It is not short of a small miracle that a third force was not just able to appear and secure itself on Pakistan’s political stage, but also win power and complete its own quarter century quite successfully. Everybody knows that it was Imran Khan’s personal ambition and desire to put the motherland on the path to equitable growth that was responsible for the creation and subsequent success of Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf (PTI). Yet for the longest time the party was kept confined to the political wilderness, despite Khan’s personal charm and celebrity appeal. And it wasn’t until the landmark 2011 procession in Lahore that political pundits and commentators started taking him as a serious force.
It was widely thought from that moment till the next general election that PTI would from the government in 2013. Yet it was not to be. In fact that general election and especially the way PTI pursued allegations of rigging against PML-N opened quite a can of worms that played no small part in making the overall political atmosphere more toxic than it has usually been in this country. Still, PTI’s dogged perusal of the rigging allegation as well as the Panama issue when it hit the headlines finally brought a sense of victory to Imran Khan when the Supreme Court disqualified then prime minister Nawaz Sharif. The tide turned and the next election in 2018 saw PTI as the winning party, 22 long years after the struggle started in the mid-1990s.
Imran Khan’s first speech as prime minister was right on the money and touched people up and down the country who really believed that a new Pakistan had indeed dawned. Yet matters of governance and service delivery have taken the shine off the party ever since. It seems not long after coming to power the party turned all its attention to trying opposition politicians on corruption charges; even if it meant putting everything else on the back burner. And that is precisely what happened. Everything that matters very directly to the people, like inflation especially very expensive food items, governance, jobs, economy, etc, has been ignored and there has been a single minded obsession, of sorts, with blaming everything on previous administrations and snapping out the “No NRO” mantra no matter what question is asked to anybody in government at this time. The PM’s team selection, which was expected to be impeccable, also left a little something to be desired. All in all, after defying all the odds the party hasn’t exactly lived up to expectations since coming to power. And now that the required rate has risen very sharply the remainder of PTI’s term in power will test the captain’s nerves, stamina and will power. It doesn’t seem very likely that he can still pull a miracle, but considering that he has always been lucky and managed to prove his critics wrong more often than not, the jury is still out on his credentials as prime minister. *