Daily Times

We grew up hearing about the credibility and achievements of Imran Khan. From cricket to establishing a cancer hospital, Khan was globally acknowledged, and well respected, even within his opposition, i.e.  Pakistan Muslim League Noon (PML-N).

Like myself, the majority of the youth idealised Khan for his candour, his stand for deprived segments of  society, and his firm belief in youth empowerment. That’s the reason that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) got a massive number of votes from the youth.

We saw the youth fight tooth and nail for Imran. They didn’t just vote, they made sure their own family and friends did too. This effort is what led to PTI’s landslide victory in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The majority of PTI candidates were neither “electables” nor rich. But they still won over the opposition because people were tired of testing the same old parties.

When PTI took charge of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, this was a historic time signifying Khan’s popularity and support among the people, which he received through the pure struggle of his “non-electable” diehard workers.

Back then not a single worker protested in front of Bani Gala when PTI distributed tickets for the elections because the workers and supporters had confidence in Khan’s credibility and clean nature. However, the situation started changing in 2014 when PTI staged protests against the sitting government and the parliament at large. A culture of massive abuses and baseless allegations developed. Many non-PTI prime-time celebrities used PTI’s platform to abuse their political opponents.

I knew many diehard PTI colleagues who stood with the party’s decision in every distressing situation. They sacrificed their employment, their family time and their businesses to contribute to real change in Pakistan. They had faith in Khan’s credibility more than Khan himself did.

Khan’s dream of becoming the prime minister might come true — but he will walk towards the throne on a path made by the very same electables against whom he started his political career

Najiullah Khattak, who acted as advisor to the chief minister on media and assisted the party’s elites, sacrificed day and night for the party. I always learned the art of convincing others from him. Naji, after a decade of service for the party, finally decided to contest elections from PK 73 Peshawar. This is the constituency where he grew up and had a large circle of friends and supporters. He sacrificed his job at an international organisation. However, his years of confidence and faith in the leadership shattered in days when his application was rejected, and a non-PTI “electable” was allotted the party ticket for PK-73. PTI has lost hundreds of its diehard supporters and workers. Khan’s recent clarification on electables and his election strategy has surprised the vast majority of his supporters who either will continue supporting him on social media or will never try to vote for change again.

Around 70 per cent of the electable candidates that PTI has recently inducted come from either PML-N or Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP). The two parties that the people wanted to get rid of so desperately have found a way to seep into PTI’s politics. And the same people who said never again are now ready to welcome them with open arms.

Khan’s dream of becoming the prime ministermight come true -but he will walk towards the throne on a path made by the very same electable candidates against whom he started his political career.

We can forget about the change we were promised. God bless Pakistan and long live morality in politics.

The writer is media and communications professional with experience as elections observer both in Pakistan and outside

Published in Daily Times, July 7^th 2018.