More intense times ahead

Published September 30, 2016
The writer is Dawn’s resident editor in Lahore.
The writer is Dawn’s resident editor in Lahore.

AT the outset of his symbolic siege of the Sharif palace scheduled for today, Imran Khan was asked by journalists in Lahore what he intended to do post-Raiwind. He responded like a simple man: he looked to intensify his campaign.

What else could be expected of a politician in the middle of a campaign? He would want to assure his supporters that he had the desire and commitment — even if no plan as yet — to take his protest to a yet higher level.

Talking with reporters, the PTI chief was provoked into coming up with some examples that explained what he meant by pressing harder and he did offer some revealing insights into the evolution of his thought as a power politician but let us keep that part for the conclusion or as the bottom line of this write-up. Let us first have a quick, random look at where Imran stands today after almost five years of sustained and intense campaigning since his actual or real launch as a politician of some weight and worth at the Minar-i-Pakistan in October 2011.

Imran was definitely viewed as a threat by the forces of status quo. He compelled many an old actor to close ranks and join hands to fight against a common enemy. Such an alliance was not limited to the PML-N/PPP embrace. There were many subtler manifestations of it on both local and national levels.


How many fights can the PTI pick and how many fronts should it open against old players within the system?


For instance, the now long-entrenched and very important NGO sector viewed Imran, with his easily discovered links to extremist ideology as a threat to the existing order. The so-called liberals — the chance socialist somehow managing to be included in the category — made it clearly known how allergic they were to Imran and whatever ideology they could associate with him — not least bothersome to them his pro-army tag.

Not least scary was the particular politico-religious mix that Imran Khan wanted to sell. The distance between the Taliban and Imran may have increased over time. The gap between him and the so-called liberals has also widened as PML-N delivers and appears more likely to deliver.

This, among other factors, led to large numbers of the visible opinion-makers in the country to side solidly with PML-N, to the extent that PML-N came to be half-jokingly called the new PPP. The divide had profound effects on the debate about Imran’s agenda, and certain groups’ suspicions of him has grown with time.

Take the media for example. In what betrays the general mood at media offices, the trend to crack a joke at Imran’s expense has picked up with time. The people at the channels are eager to flash it when the kaptaan is stuck in an elevator in his — ill-advised — bid to climb up in a rush.

The channels are not too shy of letting everyone know they were rather bored by the monotony and futility of Imran’s challenge even when it can be easily argued that many of his causes — Panama, electoral reforms, war against corruption — are just. The media’s relationship with the PTI today is much less accommodating and cordial than it was five years ago.

Before the government makes any concessions to PTI demands, the media as the first line of defence would want Imran to reconfirm not simply majority but overwhelming support of the masses. Unless that comes about the cameras and columns would be very reluctant to join him big time on his reform trail. They would rather wait for the PML-N camp to make some necessary adjustments in the name of change.

In his talk with reporters ahead of Raiwind, Imran Khan talked about the great strides KP has made under the PTI government. The fact, however, is that by and large he has failed to come up with a model that can match the Nawazian or, perhaps even more significantly, the Shahbazian dream of development. That weakens his drive. It is a serious issue given that the rise of Imran Khan has been directly linked to the realisation on the PTI leader’s part some years ago that he needed to — what is that word — yes, intensify his confrontation with the Sharifs of Punjab to be relevant to politics in Pakistan.

One of the many dilemmas the PTI is faced with is: how many fights can it pick and how many fronts should it open against various old players within the system? Forced by circumstances to not ‘overtly flaunt’ its liking for the army as the most powerful if not the sole arbiter, there seems to be a split within the party on how to go about pursuing its cases in the courts — and what kind of response the party ought to come up with when the decisions go against it. This is a very delicate matter which could lead the PTI to keep the focus of its intensified attack exclusively on Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his government.

Within the party and over the last five years, the focus has shifted progressively from the ideological workers to those who are capable. Again at the media talk here earlier this week, Imran made it clear that a long association with the party did not guarantee a position in government should the PTI come to power. Merit mattered. The policy was obviously aimed at wooing more power aspirants to the PTI camp — which still most of all would like in order to score an upset victory against PML-N.

Imran also tried to explain what he meant by an intensification of the campaign following the march on Raiwind. The newspaper quoted him using the term aggressive politics. A senior journalist present at the media talk did hear Imran say it was not unusual in democracies for the protesters to resort to (angrily) throwing around stuff — such as bottles, etc.

Now that’s really a serious warning.

The writer is Dawn’s resident editor in Lahore.

Published in Dawn, September 30th, 2016

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