Daily Times

It is not winning that matters, it is participation that matters. These words were uttered by a lady, Dr Sania Nazir Chaudhry, who contested for the office of Central President Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI). She lost the election to Makhdoom Javed Hashmi. With that the PTI has shown that it is open to party workers to let them contest for the positions they think they deserve. The participation of a lady worker in the intra-party elections militates not only against the tendency of dynastic politics but also against the trend of feudal politics. In fact, both keep on suppressing women from taking part in elections unless there is a need to substitute a fake degree-holder feudal lord as an electoral contestant.

The chance of participation in the intra-party elections evokes a response in party workers to perform better next time and wait for the next intra-party elections. The latter point keeps workers attached to the political party and do not let them get disappointed with it and its future. Instead of enticing people into becoming party workers by doling out money and sweets, the PTI adopted a policy of engaging people to be its party workers and, hence, have stakes in the success and loss of the party. When people share stakes in a political party, they remain faithful and committed. This is one of the reasons that have provided the bulk of workers to the party as witnessed at the Minar-e-Pakistan, Lahore on 23rd of March, 2013.

The countrywide intra-party elections of the PTI are over. Through them, the PTI has demonstrated that there are two democratic rights of a Pakistani: first, the right to cast a vote and, second, the right to contest elections. By conducting the intra-party elections, the PTI has tried to convince people to exercise their both rights in the forthcoming general elections.

The PTI now stands for the empowerment of its party workers including women. The participation of women in intra-party elections is another area the PTI has excelled in. This point has two implications: first, women party workers get trained democratically to contest elections first at the intra-party level, and then at local, provincial or national levels, and second, women party workers also take democratic traditions along to their homes to introduce democracy in the institution of family. Hence, the empowerment of women at the party level also means the emancipation of women at both national and family levels. Pakistan is in need of that effect.

The strength in the PTI’s dream of Naya (new) Pakistan lies in its openness to women, minorities and the middle class. Those sections of society that remained in seclusion in the past also share the PTI’s dream of a new Pakistan. Add the youth in this equation and feel the strength of the PTI. The concept of Naya Pakistan propounded by the PTI revolves essentially around women empowerment, minority protection and the youth mobilisation.

The way democracy has evolved in Pakistan since 2008 is quite encouraging. Not event-based politics but performance-based politics has been introduced. That is, an election at the provincial or national level is not just an electoral event that occurs to be forgotten later on but an election is a means to introduce an era in which an electoral winner has to perform. The PTI is poised to take on this product of evolved democracy.

Other political parties call the PTI’s electoral strength speculative; however, the PTI considers its electoral strength prospective. Certainly, the PTI has utilised the tool of text messaging to its benefit. The recorded voice message of the PTI’s Chairman Imran Khan was also a new technique to convince the listeners to attend the rally at the Minar-e-Pakistan on the 23rd of March. The crowd gathering success of the PTI has unnerved other politicians who are now keen to stage at least one crowd-gathering event at the Minar-e-Pakistan to prove their electoral worth. It means that the venue will keep on inviting all political parties to show their electoral strength to at least Lahorites for the full month of April.

Apparently, Khan has been trying to hit the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) hard through his words. By so doing, he must be thinking of capturing a few seats from Lahore, the heartland of Punjab, but the real contender of the PTI is the Pakistan People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPP-P). The PPP-P is the real contender if the PTI thinks of sweeping the forthcoming general elections. The battleground will be the rural constituencies of both Punjab and Sindh. In the rural areas of Pakistan, women are still oppressed and the youth is mostly illiterate and ignorant. The deprivation of both women and the youth mean that they are acquiescent to feudal trends in society and they may not think of the PTI in terms of finding in it a better option to improve their lot. People inhabiting the rural areas still believe that the slogans of roti, kapra aur makan (bread, cloth and shelter) raised by the late Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto can be materialised once a true PPP-P comes into power. How can it be possible to make the rural folk disillusioned with the Bhutto’s slogans is a real challenge before the PTI.

The second important challenge the PTI is bound to face is whether or not it can break the shackles of ‘electables’ propped up by its rival parties. The strength of both the PML-N and the PPP-P lie in having both electables and party popularity simultaneously. The PTI has escaped by-elections and is relying heavily on its popularity. However, electables are considered like a guarantee card for a political party to win seats. Will the PTI be able to frustrate this phenomenon, even in cities, is yet to be seen. If the PTI overcomes these two challenges, the horizon of its new Pakistan will expand further.

The writer is a freelance columnist and can be reached at qaisarrashid@yahoo.com