AN MNA from Mianwali, Prime Minister Imran Khan returned to the town on Sunday to speak his heart out on some of the topics he is most urgently confronted with.

The occasion was the sixth convocation of the Namal College and much of his speech sought to enlighten the audience on how best to establish democracy in the county. As a consequence, both Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Mian Nawaz Sharif were summarily assigned to the basket of suspicious items in the prime minister’s book — having been prodded on the path to power by military dictators, though with Bhutto having at least made some effort of his own as compared to Mr Sharif’s comfortable journey to the top.

The speech made what appeared to be a mandatory mention about how other countries had punished their corrupt. And as proof of how unhappy he is with the recent criticism of his handpicked Punjab chief minister of Punjab, Mr Khan profusely praised Mr Usman Buzdar, predicting his choice would emerge as the best chief executive of the province — unlike his predecessor, Shahbaz Sharif, for whom the prime minister reserved the harshest words, even stronger than his censure for the Zardari duo of the PPP.

The reasons given for Mr Buzdar’s pre-eminence were simple: he shuns protocol, is not corrupt and would not misuse his office for amassing wealth; he is cognisant of issues and is in the best position to tackle them.

This was a speech made in anger, a riposte to all kinds of criticism that has been heaped on the PTI government. But the prime minister’s words were not suited to the occasion. They would have been more appropriate for a jalsa, perhaps even a heated exchange in parliament. It did nonetheless capture the combative mood that the government is in at the moment and provided further insight into how Mr Khan wants to set the pace and direction for his idea of a safe, lasting and efficient democracy that can deliver to the people at large.

There was never any shortage of evidence about the fighting qualities of the person behind the prime minister. He has been congratulating us about the raw material that we are blessed with. But, instead of heaping opprobrium on rival politicians and defending his own, perhaps his next speech should be more to the point about the ways in which we can use these resources at our disposal.

Published in Dawn, January 29th, 2019