Turncoats in Imran’s govt taint the PM’s image

So what if Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan shuffled his cabinet so ruthlessly after just eight and a half months in office? Like he said, if some of the boys don’t perform, they get thrown down the order or out of the team altogether. So why all the fuss? Even the cross-border Press has suddenly concluded that Imran’s government is clearly unravelling. The general feeling both home and away is that the establishment, after having brought Imran to power, has realised that his charm and charisma are not going to cure Pakistan’s ills anytime soon. And the bouncers that just sent his star batsmen back to the pavilion allegedly came from the GHQ.

So is the PTI (Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf) really unravelling?

Thing is, whether you like it or not, Imran is generally held to a higher standard than other Pakistani politicians. And criticising him is not the same as criticising (former prime minister) Nawaz Sharif or (former president) Asif Zardari. That is because, unlike theirs, his is not a story of corruption, loot and plunder.

In fact, he gave voice to frustration and helplessness of millions of Pakistanis who had come to accept the country’s political theatre and its star performers as something out of a Francis Ford Coppola movie; Mafia dons on steroids who literally emptied the treasury to fill offshore accounts and build their own political/business dynasties. And in doing so they bribed, threatened or removed anybody who interfered, blessed all those who facilitated, and stood the country’s socio-political fabric on its head. Even in the Press you could call them out at your own risk till Imran made “Zardari Mr Ten Per Cent” and “Go Nawaz Go” household terms.

So Imran brought hope. And he said all the right things. Hadn’t these paragons of democracy been eating off the fat of the land all these decades, taking turns, “playing musical chairs” as Imran called it, and making us pay for all of it? And his election victory last year, after 22 years of struggle, brought a sense of fulfillment and triumph to many, many ordinary Pakistanis. If you stay the course you can get anything, even Naya (new) Pakistan.

Yet, as in most things in Pakistani politics, Imran’s victory was not without its share of irony. He’s still not managed to shake off charges that he was practically picked up and put in the chair by the powerful establishment. PTI questions in return, after pointing to Imran’s fierce criticism of everything associated with military rule and influence since at least the Musharraf years, if it was not natural for everybody including the establishment to accept the party’s snowballing popularity ahead of the election and fall in line?

But, that aside, he surely didn’t do his fan-base any favours by openly welcoming turncoats, “electables” according to him, from across the political spectrum. Back in the day he rallied the educated youth by promising

he’d never take on “anybody who’s ever benefitted from the status quo, even if it means struggling forever.” And there he was, taking them in bundles now. Worse, he put a lot many of them on the most senior, sensitive positions in government. Why?

With more U-turns, naturally, some hope began to fade; even among PTI insiders. You can hang on to ‘it’s all everybody else’s fault but, don’t worry, all will be well’ for only so long.

Imran couldn’t, quite rightly, care any less about all the criticism coming from the opposition. He’s just ended their three-decade party, drowned them in corruption cases and promised strict accountability for leaders that crippled the country. They’re just running around like headless chicken.

But he should be worried about the rising wave of discontent coming from those who have liked and supported him. If they lose hope in him, the system will revert to the democracy of the 1990s and 2000s. And where will that leave Mr Average Joe?

Why litter your cabinet with Musharraf and Zardari remnants when you built a party of change of your own and dragged everybody along for two decades?

Therefore, he should know that following the footsteps of parties such as the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and Pakistan Peoples Party — like tax amnesty schemes and discretionary funds for legislators — after criticising them for two decades erodes his credibility; the only thing, really, that made ordinary Pakistanis stand with him.

And he should know that his reconstituted team has impressed about as many people as his last attempt. Why litter your cabinet with Musharraf and Zardari remnants when you built a party of change of your own and dragged everybody along for two decades? Reshuffling is fine, even desirable because now you’re blaming your own team not just ‘them’, but this isn’t quite the deal the prime minister had promised and nobody seems able to explain why he’s acting like he is.

The bad economy only hastened the hour of reckoning. It showed that the captain had walked into the match without reading the pitch at all. As if winning the toss was winning the match. Imran will now have to undo the damage to the economy as well as his credibility. If he loses this battle, Pakistanis will lose not just growth rate and jobs, but also hope. There’s a reason why it’s such a rare commodity in this Islamic Republic.