Pray for Imran’s success

The writer is former executive editor of The News and a senior journalist with Geo TV.
We should all pray for Imran Khan’s speedy political recovery. The man, in-spite of his many manifest limitations – political sagacity, sense of timing and opportunity being some of these areas – is still central to the future of his party, which in turn is key to keeping Pakistan’s fledgling democracy on track.
This statement might sound overdramatic, and perhaps it is so. However, don’t the miss the central point it makes: without the PTI staying the course, democracy means little more than tyranny of one-party rule. Absolute power can cause absolute arrogance and spawn a culture of impunity and unaccountability. Without the fear of genuine competition to hold over power, the PML-N is sure to become as insufferable as a party with two-thirds majority can be in a system like ours that excels in worshiping the shining sun.
Already a creeping to-hell-with-you streak is emerging from the N’s resounding victory in the first phase of the local bodies elections in Punjab. Many in the N circle are now sensing, for the first time since last year’s failed putsch in Islamabad (dharna), a real chance of becoming invincible in the Punjab fortress, the source of controlling national politics.
There is a palpable sense in N quarters that with so much success coming their way, there is no need to change anything. In fact they should persist with more of the same. The advice that went into Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s visit to Lodhran was to “play on the front foot and not worry about what the crowd would say.’ His generous announcement of Rs2.5 billion worth of projects there just before the by-elections schedule was announced may have been technically legal but in the strict sense of propriety it does tantamount to thumbing the nose at the ECP’s general advice that such offerings should be avoided considering that these can have a direct impact on voters’ choices.
This is just an anecdotal peep into the new universe N leaders see unfold before them – a universe where they are all alone planning their politics and spending priorities, where they have local governments in almost all of Punjab’s districts along with the provincial government, the federal governments that are in their back pocket at any rate.
And since rural Sindh has drifted back to the PPP, and urban Sindh is still far from entering into a post-MQM phase, in that province too the PTI’s chances seem limited. Having peaked and stagnated in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and with insignificant presence in Balochistan, the PTI is to N is what the English team is to Misbahul Haq – a strong opponent but beaten so convincingly that all the commentary about Captain Cook’s talent is now just irrelevant.
If there were reasons to harbour hope that N leaders would convert recent successes at the polls into fruits of good governance and clean up their act, then would be less need to bemoan the PTI’s political recession and Imran Khan’s lengthening record of poor judgments. But this hope is stillborn. The N League’s history shows no evidence of any desire to better their game, make use of second and third chances, and improve their conduct and performance in power.
To have Rana Mashood as education minister of the country’s largest province and to insist on keeping Rana Sanaullah as the law minister after all that has happened involving his person are just two examples to prove the point. There are a million others from every sector to highlight the fact that N leaders aren’t interested in setting the bar of performance high for themselves.
That’s because the Sharifs love power. They want more of it so that they can keep all of it in the family and share some of it with their near and dear ones in order to sustain hold over the levers of authority. Delivery of services (read: projects) and governance (read: slogans and meetings) is secondary to this prime consideration. All development initiatives (including those recently dished out in Lodhran and Sialkot) are mere service roads that connect with the round-about of musical chairs, played happily in the lush green surroundings of Jati Umra. This is classic power politics – ruthless, cut-throat with a victory-at-all-cost flavour in which the people only figure as pawns – conducted under the dim lights of electoral democracy.
But this country needs less of power politics and more of productive politics. The sort of politics that significantly alters and enhances the system’s capacity to meet the public’s desperate needs, address their legitimate demands, works closer to their rising expectations, creates economic and social space for their worthiest aspirations, and, just as importantly, inspires hopes and dreams about a stable future.
That’s what Imran Khan and the PTI were supposed to bring to the national scene. That’s was how this new force was supposed to shrink the scope of traditional cream-for-us-crumbs-for-you politics and force parties like the PML-N, the PPP, and the MQM to change their political ways and rethink their outlook on national life. This aim has not been met, not even a wee bit. This makes it crucial that Imran Khan and the PTI stay as serious and strong contenders for political ascendency disallowing one party to dominate completely dominate the system.
Unfortunately, Imran Khan has not been smart in charting this course. This has made the goal of changing the course and nature of national politics look farther and farther still. Since the dharna days, he has been on a slippery slope, misstepping every move and clinging to hopeless and poor advice. The first phase of the fiasco of local bodies in Sindh and Punjab is just another big downturn in a painful descent into more confusion. Costly wasteful experimentalism continues. The reopening of rigging claims in NA-122 is an evidence of that.
The party’s inner core is badly fractured. Shah Mehmood Qureshi cannot seem to explain enough times to his colleagues that he is not talking to the N-League. Shafqat Mahmood is licking his wounds at the margins. Shireen Mazari is struggling to keep appearances of relevance. Jahangir Tareen – the super sugarman with much money and little political sense – is preparing for what seems like a near-impossible fight in his constituency and therefore is consumed by local pulls. Chaudhry Sarwar is too busy blaming others for the failure of his claims and Asad Umar, sensing openings at the top, is using all his experience of upward corporate mobility by saying ever so loudly only what pleases the leader’s ears. And Hamid Khan? Hamid Khan, who?
That leaves Naeemul Haq and the coterie of Imran’s chronic friends who had been temporarily displaced by the short-lived Reham Era at the Bani Gala Khanate. They are back with a bang alright, but they aren’t political Aristotles and can barely understand the idiom in which local politics expresses its complexities. They are good company – but that’s it.
This means that at a critical time in national political history both Imran Khan and the PTI are struggling to find their feet. This is bad news for democracy whose numeracy demands competing columns to create positive outcomes. The N-League’s sweeping tide across Punjab’s landscape may be a spectacular spectacle for party lovers but is a worrying sign for the healthy growth of the system.
Hopefully, Imran Khan is able to recover from recent set-backs, and is able to see the futility of finding the rigging needle in the haystack of damning challenges the country is confronted with. He has enormous proven potential and following but he refuses to demonstrate any personal capacity to change, adapt and learn from experience. He does the same thing over and over again, expecting a different result.
Hopefully Imran Khan will understand that he cannot continue with politics of Looks and Crooks and imagine that this would shine light on the path to resounding success. Daily press conferences on rigging are as useless as verbal sparring with journalists during pressers. The next phase of local bodies is round the corner. Sindh and Punjab are the battlegrounds where future fortunes will be decided.
Imran Khan needs get out of the gym and get into the library of common sense. He can jettison Jahangir’s jet and jump-start interaction with workers through workers’ conventions. This is one journey he cannot miss and won’t regret making. The long-term future of Pakistan’s democratic order hinges on Imran Khan understanding this point.
Email: syedtalathussain@gmail.com
Twitter: @TalatHussain12