Daily Times

Mian Iftikharuddin was a notable politician and philanthropist from Punjab. Originally in the Congress Party, Iftikharuddin was very close to Nehru and his family. However, in the mid-1940s, he was convinced by Jinnah to join the Muslim League, which he did to balance out the feudal and capitalist classes that dominated the League. He also started in January 1947 the left-leaning newspaper of the Muslim League, The Pakistan Times, whose first editor was Faiz Ahmed Faiz. After 1947, Mian Iftikharuddin became the Minister for Rehabilitation of Refugees. To his credit he was one of the few Muslim Leaguers who opposed the Objectives Resolution. He left the League and founded the Azad Pakistan Party. This Azad Pakistan Party was later merged into Abdul Ghaffar Khan’s Pakistan People’s Organisation to form the National Awami Party (NAP). Ultimately, NAP was divided into the Wali Khan and Bhashani factions but that came later.

Meanwhile, H S Suhrawardy merged his Awami Muslim League into Mamdot’s Jinnah Muslim League to form the Jinnah Awami Muslim League. This party is in power in Bangladesh today as the Awami League. Dr Khan Sahib, Ghaffar Khan’s brother, chose a permutation of his own. He joined Feroze Khan Noon of the Muslim League to form the Republican Party, the original king’s party in Pakistan’s politics.

The idea is not to give you a history lesson but to place in proper perspective what I am going to propose next. The Taliban threat to the Awami National Party, Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) has all but crippled them in their election campaigns. It has now become increasingly clear that these three parties face a clear and present danger that is common to all three. Is it not time then to merge these three great parties into one Awami Mutahidda People’s Party, a left-leaning secular political party that would be dedicated to federalism, pluralism and democracy in Pakistan?

The reason why this would be a non-starter is obvious. It is not easy to break from the cosy comforts of your present political base. All three of these parties are — with all due respect — cultish in the approach to leadership. It is for this reason that Asfandyar Wali Khan would never abandon his Pashtun identity politics even though in a greater political alliance that brings under its banner the leftist, progressive and sub-nationalist elements in Pakistan lies the only chance Asfandyar Wali Khan has of ever becoming a prime minister in Pakistan. Asif Ali Zardari having masterly controlled the PPP and brought it in line with his own whims and desires would be unwilling to give up his position of power and influence. Besides what then would become of Benazir Bhutto’s will? The MQM is the only party that may give it serious thought but is likely to reject it because its politics is still confined to Karachi despite its attempts to expand its base. So the idea of a great secular liberal party united under one flag and promising so much to all its beneficiaries remains a non-starter. This is precisely why I would not be voting for any of them, i.e. their political dogmas make their stated objectives hard to achieve.

Meanwhile new configurations are happening from the far right to the centre and why not? Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) now commands enormous popularity and means all things to all people. To his credit though, Khan has managed to emerge as a better option because of the alternatives available. He is all things to everyone but only to an extent. For the mullahs, he is religious but only in his own way. For the new radicalised middle class, Khan is an ultra-nationalist, but he does not want war with India. To many liberals, he is someone who is somewhat of a liberal but he is not a secularist. To the anti-imperialists, he is an anti-imperialist, but he will not break ties with the US. In doing so he has large pockets of support in every segment all across the spectrum. In many ways, given Pakistan’s overall rightward trend in politics since the 1980s, Khan is the new centre, but his centre is supported by elements that may not be all that centrist. Come May 11, it is increasingly becoming clear that those coming out to vote will range from ultra-modern Defence ladies to madrassa students. One particular segment that will vote as a bloc for the PTI are the armed forces. This and given the fact that three major parties will be unable to mobilise their voters, do not be surprised if you find Khan heading to the prime minister’s house very soon.

I wonder if that would be such a bad thing for liberals, given that they have always been betrayed by the so-called secular and liberal parties, especially the PPP. The liberals must realise that they have to fight a very important battle in the nation’s courts, the media and its parliamentary institutions regardless of who comes to power in the centre. Perhaps an Imran Khan victory will give the beleaguered liberal and secular parties reason to get their own house in order.

The writer is a lawyer based in Lahore and the author of the book Jinnah: Myth and Reality. He can be contacted via twitter @therealylh and through his email address yasser.hamdani@gmail.com