PTI candidates face loyalty oath dilemma

Election aspirants caught in the crossfire between powerful stakeholders and party supporters

ISLAMABAD:

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leaders find themselves navigating another oath-taking spree, leaving candidates treading on a double-edged sword to prove their loyalty to the party’s founder Imran Khan ahead of general elections.

Not too long ago, several PTI leaders recorded video statements under oath as evidence, attesting that the former prime minister never issued any instructions to them before or after May 9 to attack or vandalise state institutions, buildings, and military installations.

What began as a pre-emptive measure to shield against potential arrests and coercion to testify against Imran has turned into a spectacle where PTI voters demand their candidates take a renewed oath on the Holy Quran and win their trust.

This has left many party candidates caught in the crossfire between powerful stakeholders and party supporters. On one hand, they, along with the party leadership, are confronting the wrath of powerful stakeholders; on the other hand, party voters and supporters are compelling them to take an oath on the Holy Quran, pledging their enduring loyalty to Imran even after winning elections.

The scenario has triggered a debate on whether swearing upon the Holy Quran could be the ultimate solution for PTI if it can save the party from the wrath of concerned quarters, and if it is the appropriate method to bridge the trust gap between PTI candidates and voters.

This debate becomes more pertinent, particularly when the candidates are steadfastly standing with the party amid pressure and various challenges.

“I think it is not just insulting, it is humiliating for those who have been asked to publicly take oath,” renowned political expert Zaigham Khan said, adding that we keep hearing that Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) also takes oath from its members; sometimes the party members are asked to say it on oath that they would not disclose the contents of a specific meeting.

Zaigham said that the oath-taking ceremonies show two things: first, the PTI is facing tremendous pressure; and second, the newcomers who have been awarded election tickets do not have the required trust level with the decision-makers in the party, especially, Imran Khan. “[People] feel that they do not have any other option than asking people to take oath,” he said.

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Referring to PTI candidates’ oath-taking on the Holy Quran, Zaigham said that “this is very public; clips of the oath-taking are being made and then circulated,” adding “It’s quite humiliating for people like, for example, Salman Akram Raja, who is a respected lawyer and constitutionalist.”

However, he said, one has to see that voters are feeling insecure about people contesting as independent candidates because no floor-crossing or party’s disciplinary laws apply to them and, once they are in the assembly, they can switch.

“Taking an oath on Holy Quran in the public is a difficult thing to do as one loses face in Pakistan for deviating from the oath and it becomes extremely difficult to face the public afterwards,” Zaigham said, adding let’s see what kind of turn the situation takes.

Eminent scholar Professor Dr Hassan Askari while commenting on the situation said that the political history of elections reveals that the big parties entice the independent candidates to join them either by offering positions or pressurizing them after polls, saying the security establishment also encourages them to join the big parties.

To avoid such a situation, he incorporated, that people have taken oaths from the candidates.

To the question of whether it could solve all the problems that PTI was currently facing, the professor said that it could lead to some relief if PTI wins a good number of seats in the elections. He, however, added that winning a sizable number of seats seems difficult for PTI in the current situation.

Responding to the question if PTI candidates would be able to bear the pressure, Askari said that things largely depend on how many seats PTI wins in the general elections. Only time will tell, he said, how much pressure would be exerted if PTI manages to win a good number of seats.

Askari, however, said that the need to take an oath on the Holy Quran shouldn’t have arisen, especially, when the ticket holders were still standing with the party in its difficult time. “There was no need to doubt candidates’ loyalty but, as I earlier said, people want to make sure that loyalties are not switched after winning elections,” he concluded.