Principled stance?

That the chief ministers nominated by Prime Minister Imran Khan to run Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa have been the cause of disagreement between the government and its coalition partners as well as within the ruling party’s ranks is an undeniable fact now. The PM sacked Atif Khan, Shahram Tarkai and Shakeel Ahmed – the three K-P cabinet members who were unhappy with CM Mahmood Khan – in what brings to light the struggle that he has had to do to tackle a pretty serious divide within the party’s K-P chapter and that has thus far been downplayed by party spokespersons. And the growing distrust – mainly by the PML-Q – in the performance of Usman Buzdar as Punjab Chief Minister has, on the other hand, exposed the fragility of the coalition ruling the Centre as well as the country’s biggest province.

The PM, however, insists that Usman Buzdar will remain the “fully empowered CM”, and blames an “organised mafia” that is “conspiring” to forestall the “change” the incumbent government is trying to bring in. What the PM calls a “conspiracy” can well be explained as the push of power politics i.e. the lure of control – something for which the vacuum has been created by his non-performing CMs. Being the selector himself, the PM cannot escape the blame for the situation that has the evil potential to evolve. There can be no denying that both Mahmood Khan and Usman Buzdar were compromise candidates – and pretty weak as well, if compared with many others that were under consideration for the coveted position – nominated with a view to 1) tackling the grouping within the party, and 2) controlling the provinces directly from the Centre.

Explaining the PM’s decision to sack the three K-P cabinet members, an official spokesperson claims that the PTI has now decided “not to sacrifice party discipline for the sake of appeasing personalities”. Well, politicians are known to toe the principle so long as it suits them politically. Not much different is this instance too.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 28^th, 2020.

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