Imran Khan mulling dangerous narrative for early elections

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan is upset with the senior members of his party for failing to draw crowds for the May 25 march to Islamabad, insiders close to the party leadership have told The News.

Khan is also frustrated about the dearth of options faced by his party after several attempts to capture popular imagination through unsubstantiated narratives came to naught.

Insiders say the former prime minister is brainstorming a new way to force an early election. Among the options being discussed, insiders say, is the possibility of naming the head of a powerful institution as the main source of the conspiracy against Khan’s government. Sources privy to internal party meetings say the leadership is deliberating on how much space can be gained among powerful quarters by publicly coming out against this powerful personality. Khan hopes the new narrative can generate enough pressure on the powerful personality to force an election.

Sources say there are two conflicting positions in this internal debate; one side is discouraging Khan from taking this step as it could backfire, make him permanently toxic for the establishment as well as cause him to lose any support he enjoys among those who support the PTI and are also loyal to the establishment.

The other side is arguing that by naming this powerful personality, he can bully the powerful stakeholder to concede to his early elections call. Sandwiched between these two positions, Khan appears utterly bemused as he is otherwise out of ideas, having used up all his cards far too quickly.

It is important to mention here that while he was in power, Khan and his ministers constantly reminded the public that his government and the establishment were on the same page. Even when the vote of no confidence (VNC) was about to take place, Khan initially attempted to discredit the VNC and the incoming government through an unsubstantiated claim about a US-backed regime change conspiracy. At the time, he lashed out against the neutrality of the establishment, saying only animals are neutral. But this was the only hint he gave about his discontent with the establishment. He continued to repeat the unsubstantiated claim about the US-backed regime change conspiracy after first mentioning it at a public rally on March 27.

It is important to mention here that Imran Khan dismissed the letter written by Pakistan’s ambassador to the US as inconsequential when he visited the Kamra Airbase as prime minister on March 11 and was informed about it.

By this time, lobbying for the VNC was at its peak, but Khan was confident that his allies would not desert him and that he continued to enjoy support of powerful institutions in the country. However, when it became clear that his allies were going to vote with the opposition alliance, he pulled out this letter on March 27 as evidence of a US-backed regime change conspiracy against his government. However, this narrative fizzled out within weeks of the new government taking charge and it failed to generate the national outcry that Khan had been hoping for.

Once he was out of the government, Khan then attempted to build pressure on powerful institutions through large public demonstrations across the country. Here, he deployed a contradictory narrative in his speeches; on the one hand he would attack the establishment for participating in the efforts to remove him from the office of prime minister and, on the other hand, he continued to hope for their support in bringing him back to power. In one speech, he made references to the disloyalty of Mir Jafar and Mir Sadiq in an apparent attack on the establishment, and the next day, he took a U-turn, saying he was talking about Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.

But for Khan, the failure of his May 25 long march and dharna in Islamabad to force an early election, became the biggest source of frustration and embarrassment. The PTI not only failed to draw the crowds Khan was expecting – and was perhaps used to – it also quickly caved under the pressure of a crackdown launched by the government. When calling off his dharna, Khan gave a six-day deadline to call an election. But after these days lapsed, Khan had no new tactics to press for his demand of an early election, with his strategy collapsing entirely. Khan appeared shame faced in his public meetings after May 25. In a speech at a lawyers convention in Peshawar, he said he called off the dharna to avoid anarchy and because his party was unprepared. Now, Khan is simply eyeing the Supreme Court as well as the Election Commission of Pakistan in the hope that some favourable judgement may emerge that could give him new ideas.

Meanwhile, the recently leaked audio of a call between real estate tycoon Malik Riaz and PPP’s Asif Ali Zardari caused the greatest dent in Khan's credibility. In the audio, Riaz could be heard telling Zardari that Imran had sent him a number of messages, asking him to facilitate a patch up with the PPP. To this, Zardari replied, "It is too late now."

Insiders within the PTI say the party leadership is anxious about more audio and video leaks that could further damage credibility and cause embarrassment for Imran Khan. They believe there are more audios of his calls with his confidants, asking them to create the narrative around US regime change conspiracy. This is why the PTI trolls created the narrative of 'deep fakes' to counter damaging evidence in the shape of videos and audios that exist and are real.