Battlelines drawn between Imran Niazi and Gen Asim Munir in Pakistan

After the supporters of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chief Imran Khan Niazi targeted Pakistan Army and its spearhead institutions in Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa on May 9, the Shehbaz Sharif government is likely to pass a resolution on the Cabinet to try the rioters and their leaders under the Army Act and the Official Secret Act. With Pakistan President and apex judiciary overtly revealing their soft corner towards Niazi and tying the hands of Sharif government, the Pakistan Army under General Asim Munir has started the process of dismantling the PTI and isolating their mercurial leader in the past days. Feeling the heat from the Army and the ISI, described once by former PM Benazir Bhutto as a state within the state, several powerful party office-bearers close to Niazi have either left the party or are in the process of doing so in the coming days.