Daily Times

With many political heavyweights joining the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), the party chairman Imran Khan has got to be relishing his swelling support. His speech at a rally in Kasur appeared to reflect a sense of growing success and there is no doubt about a momentum there, but what are its implications and consequences? With the new entrants into the party having experience in the political sphere, most of them are nonetheless weather-beaten and are not as impeccable if assessed on their individual histories of corruption and/or repute for dishonesty and opportunism. Imran Khan’s almost exclusive focus has been on fighting corruption and changing the status quo, which requires the untried and deserving candidates to be given a chance to surface in order for these objectives to be fulfilled. However, his admission of the need for electable candidates and welcoming of prominent members with questionable integrity is not only inherently contradictory but also compromising PTI’s mission statement — the driving force behind the huge numbers of supporters that showed up to lend weight to the party at his immensely successful October 30th Lahore rally. The old supporters of the party that have remained loyal to its ideology and stood by Imran Khan through thick and thin for 15 years are beginning to have doubts and reservations vis-à-vis the changing modus operandi of the party, and rightfully so. Imran Khan may have momentum on his side, but there is no denying the onset of rough weather ahead because of the inherent contradiction between his declared aims and the electoral requirement of electable candidates. His success or failure to maintain his credibility and sustained support from the masses is something that only time will reveal.

The post-rally episode is as pertinent to take note of as the rally itself. That the people of Kasur saw an opportunity to gather plastic chairs — worth Rs 1 million according to some assessments — after the rally and get away with as many as they could carry was quite an amusing sight to have witnessed. It was difficult to decide whether to laugh or to cry. Is it not ironic that whereas politics in Pakistan revolves entirely around the procurement of an influential ‘chair’, the deprived and frustrated participants of the rally saw and took advantage of the opportunity offered by thousands of shiny new plastic chairs? Such conduct indicates an increasing trend towards anarchy as it reflects the state of desperation, misery and disillusionment of the people with the former and present incumbents. *