There are a few who write columns to vent their frustrations against a political party they have left. There are others who run to the press and hold press conferences explaining why they have deserted the party. Then there are some more who go to the TV channels to air their grievances and cleanse their guilt of switching over to another party.

The concurrent category of jaywalkers this election spattered out is the independents that fought and won without any party ticket but quickly swore allegiance to N-League. This species is smart, sharp and sly as a fox. Now they wait to be rewarded by PM Nawaz Sharif. If turned away, these professional jaywalkers will switch over to the opposition benches.

One would-be jaywalker hitting the headlines is Fauzia Kasuri, 17-year-old veteran of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI). Until recently, she was a fiery defender of Imran Khan as the PTI’s spokesperson. She fielded questions coming at her at breakneck speed bravely and intelligently. In the last days of the election, she was on every channel every night singing her party’s and its chairman’s hosannas. She even covered her head. Her choked vocal chords bore testimony to the all-out effort she rolled out.

Her’s is a classic tale of a woman betrayed, according to her. She spent her youth serving the party and raising funds for Shaukat Khannum cancer hospital. She even renounced her American citizenship in the hope of becoming an MNA on the reserved seats for women. She was sure of winning, as were most of us, considering her leader’s boast of bringing about a ‘tsunami.’ The swell of crowds at his public meetings seemed to signal the same message.

Kasuri miscalculated and now she cries foul. To single her out as one with an erred judgement would be wrong. Half of Pakistan erred when two rock stars appeared on the scene to sweep and swoon the milling crowds with their rhetoric. Whither is the Pakistani spring, where is fled the glory and the dream? Ask many still. Dr Qadri came, conquered and then stooped to conquer some more. He flopped and left from wherever he came. Enter Imran Khan. He swore he’d lead the country and be in the PM House come May 11.

But perhaps IK forgot the common cliché: Man proposes, God disposes. He fell, injured his spine and with that died the all too familiar slogan ‘Naya Pakistan.’ Each eye, media included, expeditiously turned to Nawaz Sharif’s ‘historic’ election as prime minister for the third time. Even if IK lost, he could well have stolen some thunder from his greatest adversary on the floor of the House. His absence from the parliament went unnoticed and unobserved by the media, whose darling IK was the last few months before the elections. The media collectively can be cruelly unfaithful similar to individuals.

As number four in the reserved seats for women in her party, Ms Kasuri was positive she’d breeze in and sit in the parliament as an MNA. Come election day and as results started to show another winner, many hearts sank but I think the greatest heart to sink was Fauzia Kasuri’s.

‘Come join us’ phoned First Lady Kulsoom Nawaz Sharif after a teary press conference by the dejected PTI leader announcing to the world that she had been badly let down by her party.

“The darkest places in hell,” wrote Dante “are reserved for those who maintain their neutrality in times of moral crisis.” The deafening silence from PTI’s heavyweights, Javed Hashmi, Shah Mahmood Qureshi and Shafqat Mahmood (jaywalkers themselves) is typical of men only interested in themselves, least of all their women colleagues. “You can’t leave your family Fauzia jee. My request ... Pl don’t say things like this and certainly not publicly. Thanks,” was all that Shafqat Mahmood could pipe up.

Days later the PTI gave a watered down ‘factual’ clarification about the distraught woman’s farewell announcement to the press. “PTI paid the highest regard for Ms Fauzia Kasuri’s work for the party and feels it is the right of every individual to decide whether he/she can continue working for the ideology of PTI or not.” Correcting “some erroneous statements” by her, the PTI peremptorily said that she knew she was number four on the list. For her to come out now and “malign” the party and the women selected by the leadership for the reserved seats is not fair. It went on to castigate her for playing “double with another party [N-League] while being an office bearer of the PTI.” Despite the chairman's sister personally visiting her on her own as they were old friends, “to try and keep her within the party on grounds of ideology, but it was only later that the revelation was made about her already having had meetings with the women of the Sharif family”.

An inconvenient truth was twisted around by PTI spokesman to say that all fault lay with the lady.

Why Fauzia Kasuri cried foul after her party failed to secure just two seats for women from Punjab is a question best put to her. Still, I think IK should have played a more proactive role in stopping her from leaving. And herein lies the problem with IK’s leadership. Let me explain.

Exactly four years ago, I turned up at Imran Khan’s rambling ranch-like home atop a hill in Islamabad for a two-hour exclusive with the man, admired by many in Pakistan and abroad. I wondered if he was fast becoming history. ‘While IK, as all call him, gains the stature of a rock star when cranking up issues that hit you in the heart, his buzz doesn’t last long’, I wrote on these same pages.

Sitting in splendid isolation serenaded by the magnificent Margallas facing him directly I asked the ruggedly handsome 57-year-old whether he was fast slouching towards oblivion. The five-time namazi, puritanical, sober and sagacious said the same things he says today.

Even his standoffishness still keeps him away from being a people’s person. Maybe he does not care enough. You play solo? I asked Imran Khan four years ago. Sources close to you say that this is a big turn off. An air force couple based in Peshawar collected money for your cancer hospital. You arrived, sat on their sofa with feet up including the chappals, got the money and left without a word of thanks, I told him.

“I wasn’t a public person then. I couldn’t make speeches. Many mistook my shyness and the desire to be alone as arrogance”, IK was quick to correct me.

I persisted with my line of questioning reminding him of leading Pakistan cricket team to bag the World Cup in 1992. ‘You talked about yourself and your cancer hospital, nothing about the team?’ I asked.

Imran Khan shot back with a long explanation: “I had retired from cricket. I returned for Shaukat Khanum. I had to raise money for my hospital. Remember out of nine teams, we were placed second from bottom, the odds being one to 50. My sister who was fundraising called from Lahore with a frantic message that people were pulling out of their pledges because Pakistan was going to lose. We won. But I was not prepared for a speech before a marathon crowd. Even now when I watch that speech of mine, I hang my head in shame.”

One wishes IK a speedy recovery. He’s missed. As for Fauzia Kasuri … umm … will her dream of sitting in the parliament ever come true? Who knows?

anjumniaz@rocketmail.com