The recent spate of protests led by Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) may grow into a larger movement after the federal budget due early next month, analysts and politicians believe.
Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah says the establishment is pulling the strings again. Asad Umer, an entrepreneur-turned-politician and a member of Mr Khan’s kitchen cabinet, rubbished Sanaullah’s claims. He said anyone doubting sincerity of the PTI should not be taken seriously.
Asked to comment on the army chief’s recent statement on the sanctity of the constitution that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had praised, Rana Sanaullah said he was not talking about the army, but elements within the establishment who were working as a “state within a state”. They would not miss an opportunity to derail democracy or undermine the prime minister.
[quote]Prominent on the stage was Sheikh Rashid, who has already demanded mid-term elections[/quote]
A simple interpretation of his allegations would is: in order to bring down the federal government, anti-democracy forces are using Imran Khan as their puppet.
The recent turn of events has given strength to this argument. Soon after the general elections last year, the PTI had cried foul. They said their mandate had been stolen by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N). The party claimed that it was deprived of at least 42 National Assembly seats in Punjab alone. The PTI was expecting a clean sweep because of its massive popularity visible in Mr Khan’s rallies and on the social media. The election results had shocked them.
The PTI blamed the judiciary of conniving with the PML-N to rig the polls. When Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry was in office, Mr Khan kept his guns pointed towards the Returning Officers (ROs). After his retirement, he publically accused him of helping the PML-N win the elections.
[quote]Tahirul Qadri wants a revolution in Pakistan[/quote]
The former chief justice rubbished his allegations. The PTI chairman remained adamant, especially now that he does not fear a contempt of court notice.
On the first anniversary of the general elections on May 11, the PTI staged a large rally outside Parliament House. Prominent on the stage was Awami Muslim League president Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, who has already demanded mid-term elections in the country.
In his speech, the PTI chairman presented a nine-point charter of demands aiming at electoral reforms. He also demanded stern action against the ROs who were, in fact, judicial officers borrowed by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to conduct the elections.
A supporter of Tahirul Qadri's Pakistan Awami Tehrik at a rally in Lahore on May 11
The PTI has been demanding forensic investigation of the results of four National Assembly constituencies including those won by National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq and Railways Minister Khawaja Saad Rafique. It is just a litmus test.
If it is revealed that election results were in fact manipulated in any of those four constituencies, the PTI will not stop at feeling vindicated. It will hammer the PML-N government with more vigor and passion.
Insiders say PTI senior leaders are not that delusional as they are perceived to be. They know what they are striving for and think it wise to keep the people guessing that whether the electoral reforms or investigation in four NA constituencies would satisfy the party.
It is hard to prove whether the military establishment has opened backchannels with the PTI, yet the timing is very interesting. The PTI has upped the ante when the PML-N government is trying hard to repair its strained relationship with the armed forces.
The Punjab law minister claimed before the general elections, then ISI director general Lt Gen Ahmed Shuja Pasha tried to coerce several PML-N leaders to join the PTI. The top spy was sponsoring the PTI to keep the PML-N from coming to power.
He said Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif and Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan shared each and every detail with then army chief Gen Ashfaq Pervez Kiyani. The late night meetings were held at the army chief’s residence. The PML-N leaders threatened to go public if Gen Pasha was not stopped.
Several news reports and analyses painted the PML-N for colluding with the military establishment once again. In fact, the core reason of those meetings was to remove the supposed patronage of the ISI for the PTI.
Policemen stand alert at the site of the PTI rally
The PTI always rejected those allegations. Ghulam Sarwar Khan, a senior politician who defeated Chaudhry Nisar in the last general elections, said the stories of nexus between the ISI and the PTI were nothing but fictional. He said he never heard anything like that.
Meanwhile, the re-entry of Canadian national Dr Tahirul Qadri is rather intriguing. It seems that Mr Khan and Mr Qadri are in the same bandwagon accompanied by a few other irritants like Sheikh Rashid.
Dr Qadri wants a revolution in Pakistan. In 2002, he contested the general elections. His party, Pakistan Awami Tehrik, could win only one NA seat. After not getting due attention from then president Pervez Musharraf, he was disheartened and went back to Canada. He came out of hibernation before the last general elections raising the slogan: save the state, not the politics. He left for Canada after giving the government a set of reform demands.
What will come next is a big question. Mr Khan is likely to be the centre of the attention, but not everyone in his party is pleased with his reckless moves. A senior PTI leader who used to deal with the party’s media policy was wary of Mr Khan’s diatribes against Geo News.
“I requested him not to open too many fronts. But he didn’t listen. I strongly advised him not to target Geo News. But he turned a deaf ear to my advice,” he said with a tinge of frustration.
Some PTI leaders expressed concerns what might happen if Geo News came out of the crisis it was facing. If the channel survives the smear campaign and the legal battle, it will deal with its detractors.
