Qureshi and the PTI

Qureshi will wield considerable power, perhaps second only to the Kaptaan himself.

Shah Mahmood Qureshi has certainly enjoyed his time in the limelight, a character trait that might help explain why he ultimately announced that he was joining the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) at his rally in Ghotki on November 27. After leaving the PPP, the choice for the former foreign minister hinged between the PTI and the PML-N. For a person accustomed to the trappings of power, he would have been a small fish in the large PML-N pond. In the fledgling PTI, however, he will wield considerable power, perhaps second only to the Kaptaan himself. And it is power that Qureshi craves. No matter how much he tries to frame his departure from the PPP as a matter of conscience over the Raymond Davis saga, there is no doubt that there was more to it. After all, if all the stinging criticisms Qureshi directed towards President Zardari at his rally hold true now, they surely also did for the three years Qureshi was in government.

Whatever differences he may have with the PPP, saying that Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal is not safe as long as Zardari has no substance and will serve only to encourage the military to encroach on territory that should rightly belong to the civilian set-up. (Also, a search on YouTube will reveal that as foreign minister, his views on this were quite contrary.) The religious rhetoric Qureshi employed was also unnecessarily divisive. Describing Zardari as ‘Firaun’ may not be the most appropriate way to refer to the leader of a party that has lost two of its office holders to religiously-inspired violence. For the PTI, landing Qureshi will add to its previously empty stable, and he may get a few more PPP defectors loyal to him to switch. But Imran Khan will also have to confront the uncomfortable dichotomy of leading a party that promises revolutionary change but also needs the same old faces to attain power. Thus we had the bizarre spectacle of the scion of a feudal family from Multan vowing to end the feudal system in Sindh. Whether this contradiction will sink Imran and his party is debatable but it is something everyone should be wary of.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 29^th, 2011.