Breakaway parliamentarians
Former PTI leader Pervez Khattak’s decision to form a breakaway party may be the biggest blow to former prime minister Imran Khan’s hopes of choosing the top official in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa for an unprecedented third time, and even the PTI’s chances of maintaining relevance in Islamabad. This is because Khattak, unlike the breakaway leaders in Punjab, actually has experience winning elections in his own right and is a true politician. Even his biggest critics acknowledge that Khattak was one of the only people in the PTI who had cordial relations with all other parties and could be relied on to find common ground with the opposition on legislative or other political matters. Part of this was due to Khattak’s own interpersonal skills, although the fact that he has had long stretches in the PML-N, PPP and the QWP, while also serving as a minister in an ANP-led provincial government, obviously helped him cultivate strong relationships across the political spectrum. He has also maintained good terms with the establishment.
Simply put, he is an actual politician, and while his chief ministership may have been on the back of the PTI’s electoral success, he did not owe his seat to the party chief, and was openly defiant, ensuring governance decisions were taken in Peshawar rather than Bani Gala. This is why he was not given a second term as CM and was instead installed in the high-profile but mostly powerless role of defence minister after the 2018 elections. However, even in this role, Khattak remained a key go-between and is credited with sealing deals that few other party leaders could.
But while Khattak claims to have taken with him over 50 top PTI leaders from the province, it remains to be seen if he can lead them to electoral success. Although he will probably be able to win his own seat and a few others in the Nowshera area, it remains to be seen if Khattak’s political skills are enough to get those reelected who have joined PTI Parliamentarians, now that they have lost the popularity bump associated with Imran Khan, or simply split the vote and make the province competitive again.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 19th, 2023.
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