Imran Khan anticipates snap polls by year-end

PTI chief believes govt can’t survive Panamagate controversy

ISLAMABAD/ HYDERABAD: Imran Khan says he foresees snap polls by the end of this year, drawing from his belief that the Sharif family won’t be able to exonerate itself from the Panamagate scandal.

In case nothing concrete comes out of the proposed Panama commission and the other opposition parties shy away, his party is ready for a solo flight to fight the case on the streets.



He has even charted out a plan for a better electoral outcome for his party this time, and intends to field a combination of electable and ideological workers.

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman shared these views on Thursday in a detailed interaction with a group of print journalists at his Bani Gala residence.

“It will not go on till 2018. I think elections will be held this year,” Imran said optimistically.

He did not share any roadmap leading to the dissolution of assemblies and ultimately resulting in mid-term polls, except his belief the government will not survive the Panama leaks onslaught.

Building public pressure through street agitation seems an ultimate option in his mind to achieve this, if no legal remedy comes in handy.

And for the next elections, Imran wants to pitch a combination of old and new faces, electable from rural constituencies and dogmatic workers in urban areas.



The PTI chief espouses the idea of strong party vote bank over individual vote bank. He wants to emulate Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s model for 1970 elections, when the PPP ticket was enough to secure a seat. However, he is also cognisant of ground realities of the day.

Electable faces have gained significance in electoral politics since the 1985 non-party polls held under the then military regime, Imran says.

The cricketer-turned-politician has been in active politics since 1997. The PTI could secure only one seat – Imran himself the winner – in 2002 elections. The party boycotted the 2008 elections but in 2013 bagged almost half the number of votes the ruling PML-N secured. Imran’s party has only 34 seats against the PML-N’s 188 and stands second in opposition after the PPP’s 37 seats.

To transform the vote bank into parliamentary seats, the PTI chief wants to go for traditional winning horses in rural constituencies, especially in south Punjab, interior Sindh and Balochistan.

The strategy is not risk-free and might land the same old faces back in parliament. Imran says he is cognisant of that.

The previous election’s experience and a number of by-polls later, he has learnt that where a new face is pitched in the election race, the party should have a strong infrastructure in the constituency to back such a candidate. But again, the PTI has yet to complete its party structure from central to district and tehsil level necessary to face traditional politicians. The PTI chairman has indefinitely postponed intra-party polls.



“More than ever before,” is his reply when asked if his party is ready for an election now.

With his charisma and party’s stance against corruption, Imran expects better results if not an overwhelming majority in the next elections. Moreover, he says, his party can now sell its better governance model in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.

Deadlock over ToRs

In Hyderabad, Imran’s trusted lieutenant Shah Mahmood Qureshi said the party would resort to a protest campaign if the government-created deadlock on deciding the terms of reference for Panama commission continued.

“We have prepared 15-point ToRs and handed them to the government. They essentially include legislating on a new law to replace the 1956 Inquiries Act so that a powerful Supreme Court-led judicial probe can be conducted [over Panama leaks],” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 3^rd, 2016.