This is apropos an article on these pages by Talat Masood titled “Leadership on the wrong course” (August 6).
ISLAMABAD: This is apropos an article on these pages by Talat Masood titled “Leadership on the wrong course” (August 6). The writer seems to be vehemently criticising the policies of Imran Khan. He accuses him of being hungry for power and making efforts to grab the post of prime minister at the earliest.
I would like to say that I am not a member of the PTI but I consider the writer’s accusation to be unjustified. It is obvious that he has not cared to follow the statements of Imran Khan for the last one year. Right after the election, Imran accused the election commission of a great fraud and insisted on recounting for just four seats.
Now, his demands have acquired the form of the Azadi March. They have evolved to this ultimate state. Towards the end of his article, the writer turns his guns towards Nawaz Sharif and his governance. He is giving him zero marks for his performance as the prime minister of the country.
Indeed, in the case of Nawaz Sharif, his poor performance and almost zero credibility mean that any more continuation of his administration can only promise the destruction to the country. Notwithstanding Imran’s accusations, a great majority of Pakistanis do believe that the election conducted in 2013 was heavily rigged in favour of the PML-N and that the party’s majority win is not genuine. The efforts of the government to stall the demands only support such a belief. If the Nawaz government had performed in a better way and had the prime minister run the affairs of state in a transparent democratic manner, the countrymen would have accepted him and would have not given much heed to the opposition. Unfortunately, this has not happened.
But the prime minister continued his malpractices. His attitude of vindictiveness and his efforts to keep all the institutions of the government, especially the armed forces, under his thumb are greatly responsible for his troubles. He is now trying to make some amends but his hard held beliefs are well known to all those who matter. By asking the prime minister to resign and hold fresh elections under new rules and free from all interference and rigging cannot be described as an effort by Imran to grab the power. Free and fair elections can bring any party or a group of parties to power. So the demand cannot be described as ones that reflect a power hungry stance by Imran. I believe that things have reached such a stage where the demands of IK appear to be the only way to solve the problems of the country. I hope Nawaz will see the gravity of the situation and not stick to his desire to stay in power till somebody comes to oust him. It must be remembered that with all their sincerity the armed forces will never let the country to lose its identity.
Dr Nisar A Kayani
Published in The Express Tribune, August 7th, 2014.
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