For the well-heeled, politics has always been ‘a game of possibilities’. But, lately, the young Tehreek-i-Insaf has been playing it so often that it has left uninitiated spectators confused - even within the party itself.

It is to his credit though that the captain of the PTI team learnt the ropes of a game new to him rather fast. When entrenched political forces say Imran Khan has plunged PTI into the murky waters of traditional politics, at least some disgruntled in the party may take heart that the foes fear being defeated at their own game.

Imran Khan entered the game of politics in earnest in 2013 with the battle cry of ‘Change’ which attracted millions of voters in last general elections - precisely eight million - and the PTI emerged as a real contender in the power game. Certainly, the election slogan of ‘Change’ did not exclude changing tactics to win the big game.

That PTI’s changing stances on various issues, most recently on by-elections, confuse the uninitiated within the party and outside is a different issue, indeed natural.

In the coming weeks, PTI workers and leadership in Sindh would be seen straining against the old but shaken monolith of Muttahida Qaumi Movement in a by-election in NA-246 constituency of National Assembly in Karachi. The seat fell vacant after Nabeel Gabol resigned from the beleaguered MQM. Critics question not PTI taking on the MQM in its heartland but its skewed decision making. How come, they ask, contesting by-elections is kosher for the party in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sindh and Azad Kashmir but forbidden in Punjab?

PTI’s confusing stance on by-elections emerged from its long march last year. As part of his protest movement against alleged rigging in the 2013 general elections, PTI chairman Imran Khan decided, at the height of his dharna (sit-in) in Islamabad last August, that the PTI legislators quit the National and the provincial Sindh and Punjab assemblies. Moreover, he used to daily denounce members of the parliament as ‘fake representatives’.

Throughout the long protest movement, he contended that the May 2013 general elections were heavily rigged. From August to December 2014, without fail, he maligned the two houses of parliament and would not settle for anything less than the resignation of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

Midway in October, the PTI decided it will not field its candidate in NA-149 Multan against the party’s former president Javed Hashmi. Instead, PTI supported the independent Amir Dogar in order to settle scores with Hashmi who had rebelled against the sit-in politics and owned his resignation from the National Assembly.

Amir Dogar won and visited Imran Khan to thank him for the support that PTI strongman in the area Shah Mehmood Qureshi extended to him. The argument the PTI leadership then offered for the odd game was that since it had resigned from the National Assembly, it didn’t make sense to contest for the same.

But last month when the PTI tried the same with the independent candidate Ijaz Shah in the National Assembly constituency in tehsil Nankana district Sheikhupura, both lost the game.

Meanwhile, the PTI took part in the by-elections in KP to its advantage, arguing that it was only proper that it presented itself to the scrutiny of the electorate of the province it governs.

A similar argument was advanced by the PTI in March when it decided to become part of the Senate and won six seats in the upper house of the parliament. Likewise, a PTI candidate, Barrister Sultan Mahmood, has returned to the AJK assembly.

In background discussions, senior PTI leaders and members of the party’s core committee agreed that the decision to resign from the National and provincial assemblies wasn’t a well thought out move.

“Maybe sitting in the National Assembly we could have raised more forcefully our demand for free and fair elections in the country,” said a PTI MNA, refusing to be quoted on the record. Now that the PML-N government has agreed to set up the judicial commission, he hoped the PTI would return to the assemblies.

On the question of party’s confusing stance on contesting by-elections, he argued that “as a young political party, we couldn’t stay away from the electoral fights, so we either supported independents or contested directly.”

As for the upcoming big fight in volatile Karachi, a PTI office-bearer thought it would be political watershed for the residents of the mega city. Therefore, the party leadership decided to be in the game rather than a spectator. “Perhaps, it is the first time in 30 years that the MQM is feeling the heat that the people of Karachi are looking for an alternate to them,” said the PTI leader.

“Imran Khan is fast learning the nuances of hard-politics which at times forces one to take tough decisions. That’s what is happening to our leadership,” remarked another PTI leader.

Though Khan did believe that his call for civil disobedience would catch on, he said everybody in the party recognised sooner than later that it was a non-starter, he said.

Published in Dawn, April 3rd, 2015

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