It’s a pitiful charade. In order to complicate matters for Imran Khan and his PTI, new parties have been formed from the latter’s depleted ranks, ostensibly to weaken the former prime minister and thwart his hopes of being re-elected. Despite Jahangir Tareen’s Istehkam-i-Pakistan Party’s first lacklustre performance, another wager appears to have been made on Pervaiz Khattak, the former chief minister of the PTI’s KP. After assembling a small group of former PTI MPAs and MNAs—some of whom subsequently admitted they had no idea why they had been called—Mr. Khattak officially founded his new organisation on Monday. Similar to the IPP, it was rapidly apparent that the PTI-Parliamentarians lacked a party manifesto that served as their justification for existence. For the time being, it appears that its strategy is centered on gaining political ground in KP while the IPP cleans up the leftovers in Punjab. Why did the establishment choose this course of action? Why is it adding fresh spoilers to the election? The other political parties should consider that query.
The PTI-Parliamentarians lack a party manifesto that serves as their justification for being. For the time being, it appears that its strategy is centered on gaining political ground in KP while the IPP cleans up the leftovers in Punjab. Why did the establishment choose this course of action? Why is it adding fresh spoilers to the election? The other political parties should consider that query.
Politicians do not just start new parties, in Pakistan’s experience, unless they have some sort of “backing.” So, is the field being prepared so that no one party wins the next general elections by a wide margin?
Politicians do not just start new parties, in Pakistan’s experience, unless they have some sort of “backing.” So, is the playing field being prepared to prevent a single party from winning the next general elections by a landslide? Are we going to have again another hung parliament that is subject to the dictates of those who won’t be held responsible for their involvement in the political process? When this most recent experiment starts to fail, let’s say three or four years from now, would another “civilian” government be used as a scapegoat? Given the results of the 2018 polls, the aforementioned scenarios are not improbable. As experts and decision-makers struggle with the numerous crises that have engulfed Pakistan over the past year or two, the demand for “stability” has become a recurrent theme. It has been made abundantly evident that Pakistan needs a powerful central government to help it navigate its current difficulties. Instead, what we are ultimately witnessing is an effort to maintain control over decision-making inside
