Uneasy days and disturbed nights
THIS has reference to what the other day (23 January 2022) PM Imran Khan Niazi has received so many telephonic calls from his compatriots from different locations who asked him different quite diversified questions, some of them very rugged, rough, odd and tough to be honest, but PM Imran did not lose his frame of mind, posture and patience at all rather, on the contray, he replied and explained each and every question with complete clarity, convincing confidence in great length and depth as to what are the causes of the troubles and the hardships which he very well knows are being faced by the nation ever since he wore the crown.
It will be quite barren, futile, hollow and unnecessary exercise on my part if I embark upon and start enumerating all the questions so raised therein and the answers given by PM Imran Khan for the simple cogent reason that, as a matter of fact, the whole nation has watched the live question-answer program on their television screens in their houses or even in cafes and those who missed it for any reason, have already read the same in the newspapers in any case.
PM Imran has mentioned about his disturbed night sleeps so reason which I view it quite differently as elucidated and explained in the subsequent paragraphs as under.
I am with Imran not from the day he took the solemn oath as Prime Minister like majority of us have titled towards him ever since he became PM but I am not one of those rather in fact I strted liking him since 1993 when he came to Kuwait and returned to Pakistan with heavy cash to build his Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital in Lahore and as a truly unbiased neutral person I will pronounce that Imran has experienced uneasy days and sleepless nights from the very 1st day when he took oath as PM simply because one way or the other PTI does not enjoy the required majority in NA even though it did succeed in winning the maximum seats which no other political party can boast of come what may.
Under the given peculiar circumstances, PM Imran was cornered to the extent that he had no alternative but to seek the assistance from other political parties that have won seats in NA to side with PTI so that it achieves the required numbers to form the government and quite but naturally in reciprocation to the alliance, PM Imran had to gift ministerial jobs to those who sided with the PM and the constant fear that the fragile association many not break up any time, such fact quite but naturally haunts Imran resulting in uneasy days and disturbed nights.
No denying the hard fact, that before Imran took over as PM, it was Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) which ruled the country as its head Mian Nawaz Sharif was Prime Minister while his younger brother Mian Shehbaz Sharif was Chief Minister of Punjab and now when PML (N) neither obtained majority in NA nor in Punjab Assembly, both Sharif brothers namely Nawaz and Shehbaz simply could not digest the fact that it has lost the majority and the chance to rule either in the centre or in the province.
Now Shehbaz being an MNA, is the Opposition Leader in NA whereby he is constantly attacking PM Imran for one reason or the other all the time be it platform of National Assembly, press conference, talk shows, interviews, public gatherings, meeting people or PML (N) internal meetings and whereby he has tried his level best to eventually oust PM Imran but has miserably failed in his attempts so far.
However, it goes without saying that though PM Imran has very strong nerves and stamina to swallow the threats so hurled by Shehbaz Sharif but yet as a human being, exactly like you and me, Imran must be disturbed both in days and nights come what may.
Asif Zardari and Bilawal Bhutto (father and son) of PPP though have much less seats in NA than PML (N) but yet they at their own level are also grinding their axes against PM Imran even though, at national level, PPP is neither so strong nor so popular like PML (N) but nevertheless they keep on shouting at the pitch of the voice vomiting venom against PM Imran while they have addressed so many public rallies, gatherings and meetings on different dates in different cities and towns saying much against PM Imran but still the two could not harm him whatsoever except disturbing and perturbing his mental peace and tranquillity for sure on a 24 hours basis though much lesser in intensity than PML (N).
Maulana Fazlur Rehman, much power hungry and thirsty who utterly failed to become MNA, though much lesser in popularity with not much say in any case took a chance to meet the leaders of both main political parties namely (PML (N) and PPP in particular and other smaller parties in general to group them up as a combined and united opposition force whereby all of them pool up their respective total sources and resources and start plaguing the minds of the general public against PM Imran so that the public stands up against Imran believing that at some stage PM Imran may not be able to withstand the public uproar against him but, the hard undeniable fact, is that though PDM headed by Fazlur Rehman and fully supported by PML (N) and PPP had already staged many public meetings pulling thousands in different cities of Pakistan on different dates but still PDM simply could do nothing against Imran.
Very much surprisingly, Fazlur Rehman had gone to the extent that he had given so many dates as to when PM Imran will have to leave the throne, but one way or the other, resultantly none but Fazlur Rehman had to lose his face when his dead line dates passed away and Imran continued as PM but nevertheless yet I can very safely say that such like false threats must have awaken Imran during nights if not during broad day light.
In conclusion, I have to say that Imran has very strong will power and he does not believe in giving up so easily come what may rather, in fact, he is a great fighter who fights with full power and vigour duly punctuated with zeal and zest till he eventually wins which he has already proved not once but twice, once by winning the World Cup much against so many odds tinged with different probabilities of ifs and buts and then winning in 2018 elections and that too defeating much more seasoned political parties and now when opposition is after him to suck his blood, I believe he will complete his term though going through uneasy days and disturbed nights.
—The writer is contributing columnist, based in Kuwait.
