Riyaz Abro
Politics should be based on principles, and people should stay committed to one issue; whatever the issue is today will be the same tomorrow. But PTI kept its U-turn policy alive. They did not think that consistency in politics was meaningful. If they had not relied on the army’s support initially, their hearts might have melted. However, they also relied on traditional politics and rode on the establishment’s shoulders, securing the office of the Prime Minister. This confirmed that the establishment was the entire universe and the solution to everything, and gaining the chair also came with it. They also claimed they would not turn their backs on the establishment again, yet they acted independently and did not see the establishment as anything, and should have stood on their own feet.
Now the PTI supporters are on two paths: either release Imran Khan from jail or negotiate with the government and sit in opposition seats, or they will not talk at all. This is because they do not have a “one-point” agenda. Their talk is that “Ghanun mardan san har na haley ain ganuian ortun san ghar na haley”. They do not have a single leader; sometimes they bring forward Bushra Bibi, who cannot understand the country’s politics, which is still shrouded in mystery. Then, sometimes Aleema Bibi takes control of the political tides so that these two women do not get along. It should also be said that PTI did not have (and does not have) a strong party leader other than Imran Khan. Even if Shah Mehmood Qureshi was in the party, it was like salt in the flour; now PTI is called a party of Pathans.
Whatever movement emerges, it emerges from KP, be it the Long March or the movement for Imran Khan’s freedom, but unfortunately, no powerful movement has emerged so far that can defend Imran Khan. Local and foreign people should think that Imran Khan will not be free now. Because they are only trapped in the chaos of cases, so far, they are trapped in the chaos that if they get away with one case, they get caught in another. May 9th has proven to be the last straw in their party’s coffin that they cannot save. They got away with the marriage during the period of the confinement case, but money laundering, Al-Qadir University, foreign funding, Tosha Khana, and then the May 9th tragedy. That is why they have not been able to come up with a plan from which we can understand that they will now also do principled politics.
Apart from all that, hereditary politics is the guarantee of the party’s survival, because people outside the party do not feel the influence and strength of that party; they think that if Imran Khan’s son, wife, sister, or brother somehow comes into the party, then the party will be alive and well. But they also considered the party like a cricket team, sometimes one gets the lead and sometimes the other. This has lost the party’s reputation and identity, and the party has lost the fun that Imran Khan himself used to run. Even now, the same hesitation seems to be happening, the party’s leads are out of anyone’s hands, who “operates the party” or how much status does each party have, the question remains.
Ali Amin Gandapur is holding the party hostage; he is blackmailing the establishment and the government by making new threats every day, but neither the government nor the establishment is ready for talks. Now, with whom will they talk, and what will be the beginning and end of the talks? They will talk about Tosha Khana, they will talk about foreign funding, they will follow up on the money laundering case, there will be some talks on Al-Qadir University, will Imran Khan come out first, or what type of talks there will be, or will they arrange talks in advance so that Imran Khan comes out, or what? Their agenda is also beyond understanding; that is why the more mouths there are in the party, the more talk is made. There is no longer one agenda or one issue; sometimes, they create enmity with political parties and are not ready to talk with any party. They are fighting with the PML-N, they are not ready for talks with the PPP or they are not forming an alliance with any other party (but when the power chair was offered, the MQM was also right, which wrote slogans of Imran Zani on every street and wall of Karachi on May 12, 2007, to prepare him to return and did not allow him to set foot in Karachi. But at that time, everything was right, only the PPP and the PML-N were wrong, Zardari and Nawaz Sharif were wrong, the rest of the country was right for PTI people. Nothing is final in politics; one has to make compromises in politics, which is not in the minds of the PTI people. They think that even now, the 2018 elections will be held, or even now, the establishment will have doubts about them. But the situations are not always the same, so it is better to use understandings and compromises in politics.
Difference within the PTI are swelling with the period, one says one thing and then another says another, because there is a lack of leadership, no one is ready to listen to anyone, everyone seems to have their political philosophy, everyone runs their own, so let’s say the same thing again that there is no strong movement for the release of Imran Khan, from which the people think that now Imran Khan can be released from jail on bail, but now there is no hope that anything will happen. There is no way for the PTI people of Punjab to fight with the PTI people of KP or the party leaders of Sindh will not sit together with the PTI candidates of Baluchistan, because there are so many differences within the party that the people will be thrown out, and which province they will support, and where the party will end up.
Should Imran be liberated, or should the people of KP get an independent party in which they can make decisions of their own choice? That is why now even some of Imran Khan’s “keyboard warriors” cannot run any movement. Social media is a joke for Imran Khan. Now the silence is beginning that can be heard; there is no longer any sound from which we can understand that a revolution will take place. There is no longer any voice of the “keyboard warrior” on “social media” who can run a campaign or even do something. That is why the people now understand that whatever is happening is right and the joint government of the PML-N and the PPP, no one is left in the opposition party, who is worried about the pain of the people, no one will raise their voice, because even a party like the PTI is full of differences, those who feel that they have their own, then the government and the establishment, the PML-N and the PPP have the right to end their days by running the government of their choice.
We believe that in the 2023 elections, the entire mandate belonged to the PTI and this mandate was taken away from them with a special manipulation, but there was no movement or campaign for this either, which would make us understand that now the PTI supporters are not going to sit vague or to no avail, but the lack of leadership has taken away the PTI’s wings, and the country’s largest party has now become the KP party. This is because no voice is raised from any corner of the country for any issue except KP’s and Ali Amin Gandapur, who believe that now the party has become only KP’s party, and every movement has come under the purview of KP, and Shah Mehmood Qureshi is also sitting behind bars of jail, counting the days. He also believes that until 2028 comes, their pulse will not even be stirred, and these PTI people will continue to sit around making useless noises and continue to run the coalition government with the PML-N. They should have understood this when the PPP extended its hand to them as an ally, and if this alliance had formed a government in the 2023 elections (which was possible), Imran Khan would have been better off, but now they are stuck in a rut from which it seems difficult to get out.