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Tuesday March 19, 2024

Enter the PM

By Editorial Board
August 18, 2018

For over two decades, Imran Khan has dreamed of – his critics would say felt entitled to – becoming the prime minister of Pakistan. Yesterday, that dream finally became a reality as the PTI chief received 176 votes in polling for the position in the National Assembly. The moment of victory will be a bittersweet one for the prime minister-elect as it was accompanied by jeering on the opposition benches and chants in favour of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif could be heard. Imran’s maiden speech to the new National Assembly dispelled the impression given by his post-election address that he would usher in a new era of civility. The familiarly combative Imran of multiple dharnas was back. Imran has consistently been criticised for the excessive focus he puts on himself – and this speech was no different. He boasted of having struggled more than any leader in our history other than Muhammad Ali Jinnah and brought up old grievances about how the previous government did not investigate allegations of rigging. In this moment of victory, he may find that the true struggle is yet to come. His speech was filled with familiar campaign invective against the PML-N and its leaders but now is the time to shift focus. The country’s problems need to occupy more of Imran’s time than fighting old battles.

Should the PTI divert from its responsibility to provide good governance, a strong opposition is needed to hold the party in check. That opposition was not to be seen in the National Assembly. The grand alliance formed by the PML-N and PPP after the elections is already in tatters. In what many have seen as one of the worst disappointments in the past few weeks, the PPP went back on its promise to vote for a joint candidate as prime minister, and Shahbaz Sharif ended up with only 96 votes. Shahbaz’s speech calling the elections the most tainted in our history showed that the PML-N’s strategy is to focus on alleged rigging and to deny the PTI any legitimacy. In his address to the National Assembly, PPP leader Bilawal Bhutto Zardari took a pox-on-both-houses approach, decrying the ruckus created by the PML-N benches and even taking a jab at Imran, calling him “prime minister-select”. While that may sound good, and may even be of some relief to the older democratic jiyalas, it seems obvious that the PPP seems to be leaving all possibilities open for the future by refusing to commit to either the opposition or the government right now. The sense is that no alliance is firm right now and the election of the prime minister is only the start of a long political struggle.