Pakistan needs a PTI 2.0

The jalsas being held in various cities across the country confirm the crowd pulling power of Imran Khan. The ex-cricketer, ex-playboy, ex-fundraiser, and now ex-PM, has always had huge appeal. His religious-nationalist-anticorruption narrative has been popular among many marginalised and disillusioned sections of the population, in particular the youth and the urban middle classes groups who felt that their aspirations and ambitions were blocked by the corruption and nepotism of the previous regimes.

Imran promised them a new Pakistan and they believed him. After three years in power, and little to show for it, Imran’s popularity was being seriously eroded. His poor management of the economy, his chaotic handling of day-to-day government business, his inability to listen, his very limited concentration span, and his pig-headed loyalty to key appointees, all took a toll.

However, his ouster and the institutional crisis that accompanied it seem to have given PTI a new lease on life. The cloak and dagger conspiracy theory — starring Imran Khan versus an evil alliance of foreign powers, unscrupulous local lackeys and corrupt courts — has enhanced Imran’s image as a brave and righteous leader fighting evil forces at home and abroad. In fact he has been transformed him into a sort of Hero, an icon to whom unquestioning loyalty is owed. The past three years of poor to mediocre government seem to have been forgiven or at least forgotten for the time being.

But what is PTI trying to achieve with his mass mobilisation campaign? Will it do any good to the country? And what are possible scenarios after the next election?

The purported reason for Imran mass mobilisation — the jalsas and the planned march on Islamabad — is to demand early elections. But PTI knows full well that elections are simply not possible before 6 to 9 months. So, what is it that Imran Khan is trying to achieve? Is he trying to demonstrate his street power and bully key national institutions? Is it just meant to boost his ego and his messianic status? Or is it aimed at keeping the new government so tied up so that it cannot take any meaningful action? Most likely it is a bit of each of these.

But whatever the reasons, Imran Khan is playing a dangerous and damaging game. Publically taking pot shots at the courts, our foreign trade and financial partners, at parliament and at the Constitution are politically shortsighted. This is not to say that these institutions are perfect; they are not perfect in Pakistan and they are not perfect in any other country. But exaggerated accusations, use of foul language, imaginative and creative use of facts and figures, and violence and uncivil behaviour, even in the premises of key institutions, does no good to the country. It undermines the credibility of institutions and processes, lowers the tone of political debate, and creates a climate of tension and ill feeling where collaboration and consensus, the lifeblood of politics, is no longer possible.

It is also inexcusable given the dire economic straits the country finds itself in. The new government, whether one likes them or not, is trying to stabilise the economy. After all it is in their interest to avoid a Sri Lanka-like situation and show at least results in the short time they have. By trying to sabotage this effort, PTI is showing great insensitivity to the plight of the millions of Pakistanis who face a daily struggle to make ends meet.

And if PTI has alternative pathways to take the country out of the economic crisis, and which for some reason they could not implement when in power, they should at least have stayed in the parliament to propose these. Taking to the streets where the discourse revolves around slogans, threats and promises is so unconstructive.

And what will happen at the next election? Most likely PTI will win a large proportion of seats in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, in the big cities, and in many large and small towns where there are educated and social-media savvy young people.

But will PTI get a two-thirds majority that Imran Khan says he needs in order to bring about real tabdeeli, or even a simple majority to be able to form a government on his own. Both are unlikely given the realities of traditional power structures, especially in rural areas, and PTI’s likely refusal to work with ‘electables’. So, most probably Pakistan will again end up with a fragmented parliament with each of the three big parties — PTI, PML-N and PPP — having a substantial numbers of seats but with no single party being able to form a government all alone.

What will the Kaptaan Sahib do in such a situation? If he runs true to his present form (Version 1.0), he will most probably not even consider talking to any other party. He will very likely also start talking about rigging and how the ‘election was stolen’ — after all, in his messianic/ Trumpian mindset, it is not conceivable that the people of Pakistan do not want him as their leader. And so most likely PTI will once again take to the streets to try to start a popular agitation against the usual suspects — the ECP, the US, the bureaucracy, and anyone not star-struck by Great Khan.

But there is an alternative future possible. A future where PTI and its leader ‘grow up’ and realise that parliamentary democracy requires a strong and articulate opposition that is critical, but constructive too — an opposition which acts as a check on government, disagrees and provides alternatives, but which can, when needed, also provide help and support to the government. Pakistan needs such a PTI Version 2.0.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 17^th, 2022.

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