FOUR hectic years after his historic relaunch of October 2011, Imran Khan is back in Lahore hoping for yet another boost for power. The race for NA-122 has entered the make-or-break stage. The area is submerged by banners and there is a swagger in the PTI’s movement that betrays confidence often associated with competitors who are determined to take home something, regardless of whoever wins the main event— maybe the seat. Surely this is some proof of how dysfunctional the system is.

Initially, there was some advice to Imran Khan to not go into an election. His well-wishers, at least some amongst them, were all for him abstaining from the by-polls and blaming this absence on an ‘inefficient’ Election Commission and a government bent on rigging the vote. The warning that he might pull out at the very end in a blaze of allegations of partiality by the Election Commission is still on. Prima facie, for the time being, the PTI stays committed to the ideal of an election to resolve the conflict, at the same time looking for ways to maintain a posture of agitation against the system represented by the Election Commission and the government.

The Islamabad jalsa against the Election Commission that was scheduled to be held on Oct 4 was designed to keep the anti-system refrain alive. The public meeting has since been put off, giving rise to suspicions that the PTI now believes that the purpose for which it had been planned has already been served. And that, consequently, the party would rather focus its resources on the fight in NA-122.

While looking for evidence that the PTI would be inclined to use to paint the system as partial to the old blundering types the PML-N move to get the NA-154 by-election stayed by the court offers Imran Khan something to work with. The argument which seeks to project the PML-N move as a sign of retreat from the arena does have a lot of appeal. Not just that, with Lodhran out of the way for the time being, the PTI cadres are free to wholly concentrate their energies on the fight in Lahore.

The PTI is crying out for power and it will do whatever it possibly can to be popular.

Imran Khan is in Lahore issuing warnings, reminders and threats against any attempts at rigging. His party is the more aggressive of the two contestants. The rallies the PTI has been organising have not just been impressive in size, they have been characterised by the new ambition of the ‘clean’ that the party symbolises even if some of its more visible members have been drawn from the filthy old stables.

It is an ambition that Aleem Khan, the PTI candidate in NA-122 by-election, both complements and contrasts with. He is a ‘recent’ graduate to the club of the rich and if the stories about his business are a source of concern to the PTI, there are ready explanations about this in essence being an election against the system, and one in favour of Imran Khan, regardless of which horse he is represented by here.

There are inevitably some comments here and there condemning the PTI for having given up its politics of principles for a clearer shot at power; this is an old theme which doesn’t quite sync with the new, and successful, second life of the party which began four years ago here on Oct 31, 2011.

The PTI is crying out for power and it will do whatever it possibly can to be popular. If the PTI banners bearing the image of Gen Raheel Sharif served the interest well and prominently, the party is not going to not try owning up the messiah for some instant gains.

From the saviour to the victim, closer to the election date of Oct 11, the Imran Khan team might be found campaigning more pointedly around how the PML-N and Ayaz Sadiq had stolen the seat from the skipper in the May 2013 general election. The victim card, in addition to that of the rebel who is close to the chief, could add verve to the ‘promising’ and very spirited sustained PTI campaign against the ever-formidable PML-N.

The PML-N is as always workmanlike in its approach to the election, with fancy development projects undertaken in the city in recent years perking up its drive in the background. In the typical no-nonsense Sharifian fashion a tunnel is being dug deep and far to reach out to the voters. There is a persistent drone of voices seeking to impress on each other just how important it is to stay united against the latest menace called PTI.

It can get too quiet sometimes — like during the television interviews where Ayaz Sadiq chose restraint over an out-and-out attack on the PTI. Some of those who have been following the proceedings had expected a slightly more vocal man standing guard at the Sharifs’ Lahore. They find Ayaz too laidback at times and must link his measured demeanour to his stint as the speaker of the National Assembly. They say now is the time for him to speak, and speak out, and not for reliving the position of the speaker of the past or essaying for the same slot in the future.

Yes there is no shortage of those who believe that Ayaz Sadiq will return as the speaker provided he wins. Without his return as the chair of the National Assembly, Imran Khan’s defeat will be incomplete and the Sharifs, the theory goes, do not believe in doing things by half.

The theory says that Ayaz Sadiq was chosen for the post of the speaker so that he could serve as a constant reminder to Imran Khan that not only did his party lose to the PML-N in the 2013 polls, he stood personally beaten, too. That resort to the old practice of humiliating, crushing the opponents did not work. It contributed greatly to a dispute that a by-election, anywhere, cannot quite resolve.

The writer is Dawn’s resident editor in Lahore.

Published in Dawn October 2nd, 2015

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