Like a runaway bride who has an option of arranging a new husband, a runaway politician also has a right to embrace a new political arrangement. The concept of runaway politicians is personified nowhere else but in Pakistan.
The mother party remains the Pakistan Tehrik Insaf (PTI). Whereas one collection of the runaway politicians merges into the Istehkam-e Pakistan Party (IPP) of Jahangir Tareen, the other gathering huddles around the PTI-Parliamentarians (PTI-P) of Pervez Khattak. In a way, two provinces have given birth to two distorted versions of the PTI: the IPP (Tareen group) in Punjab, and the PTI-P (Khattak group) in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The runaway phenomenon indicates that political conviction of most politicians remains pliable. Most abhor steadfastness. They succumb to pressures and remain prone to blackmailing. They remain inclined to opportunism coupled with political expediency, instead of adhering to any ideological underpinning. The question is this: what law can they enact as law makers (after getting elected), if their standing is so susceptible to vicissitudes of life?
This is one of the reasons people lose faith in politics and consequently in the law-making process. Most laws are considered compromised, serving some people and occasions. The consequent disconnect renders people dissociated from the state affairs. When a section of this disgruntled part somehow manages to go abroad, they live there with hatred against the system. This is why when the PTI raised the slogan of change and the rule of law in the country, most expatriate Pakistanis stood by the party. The phenomenon was palpable after 2007.
It is a norm in Pakistan’s political system that the salaried class tends to rule over the elected politicians. One of the reasons could be that politicians come with their foibles, which they keep on exposing to the pleasure of those who tend to peep into their affairs, public or private. Bathrooms are wired up and bedrooms are bugged. Corruption cases are an added menace.
It is unfortunate that the would-be lawmakers or elected representatives succumb to pressure from the salaried class and change their path and loyalty in politics. The deviation has never served the country in the past and it would never do in the future.
This time the major challenge for these runaway politicians ensconcing themselves in one new slanted version or the other of the PTI are going to face is that the PTI voter is attached tenaciously to the PTI Chairman. Making any new party as an innovated or distorted version of the PTI weighs less than wooing voters of the PTI. The real test of the runaway politicians would be on Election Day, but even before that they would gauge their relevance during the election campaign.
The point is simple: general elections are round the corner. The incumbent outgoing government must play its cards carefully, before any card backfires. By adopting the right path or wrong way politically, the PTI is a reality. The PTI voters are still charged. There seems to be no electoral place for any distorted version of the PTI – be it IPP or PTI-P.
What the incumbent government has done to strengthen the connection between the PTI Chairman and PTI voters is by filing more than 100 (fake) cases. To add fuel to the fire, the PTI Chairman has been banned from media appearances. Hence, on the one hand, he has been busied into exonerating his name from the cases; on the other hand, his voice is almost muted in the mainstream media. The strategy may be beneficial immediately to have encircled and squeezed the PTI Chairman, but the tactic is counterproductive concomitantly in the sense that the PTI voters see their leader as a victim of the state oppression. They may vent their feelings of retribution on the voting day. This is where the runaway politicians see the chances of their extinction politically.
After the tenure of this government is over, the interim government may not proceed with the same restrictions to muzzle the voice of the PTI Chairman. Currently, Pakistan is in the grip of international institutions which are keen to see democracy flourish. They have tied their financial help, though it is a loan, to progress on the path of democracy. The excuse that Pakistan is passing through a critical phase politically stands no more relevant. The expatriate Pakistani community is quite vocal in educating the loan giving institutions on the prevalent ground scenario.
Even if the Supreme Court is prevaricating on declaring the Army courts unlawful to try civilians for May 9 events, trying civilians in the Army courts would change the trajectory of the country. Pakistan would be labeled as a country where democratic norms are crumbly and the administrative system wobbly. The consequent situation cannot be considered conducive to inviting foreign investment especially from the western democratic countries. One-window operation through the Army may be appreciated by the countries which are not practising democracy, but it may not be valued by the countries believing in democracy. Pakistan has to make a choice.
Many still overlook that the PTI Chairman has been demanding investigation into the events of May 9 before the state wields its ultimate coercive measures. This point may not carry any weight in the eyes of the DG ISPR but it is valued in the eyes of international observers and commentators.
The PTI has been set on the path of internal disintegration, but the practice may not serve much in the election year. In principle, the state institutions, in whatever uniform, are not empowered to disintegrate a political party under any ruse. The misuse of the Punjab police as a Londi or Khadima to suppress the PTI has wasted all efforts and money spent on the image building of the police. What is the purpose of merit in induction in the police if they are supposed to obey illegal orders afterwards? In fact, by indulging in politics, the Punjab police have ruined the capital it had earned.
It is known that cypher was a political gimmick launched by the PTI Chairman to prop up the party’s dwindling popularity and to avenge the ouster of his party from government through a legitimate vote of confidence. Nevertheless, the cypher is a bygone case. Making the PTI Chairman disqualified on this account may destabilize the political system further.
The point is simple: general elections are round the corner. The incumbent outgoing government must play its cards carefully, before any card backfires. By adopting the right path or wrong way politically, the PTI is a reality. The PTI voters are still charged. There seems to be no electoral place for any distorted version of the PTI – be it IPP or PTI-P.
