No one to lead?

Two years after Imran Khan’s incarceration, the PTI launched a protest movement on August 5 to demand the former prime minister’s release. Yet, what was billed as a show of strength ended up revealing a party divided, confused and increasingly rudderless. Across the country, workers and supporters took to the streets in scattered demonstrations. In Lahore, the police claimed to have detained over 30 PTI activists for trying to block roads. PTI sources, however, have insisted that at least 300 party workers were picked up during overnight raids. The Lahore police, though, have denied any such crackdown, but unconfirmed social media reports of arrests and harassment surfaced from multiple cities. Even opposition leaders attempting to visit Adiala Jail were stopped, adding to what the PTI says is a growing atmosphere of suppression. When the August 5 protest was first announced, there were expectations that large crowds would pour onto the streets. Initially, the plan was to build momentum in the days leading up to August 5 and culminate in a major nationwide protest. Instead, confusion within party ranks dominated the run-up to the event.

First, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur gave a cryptic statement, saying the party had to “decide in 90 days whether to do politics or not.” Then, others claimed the newly formed opposition alliance, Tehreek Tahafuz Ayeen-e-Pakistan (TTAP), would lead the protest – only for TTAP leadership to deny any such role, saying they would only offer moral support. Some leaders hinted at a ‘guerrilla protest’ approach, with flash mobs appearing and disappearing before police arrived. Others said the protest plans were a secret and would be revealed at the last moment. PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar later clarified that protests would be held in different cities for just one day to register the party’s stance. And then came D-Day – and then it went. Observers say the protest, such as it were, may have been symbolically important but ended up being quite a letdown. The lack of coordination was glaring, but even more telling was the absence of any central leadership. Many PTI leaders are still in hiding following convictions in the May 9 and November 26 cases. Grassroots workers, meanwhile, look to be increasingly disillusioned say some reports, pointing out that while they are the ones arrested and prosecuted, senior party figures often evade accountability. Is this kind of resentment i growing in the party? There have already been reports that some political workers say that the party’s social media is run from abroad by ‘keyboard warriors’, whose aggressive posts land ordinary workers in trouble, while those abroad face no consequences.

There may be two key reasons for the PTI’s current leadership vacuum. First, Imran Khan’s insistence on the Buzdar-Mahmood Khan model – elevating loyalists over capable second-tier leaders – has left the party with no one ready or able to take charge. Second, unlike other parties in Pakistan’s political history, the PTI has not cultivated a political dynasty. Figures like Begum Nusrat Bhutto, Benazir Bhutto, Kulsoom Nawaz and Maryam Nawaz all stepped forward during crises to lead their parties. In the PTI, there is only Imran Khan – and no one to fill the void in his absence. Until the PTI confronts this crisis of leadership and builds a cohesive, credible structure beyond its founder, it will continue to struggle to translate public sympathy into meaningful political power. The August 5 protest has made that painfully clear.