The PTI and party politics

The writer is a freelance columnist and former newspaper editor.

Let’s talk about the many positives. Since appearing on the scene in 1996 amidst huge media excitement, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf has converted itself into the second largest party in the country, overtaking entities far better established than itself.

Despite early predictions, it has not faded into virtual meaninglessness, unlike other groups also set up by well-meaning individuals, and it has been able to draw others, including senior politicians, into its fold even if it remains essentially a party centred around a single figure.

More importantly, the PTI and Imran Khan have drawn groups previously disinterested in the political affairs of the country into the mainstream. These include the elite, with voting patterns from 2013 reflecting this particularly in Punjab and its urban centres, but also the youth, which particularly since the disastrous ban placed on student unions under General Ziaul Haq had become increasingly apathetic politically.

The return to political activity at some level at least for both these groups is encouraging. So is the hope that Imran initially ignited, with his promise of a ‘Naya Pakistan’ and his strong battle cry against corruption.

Certainly, corruption is a problem we need to tackle. It eats into the working of government and damages the ability to offer people reasonable rule at many different levels. But is it our most pressing problem? Possibly not.

The problem that is the most urgent has also rather ironically been highlighted by the PTI and its leaders. We need a strong, stable democratic system which can eventually correct its own faults and move towards resolving the issues people confront. Since 2013, Imran has worked against this cause. The ‘dharnas’ and protests of 2014 only weakened the democratic government and provided an opportunity for the establishment to make an intervention.

This is always dangerous, and it seems Imran and his men are either oblivious to these risks or willing to open up larger holes in the system to pave the way for intervention from the outside.

This is a dangerous game to play in the political reality of Pakistan. It is being played again with the new threat of a sit-in outside the Raiwind residency of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. The pretext of course is the Panama leaks and the charges of corruption made. But, essentially speaking, there is little logic to the whole matter. Such a protest, staged outside a private residence, would only add to unrest and disarray, again opening specific doors through which forces we do not wish to see in power again could enter and gain a still firmer grip on national matters. It is crucial that political parties stand together to counter this.

The broader vision required to ensure this can happen does not appear to belong to Imran Khan, or any of his closest advisers. In some cases, it seems obvious that raw ambition and the quest for power determine how the PTI acts. Its desperate hurry is damaging.

The party was the only group within the Senate Standing Committee on Human Rights to back the Rangers when they came forward with their unconvincing argument that MQM activists ‘missing’ in Karachi had simply gone into hiding on their own. For fairly obvious reasons, no other party was ready to believe this claim. Most of us know it is simply untrue.

So who is the PTI trying to keep happy and why? Does it believe that like other groups in the past, it will be catapulted into power over and above the norms of the system? There is little ground to believe this will happen – but then there are so many people who are ready to believe anything to suit their own interests. Self delusion is something other politicians have gone through before.

There are also too many other ironies in the PTI story. The party which said it would build a new country has in fact apparently become astonishingly confused over what its own ideology is. Imran Khan’s sometimes open support for the Taliban is hardly encouraging in a nation that desperately needs an end to extremism and an end to the hatred which has created within it terrible violence.

This violence has taken thousands of lives over the years and churned up an enormous degree of fear in the tribal areas, which Imran claims he admires for their traditions and the courage of their people. Yes, the people are certainly courageous. But the stance that tribal customs are to be defended is in many ways highly questionable.

A very large number of these customs essentially act against vulnerable people, especially women, and in fact need to be eradicated so that people living in Fata and other tribal areas can be guaranteed the same constitutional rights as other citizens of the country. There is simply no reason why they should be denied these.

Perhaps the most crucial matter of all is why the PTI did not use the opportunity it gained after 2013 to begin its massive reconstruction effort in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. There have been no major changes as far as the education or health system goes in the province. The people who live there will testify to this. Yes, small innovations such as mobile health services have been made but in the overall picture, nothing has really changed for the better.

Had Imran Khan focused on turning KP or even some of its districts into models of good governance, today he may have been in a very real position of power and at a point where the next election would belong to him and his party.

Sadly, this is not the case. More and more supporters have become disillusioned with the PTI, the stories of corruption within its own ranks and the dissent that has sprung up within the party. The party has not been able to hold transparent elections, there are numerous controversies over the selection of candidates and more and more displeasure over the manner in which the government in KP has acted.

For Pakistan, it is a tragedy that a new party which had offered genuine hope and which was headed by a person whose personal commitment to his nation cannot be questioned has sunk into the same traps as other groups before it. This really leaves us in the same situation that existed before the PTI rose to power. There are fewer and fewer political choices for people to make. There is less and less diversity in terms of ideology. Most who understand the country recognise this is an immense problem.

It is hard to see where any kind of new leadership is to rise from given the manner in which the possibilities for this to happen have been closed off. The PTI, as it came into being, had seemed to offer a way for new pathways to be spread out. It has failed to draw out a map on which these could be drafted.

This failure marks a difficult moment for the country. All we have is the politics of mistrust and increasing acrimony between parties that should be using parliament as the forum for debate and change. Using the streets or resorting to abuse, threat and violence will only aggravate the problems we already face.

Email: kamilahyat@hotmail.com