It is wrong to say that the PTI’s tsunami has begun to recede in K-P in general and Peshawar in particular.
CHARSADDA: Neither has the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) failed in the governance of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P), nor have the people shown any renewed confidence in Ghulam Ahmad Bilour of the ANP, or lack of confidence in the PTI in K-P, when it lost the by-poll in the NA-1 constituency to the ANP. It would be the most naive idea to assert that people have judged the PTI to have failed to deliver for its over two-month long rule in K-P. The cause of the PTI’s defeat was the alliance of four major political parties — the JUI-F, the PML-N, the PPP and the ANP — which are staunch protectors of the status quo. They were bent upon defeating the PTI.
On the other hand, the Qaumi Watan Party, and the Jamat-e-Islami did not actively support the PTI in the by-elections. Their political strength is far weaker in this constituency as compared with the four anti-PTI political parties.
If Imran Khan had resolved the dispute between Samad Mursaleen and Gul Bacha, the situation would have been different and the PTI would have definitely won this constituency again. It is wrong to say that the PTI’s tsunami has begun to recede in K-P in general and Peshawar in particular; it can at any time surge again on the call of the PTI’s charismatic chief, Imran Khan.
Usman Ghani
Published in The Express Tribune, August 28th, 2013.
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