Daily Times

Currently, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) mirrors the image of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP)and Pakistan Muslim League- Noon(PML-N) as it has been flooded with electable candidates from both the status-quo parties. The electoral list of final candidates for some 173 odd constituencies mainly consists of defectors. Its own ideological workers are awarded just 25seats in a recently published list. While around 148 seats have been bestowed upon the ones who broke their pledge with previous parties.

What’s more, if we ponder over PTI’s core ideology then it’s mainly to stamp out rampant corruption, leave alone its narrow understanding of this term, and introducing a system via which the big fish would be netted in. Moreover, it also states ad nauseam that reforms would be brought in to reinvigorate the system.

The important question to be asked is how any change can be expected when Imran Khan’s team is filled with hand-me-downs. Who would guarantee that they wouldn’t rebel against any law that can also prey on them? More importantly if they rebel then what will be PTI’s back-up plan?

That being said, what about the old party workers, have they committed a serious mistake by standing beside PTI during darker times? Aren’t they more reliable than the ones who landed into the party through a parachute? They would raise questions regarding the contribution and reliability criteria of the chosen ones. They are the ones who sweated blood for the enlargement of the party. Now when the time came to reward them for their lifelong struggle, they are side-lined. This is sheer injustice.

What about the old party workers? Have they committed a serious mistake by standing
beside PTI during its darker times? Aren’t they more reliable than the candidates who landed
into the party through a parachute?

Sympathetically, one can suggest that PTI need to revisit its list of candidates in order to adjust its ideological workers. It may not bear the results that they want but it will help PTI in keeping itself intact. For it will breathe a new life into party by setting its core workers into motion. Besides, it should focus on burning social issues rather than banking on the out-and-out strength of electable candidates. The downside of relying on electable candidates is that they are the least reliable. They thrive in defection so expect it from them in future as well.

This policy of electable candidates has distorted the real face of PTI, which people considered a silver lining amidst a dark night before 2013 general elections. Further, it also resulted in hacking away at its vote bank. As people argue that they have plenty of such candidates in status-quo parties, then why vote for PTI?

At the end, PTI has become a den of defectors from status quo parties. PTI is essentially issuing a clean chit to the very people it was supposed to fight against.

The party should focus on issues that plague the general public rather than weighing the impact of electable candidates in the areas they are trying to win over. At present, one won’t be wrong if one calls IK’s party as PPP-PML-N cum PTI.

The writer can be contacted at asifmahsud44@yahoo.com

Published in Daily Times, June 24^th 2018.