The PTI chairman thinks that his party came to power solely because of his immense popularity symbolised by the series of thumping dharnas staged before the 2018 election. After having ruled for nearly four years when the PTI lost power through a no-confidence vote, party leadership claimed it had been grievously wronged. During the recent power show in Lahore, Imran Khan asked his followers to wait for his next call to march into Islamabad.
Going by Imran Khan’s speeches, it seems as if he has been deprived of his birthright to remain in power forever. IK’s personality stands out distinctly in the ongoing political melodrama. He has a tall ego. And ego is considered the root of innumerable human frailties. Besides his insuperable ego and hubris, he seethes with vindictiveness and revenge to their last limits. The NAB cases his government registered against his political opponents are reflective of his personality. NAB chairman’s picture along with his achievements that regularly appeared in the pages of many newspapers is missing nowadays. Has the fall of the PTI government anything to do with it?
Former premier Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and Miftah Ismail were arrested by the NAB on charges that couldn’t be proved. Mr Abbasi spent nearly two months in NAB custody. The list of the opposition members arrested on various charges is quite long. The arrests were made at the behest of Imran Khan, as it satisfied some of his vindictive instincts. I feel sorry for bureaucrat Ahad Cheema who remained in NAB custody for three years but refused to turn approver against the government he had served. A man of principles, indeed.
Khan’s fiery speeches repeating the mantra of corruption alone will not bring him votes.
Moreover, it’s no secret how the PTI was facilitated by the hidden hands to win the last election. After losing his government constitutionally, IK has begun to take on his benefactors who had helped him taste power for the first time. Fawad Chaudhry when recently asked about the same-page theory, without mincing words said if the same page was intact, the PTI would not have been out of power. Contrived to suit the situation at a particular juncture, the same-page model might not be used in the foreseeable future. But one never knows.
Now Imran Khan demands fresh elections. What exactly gives him so much confidence that his party will sweep the elections if these were soon held? Is it his party’s performance in the last nearly four years that would fill the ballot boxes? Big No!
The long hours of power outages in the summer heat and that too in the holy month should be enough to show PTI’s performance in its last tenure.
Ten hours of load-shedding in cities and eighteen hours in rural areas speak for the most despicable performance of the PTI government. These figures of power outages appeared in the newspapers but in reality, many villages in the far-flung areas don’t see light for days on end.
Defending his handpicked chief minister Usman Buzdar, Imran Khan once said that Buzdar worked very hard but it didn’t show. The same is true for the entire PTI. Khan’s fiery speeches repeating the mantra of corruption alone will not bring him votes.
Soon the crowds that gather to rally behind him will begin to dwindle because he has nothing new to offer. Even the Man from the Cold, Maulana Tahirul Qadri, will not consider offering him the helping hand that he did some years ago.
The Maulana is shrewd enough to assess the flow of the current.
Imran Khan doesn’t realise that the motley crowds in his power shows don’t represent his party’s vote bank.
These people come from different towns to attend the event, including many induced to participate to take home some dough. But the situation during the election is entirely different. Only the locals of the area are entitled to cast their votes.
Not to forget, how the clan system counts and makes a critical difference in tilting the results of the election. In areas dominated by tribalism such as Dera Ghazi Khan and Rajanpur et al., the votes are cast according to the wishes of the heads of the local tribes.
Imran Khan may or may not be in power in the future but he will continue to make emotional speeches. He will do well to remember that when he pontificated as the PM, people listened; when out of power only he would listen.
The writer is a Lahore-based columnist and can be reached at pinecity @gmail.com