THE Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf rally near Mr Jinnah's mausoleum on Sunday was billed by organisers as a continuation of the political 'tsunami' that was first in evidence in Lahore on Oct 30. Critics of the PTI maintained that unless some hard policy positions were fleshed out the long-standing accusation that the PTI had not matured as a political party would stick. Both sides were valida- ted to some extent by Sunday's rally. The PTI certainly validated some of the hype in the run-up to what was a historic rally. In particular, the ability to draw in a diverse crowd in such large numbers in a city like Karachi where ethnic and political fault lines are deep and deadly suggests that Imran Khan has tapped into a vein of popular discontent against the status quo that isn't limited to the Punjab heartland or the Pashtun belts. The rally also had a very different vibe to other political events in Karachi, there being an air of celebration and goodwill that only infrequently marks politics in the turbulent city.

Disappointing, though, was the lack of any serious policy prescriptions. Imran Khan did talk about the goal of establishing an 'Islamic welfare society' but mentioned virtually no details. Mr Khan talked of a revolutionary system of service delivery based on computerisation and information technology but where will the concrete plans and implementation come from? The former IT minister who has recently joined the PTI, Azam Swati, doesn't have a particularly strong track record in getting things done. On taxation, an issue Mr Khan has talked much about (and rightly so), the PTI chief also did not have any suggestions for nudging upwards the disastrously low tax-to-GDP ratio. Does the PTI endorse a meaningful agricultural income tax or support the reforms of the sales tax system? No answers were provided. Given the politicians with diverse, if not opposing, foreign policy briefs in the past that have been inducted into the PTI, what will the PTI's foreign policy look like? Again, silence.

The broader question: is the PTI set to become a mishmash of the views of the disparate traditional politicians who have been inducted into the party recently or will Imran Khan's 'vision', to the extent one was discernible before, still be the guid-ing principle of the party? The PTI's core still seems to be the 'new voter', whether young voters or previously politically inactive citizens disillusioned with the status quo. As Mr Khan works to bring 'electables' on board, how will the core PTI supporter respond? Only this is clear: a fascinating election lies ahead.