The PTI’s swelling ranks
Mr Khan is himself aware of this criticism and has been forced to modify his position by saying that he cannot find angels in Pakistani politics and has to rely on “relatively clean politicians”. In his press conference, Mr Khan said that the time for taking turns in the government has passed. Was Imran humouring himself or his latest political teammates? It is hard to tell but it speaks of the predicament he faces as he treads forward in the political landscape. Having electable, established politicians adds weight to the PTI but, at the same time, taints his message and raises questions about his strategy. Some might start looking at the party with far more scepticism now. Furthermore, the latest additions to the party will also serve to reinforce the perception among many that the country’s establishment is throwing its weight behind Imran Khan. The political bigwigs of southern Punjab are known to be shrewd and calculating politicians, who have the uncanny ability of gauging which way the political wind is blowing. Their pragmatism clashes with Imran’s idealism.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 21st, 2011.
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1734468458-0/Copy-of-Untitled-(50)1734468458-0-270x192.webp "salman agha shares man of the match award with saim ayub in touching gesture")
@Mad-Paki: Why PTIs swelling ranks remind of IJI?
Because it is!
Such is the momentum that even The Divine is tempted to jump on the PTI bandwagon along with his 70,000 of winged firey creation but hesitates becuase of his past experiences with humans. He is still smarting from treatment meted out to his two winged envoys by Lot's lot!
@You Said It: After much talk of youth and clean start, Imran Khan has realized that he needs the old feces to have any chance of forming a government.
Not sure if you intended to say this instead of "old faces", (given your earlier comment about lotas and crap, you prob did) but its very appropriate for this set of people.
Common people and stop avoiding the fact that PPP & PML has failed to deliver. I would say IK is the last hope and if he fails God knows whim to vote for next time. IK always say that Fish rots from top, if he can maintain integrity, which no doubt he has considering the wikileaks and other reports, he will be able to pursue others to follow the same. And what good he be with few seats, that will not bring any of his ideas to action. So, he is doing the right thing by bringing on the relatively clean politicians. Just tell me one fact, if you are standing in a long queue and know that no one will break the line, so you will remain honest. If the same line is broken time and again, i doubt you can still remain honest by standing in the line. So, at least IK will be able to display honesty and the nation might follow his lead on this. This is beyond doubt that he has all stakes in Pakistan, has not been involved in any loot & plunder. So, high hopes from him.
According to a news report people in one of the IK's political rallies, helped themselves with chairs worth 50 lakh rupees, not sure why that made me chuckle.
@Zulfiqar: KAPTAAN should be the right one, but what can a kaptaan do if Kamran Akmal keeps on dropping the catches?
Well as IK said in 1992 on winning world cup " Finally at twilight o fmy career I have won the world cup. No it wasnt Imran who won it was Pakistan who won but he lead from front. He didnt have the best team and neither he was himself at his best. He had the vision, autocracy, believe and sincerety to do it. That is what Imran Khan is all about.
I dont mind him taking lotas from anywhere or filing raw candidates I am voting for him as all other tried, tested politilcians & parties are waste of time. Even if Imran doesnt uplift economy with his naive policies - atleast i would still have this comfort that he or his party is not stealing my tax money or Pakistan's resources.
Choosing the lesser evil
Hassan
Imran Khan is the only hope ..... whatever PTI doing is the right strategy. The KAPTAAN should be the right one, and he is the right one ! Team will play the way kaptaan want it to play !
Why does the editor specifically mentions about them being a part of Pervez Musharraf's government. Lets not forget, the musharraf govt of that time was a perfectly legitimate govt protected by the same Judges who later on became the torch bearers of free judiciary! The perfromance of Musharraf's govt was far better than any of the govt this nation exprienced in recent history. This is biased journalism!
Yes, it was hilarious. On one side you had IK being so sanctimonious and quoting from Hadith ... and getting all the rot from q league...
And all these "supporters" poaching plastic chairs
People will complain no matter what PTI does, some feel insecure that PTI will be hijacked by the new entrants but neither am i insecure and neither is PTI leadership insecure. The Kasuris, Legharis and Qureshis will sing our tune and not vice versa
And yet PTI is different, clean and free from corrupt people with baggage. Some people would do anything for power. After wasting a couple of decades in political ignominy and wilderness, the Kaptan has learned to play the real politics Pakistani style only to win at all costs. There is no difference between the rightwing parties of Pakistan particularly PML and PTI. They both have the same roots and vote banks.
Some would argue that the acceptance of these old faces within the PTI’s folds is hardly the change against the status quo that its chief has been promising in his rallies.
After much talk of youth and clean start, Imran Khan has realized that he needs the old feces to have any chance of forming a government. Just the PTI or Imran's name is not enought to get unknowns elected, so he has had to compromise his ideals.
At least for an editorial you should refrain from using a doctored photograph!
Imran is doing whatever He has for form the government. Its the right way forward, we all know he can get new candidates but will he be able to win the elections that way??
we trust our kaptaan
The challenge here is that unlike the PPP, PTI lacks popular support. In addition Imran does not have the charisma of ZAB nor the emotional attachment that the public had with Benazir. Imran will be forced to bring electable candidates into the fold of his party even if they have a checkered past.
Benazir had the opportunity to bring in new unblemished faces into the fold and they would still have won their seats on the basis of the popularity of the PPP, but Imran Khan does not have that luxury.
Do you know why Imran Khan is collecting so many Lotas? Because Pakistani politics is so full of crap. ;o)
PTI.... :)
PTI's trouble is that it started off late and has to cover too long a distance in too short of a time. As a whole, as SMQ recently proposed for PTI, they won't be taking up more than 30% of relatively clean and old politicians (which amounts to hardly less than few hundred electable for contesting close to 1000 seats). Rest is to be covered by youth (about 20%) and old PTI team (50%). Looking at the overall risk profile, it is reasonable taking into consideration the challenges of Pakistan's electorate reality.
Bosans,Qureshis,Legharis,Tareens; Is PTI really about change? By filling its rank with turn coat politicians, I doubt that Mr. Khan is about changing the status quo. Why PTIs swelling ranks remind of IJI?
Good JOB IK