Daily Times

August marks the birth of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. It signifies political struggle and victory. Unfortunately, today Pakistanis are torn between celebrating the political success of the past and mourning the political failures of the present. The current energy in the political atmosphere is making waves, and a particular someone is ready to make the sparks fly.

Imran Khan orchestrated an epic 126-day sit-in in the capital two years ago, which was aborted after the horrifying Army Public School attack. Khan had to bid his container-addressing days farewell, as his political agenda was dwarfed by the magnitude of the terror attack. The government, of course, took this opportunity to gloat at what they believed were the shattering remains of Khan’s aura of invincibility. Khan’s challengers hoped the abrupt end to a tedious dharna (sit-in) signalled the dwindling of his political stamina, but before Khan’s opponents are heartened by government’s “triumph” they mustn’t underestimate the potential of the current political activity because the reason for its ignition isn’t a personal one: the Panama issue is a national hard limit.

The Panama leaks have in no doubt breathed new life into the fatigued and crippled demand for change of the current regime. But does Khan have it in him to achieve his objective to rescue Pakistan from this whirlwind of corruption? It would be rather absurd if we illustrated him as Pakistan’s man of steel. Let’s snap out of the superhero fetish and separate fact from fiction, and the fact is that Imran Khan is human, and all human beings are fallible. Khan’s fallibility was highlighted during his dharna days when one wrong political decision rolled into another. There is no doubt that when talking about Khan, his dominant personality trait is his charisma, which entraps us to believe that he will make a dynamic leader who can inspire and lead the masses.

But his dharna performance makes us question whether charisma alone can lead to success. Is having a dominant personality that others instinctively follow necessarily a good thing? Charisma can be as much as a liability as an asset if not nurtured properly. This particular strength of Khan’s personality did sow the seeds of political problems during the sit-in. He challenged every political force in parliament, a move that was clearly political narcissism. Asking for resignation from assemblies without careful deliberation was juvenile politics; the half-baked strategies with regard to the end game after reaching Islamabad compromised his movement; and his call for civil disobedience to date makes no sense whatsoever. Further, Khan had cornered himself between the demand of the prime minister’s resignation and the need to puncture his ego and settle for something less. Lastly, there was the acceptance of a judicial commission for Terms of Reference.

Although politically, Khan came off a little shaky in his first take, we hope that he has understood that his charisma should not allow it to be directly correlated to how he believes in leading the people. Pakistan has seen its fair share of people in leadership positions who are far from charismatic, and on the contrary, are both introverted and self-serving. Nawaz Sharif’s political dance in and out of parliament was a sight for sore eyes; the dharna may have exposed Khan’s political immaturity, but the real treat was to watch the ruling party’s arrogant and cavalier political attitude dissipate. The 126-day sit-in became a living nightmare for the ruling party; the impenetrable political persona of the prime minister rapidly began to crack; the haughty smirk he regularly wore was wiped clean from his face and replaced with a pleading smile for support. Despite two-thirds majority he was compelled to reevaluate his political strength, and ended up needing those political crutches, after all.

Sharif’s call for a joint parliament session showed us all how political principles could be diluted purely for the sake of promoting a contrived political unity. The prime minister compromised democratic ethics by making appetising offers to the friendly opposition, and the recipients of the gifted positions and rewards expressed their gratitude in parliament by hailing the government in its rebuttal against Khan. Some matched the eccentricity of their get-up with their exaggerated scripted speeches, while others articulated their distaste towards the establishment vicariously through the dharna.

Amongst all this parliamentary entertainment, one truly disturbing incident took place that allowed us to see the ugly extent to which a ruling party would go to uphold its parliamentary supremacy even if it meant emasculating a loyal party worker’s political virtue. The integrity, respect and political reputation of a senior member who is a federal minister of the Pakistan League Muslim-Nawaz (PML-N) government came under attack by a senior member, also a senator, of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP).

The PPP was relishing Sharif’s dependency on their support, and therefore, they released merciless attacks on the cabinet. The helplessness of the PML-N leadership added to PPP’s revelry; such desperation for power is pitiful, and so is latching on to an opportunity to claw your way back into a powerful position even if it works out to be detrimental to your loyal colleagues. Therefore, the space given to the establishment in foreign affairs and internal security didn’t come as much of a surprise; in the desire to stay in power a self-imposed, soft coup was facilitated.

For those who say that Khan is not a legitimate threat aren’t fooling anyone but themselves. Sharif is rummaging through options that would give him enough supply of power till the next general election. Sharif would undoubtedly continue to brew a favourable outcome of the impending political activity; his prime target would be to reiterate to the PPP the injurious effects of going against the government. It was writing on the wall that PPPs initial enthusiasm would fizzle out once clobbered with the realisation that their party was completely shackled by corruption itself. Political suicide is certainly not on PPP’s to-do list, and therefore Khan may have to face this one on his own.

After 70 years of achieving independence from the British rule, it is ironic to see our countrymen still yearning for independence. It is a far more depressing struggle to witness since it begs for independence from within, as successive corrupt leadership seems to have mortgaged Pakistan’s honour to its insatiable greed. Today’s date plays a pivotal role in Pakistani politics as it may go down in history as the beginning of new beginnings or the beginning of an end. We can only wait and see which way the pendulum swings.

The writer is a media professional, and can be reached at ybmirza@gmail.com