CPEC imperilled

Fleeting moments

The old comrades-in-protests Chairman Imran Khan and Sheikhul Islam Tahirul Qadri have agreed to join hands once again to stage another show in Islamabad. A show that’s meant to shut down the capital for all official business.

The last time the two were together was during their 126-day dharna in 2014. Then the duo had waited for the mysterious umpire’s elusive finger to go up but it didn’t, much to the nation’s relief.  

The dharna had ended on a bad note between Khan and Qadri, the two crusaders of so-called good governance, and both went their own ways. Good governance in their parlance is the type of government in which they wield ultimate power. Imran Khan has seized every opportunity – rigging in elections to the Panama Leaks – to dislodge the prime minister. Finally, he plans the lockdown of Islamabad.  

As the date to freeze Islamabad draws closer, Khan’s intensity of fire against the prime minister increases. In his last salvo, he blamed the PM for being a security threat to the country. Could a prime minister elected with two-thirds majority in the National Assembly be a security risk to his own country? What more could a country give him?

As a former PTI voter (now chastened), I ask Imran Khan to explain how he calls an honourable citizen, and that, too, a sitting premier an enemy agent. By his hauteur and supercilious behaviour, Khan’s vote bank among the educated class has shrunk.     

Infighting within political parties in a democratic dispensation is one issue but taking it to a treacherous level and branding opponents as enemy agents and traitors is a serious allegation deserving investigation. Casting such allegations against the head of the government when a project such as the CPEC, which has been named as the game-changer for the country is taking shape, is indeed most unfortunate.

By creating chaos and turmoil in the country, Imran Khan and his sponsors are indirectly supporting the forces that oppose the CPEC project.       

Clearly, Western powers and India view the CPEC as being against their geopolitical interests, for the project will not only benefit Pakistan but will also provide China a much shorter route to the Arabian Sea. At present, China traverses a long route of about 16,000kms for the transportation of its goods through the Strait of Malacca. After getting access through Pakistan when the CPEC materialised, the distance would be drastically reduced to 4,000kms. What a happy situation for both countries!

Rightly, China has been viewing the dharna politics with trepidation. That was the reason why the Chinese envoy met Imran Khan to know his views about the CPEC.       

There is no justification to shut down the capital only because the prime minister allegedly bought properties in London in the 1990s. That is not to say that there shouldn’t be any investigation on the alleged corruption but creating chaos and turmoil is surely not the way out. Chairman Khan doesn’t even attend the assembly of which he is a member despite having enjoyed all the perks that go with it. One would much like to see him speaking in the National Assembly with similar thunder and gusto with which he speaks from his container. Khan won’t because there he would surely draw criticism for which he has no tolerance. He brooks no opposition.        

Why is Imran Khan in a hurry to be the prime minister? What qualifies him to be one? The province his party has ruled for last three years is by no means a perfect model of good governance for other provinces to follow. According to a recent Pildat survey of approval rating by the public, Punjab had 67 percent and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 38 percent approval. 

Some say Khan thinks he would be too old if he waited until the next election in 2018. Maybe Sheikh Rashid keeps nudging him about it. But age in politics doesn’t matter even though one wished it did. If actor-turned politician Ronald Reagan could be the US president as an octogenarian why not cricketer-turned politician Imran Khan who is only on the wrong side of 60?

The writer is a freelance columnist based in Lahore.

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