PTI leader.

Another PTI leader, Imran Butt said nothing could justify the attack and demanded that those behind must be brought to justice.

Meanwhile, US scholars of South Asian affairs also debated the attack on social media and commented on its ramification on Pakistan’s politics. They said the attack could also “destabilise the country”.

One such scholar noted Pakistan’s political environment, supercharged for months, has “reached a pivotal and potentially explosive point” after the failed attempt on the former prime minister’s life.

The scholars noted that the two sides — Mr Khan and the government — were refusing to compromise and the military — with a dwindling popularity and impending leadership transition — has lost its leverage too.

Christopher Clary, an associate professor of political science at University of Albany and a fellow at the Stimson Centre, Washington, wrote that Pakistan’s FIA should collect all video footage and photos from the scene to determine who was behind the attempt to kill Imran Khan.

“I also hope someone was taking notes on why the Benazir assassination investigation was never convincing to many Pakistanis and hopefully design an inquiry process that can avoid some of those many mistakes,” he added.

Elizabeth Threlkeld, Director of the South Asia Programme at Stimson Centre, wrote in a tweet that “whatever the motive, there is no room for violence in politics. Not in Pakistan, not in the US, not anywhere”. Wishing a speedy re­covery to Imran Khan and those inj­u­red, she said that this could be “a mom­ent for reflection and reassessment.”

Published in Dawn, November 5th, 2022