Rawalpindi is seen to patronise him. And it’s a conducive pitch electorally—even if Nawaz Sharif, playing the victim card, poses a threat from prison. But the pennants of Imran Khan’s PTI fly the highest. Can he lay a new path for Pakistan’s fractured polity?
Imran Khan looks a bit like he used to at the top of his run-up, keen as a rapier and bustling with intent. He’s a man on a mission, addressing public meetings twice a day across electoral battlegrounds. Still extremely charismatic at 65, he’s the only real crowd-puller whose presence can make a difference to a candidate running under the banner of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI). Pakistan, like India, labours under the slippery first-past-the-post system—a few floating votes can settle a game. And if anyone can swing the ball in dead air, it’s the Pathan.
The schedule must be gruelling even for a physically fit Imran, but it doesn’t show. The excitement of what comes next must be driving him. Pakistan is staring at an electoral landscape shorn of Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif, the duo that dominated politics in the post-Zia era. That’s a huge, roiling vacuum. What that means is, perhaps for the first time since 1996, when Imran founded his party, there is unparalleled confidence about the PTI’s chances in an election.
The party may have launched its manifesto after the other two main parties—the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N)—but Imran has been spelling out his agenda for months now. At a big rally in Lahore back in April, he gave his 11-point agenda for governance. A month later, he unveiled his 100-day action plan.
THE PTI’s senior leadership is confident enough to assert that it will lead the lower house of parliament and it’s unfazed by the allegation levelled by all other parties that it is the ‘ladla’ (favourite son) of the powers that be. While the PPP and the PML(N) struggle with corruption cases and arrests (as well as security concerns for the latter), the PTI is seen to be racing ahead without any such impediments.
Denne historien er fra July 30, 2018-utgaven av Outlook.
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Denne historien er fra July 30, 2018-utgaven av Outlook.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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The 'Invisible' Dalits
The debate over sub-categorisation of castes is likely to shape the political discourse in the upcoming state elections
Caste Census: To Conquer Or Conserve?
The caste census is generating heated debate, but even its most ardent proponents are not able to articulate a plan about how to use the resulting data
THE FATEFUL COMEDY
Actor-director Rajat Kapoor talks about adapting Fyodor Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov into a Hindi play
Mad Hatter
When a leader takes off his topi and holds it in his hands while appealing for votes, it signals something extraordinary
Circle Within Circles
The caste question in Muslims.
Backward March
The Maratha reservation question may continue to mire the next government in the state
The 69% Exception
Quota within quota: lessons to be learned from Tamil Nadu
United Indifference
The perils of tweaking tribal identities
Two Nations, Two Destinies
The widely differing balance of power between the military and civilian leadership in India and Pakistan has significantly impacted democracy in the two countries
Crème de la Crème
The mainstream society thinks reservations are against right to equality. It’s high time they are seen in the context of right to justice.
