Imran Khan — One man against all?
ELECTED as the 22nd Prime Minister of Pakistan in August 2018, Imran Khan was a breathe of fresh air for the country — someone who broke the two party system and was supported by the establishment.
Known for his legacy in cricket, he captained Pakistan’s 1992 World Cup victory earning the love of the nation and for his philanthropy by launching a cancer hospital in honour of his mother, Shaukat Khanum.
Adored by the nation, he founded his party — Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) in 1996 with the vision of creating a welfare state, having an independent judiciary, overhaul of the police system and a democratic system without military intervention.
The PTI became mainstream during the 2013 Pakistani elections, gaining the control of a province (KP) and being the second largest party according to popular vote with 7.5 million votes.
By the 2018 elections, with the Azadi March and the Panama Papers leak leading to the disqualification of Nawaz Sharif as PM, along with some claiming pre-poll rigging, PTI received almost 32% of the vote which was the largest along with Imran Khan surpassing Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto by winning all 5 constituencies as compared to Bhutto’s 3, showing great faith and confidence in him as the nations leader.
After securing 176 votes and being nominated by his party as a candidate for Prime Minister, he took oath on 18th August, 2018.
His victory speech was reaffirming his party’s original vision of rule of law, democracy and progressing the economy by improving the standard of living of the poor and to ensure accountability – he also promised to change the PM house into an educational institute and use the governor house for public benefit.
His appointments however were criticised as instead of bringing tabdeeli and a Naya Pakistan, his cabinet compromised of previous ministers.
He chose individuals as ministers of whom had no background in those specific fields, such as Zartaj Gul as Minister of Climate Change, Omar Ayub Khan as Minister of Energy, Fawad Chaudhry as Minister of Science and Technology, Faisal Vawda as Minister of Water Resources, Shibli Faraz as Minister of Information and the fact that the Ministry of Finance was shuffled 4 times in the last 2 years out of 6 cabinet reshuffles after assuming power giving no clear economic path to follow.
Given the consistent policy changes and ‘U-turns’ under Imran Khan, his biggest flaw was his biggest draw – he remained true to fighting the corrupt and ensuring accountability for misappropriated funds.
Under him, the National Accountability Bureau was much stronger given that between 2018 to 2021, they recovered Rs.487 billion as compared to the agencies performance between 2008-2018.
However because of his relentless commitment against corruption, he failed to utilise his tenure to adequately develop a roadmap for his government to ensure the nations development.
Despite accountability being the core of their governance, there was no change in NAB law and the provision of ‘voluntary return’ and ‘plea bargain’ still remain.
There was the scandal of the Ring Road project of Rawalpindi in which those close to Imran Khan were implicated such as Ghulam Sarwar Khan, a Federal Minister.
A promise was made to build 5 million low-cost housing units yet not one house has materialised.
The plan to reform the FBR by giving it more autonomy and less government influence also failed seeing how more than 7 chairman were appointed and the collection of revenue did not meet its target.
There was promise of complete electronic mapping of a property owned by a person on their CNIC which is still a dream.
The government’s own commission on sugar and wheat scandals show how the bureaucracy in Punjab has faced frequent transfers on political considerations instead of merit with civil servants being transferred in weeks or months without protection of tenure or career planning.
The criminal justice system have had no major reforms despite promises of speedy justice.
Police depoliticisation has not occurred neither has devolving the power and decision-making to people through an empowered local government which would take away the control of MPA’s and MNA’s over small towns and villages.
Due to Covid-19 however, his goal of creating 10 million jobs in key sectors could not be realised and the economic effects of the pandemic were out of his control.
As for his foreign policy stance, we must commend Imran Khan’s confidence on how Pakistan is a nation as equal as another.
He made the people proud and showed Pakistan is on an equal footing. While this was awe-inspiring, the truth is, Pakistan relies heavily on international aid and loans to sustain its economy – despite Pakistan’s limitless potential, there’s been limited growth and development to reach the point of independent foreign policy.
While it has been claimed that due to ‘foreign conspiracy’, he’s been ousted as PM – there is some truth in that, but its not the way the narrative claims it to be.
While we are not the slaves of the West or the US, for our ex-PM to meet the President of Russia the night before the invasion of Ukraine and the war crimes committed by them, it was a diplomatic embarrassment.
No matter who Pakistan aligns itself with, an act of war must always be recognised and condemned.
While Kashmir is a critical issue for Pakistan, and Israeli occupation/invasion an issue for Palestine – Pakistan must be straightforward by denouncing any and all crimes against people.
Strengthening ties with a key player like Russia is important, but how can they benefit Pakistan with the sanctions placed on them?
Being advised by the West to denounce the invasion was not a sign of being owned or dictated by the West, but to be on the good side of history because Pakistan cannot afford itself to be seen as an aggressor or facilitator.
With the amount of terrorism our forces currently deal with within Pakistan is more than enough and a major internal issue to be looked upon.
The sad reality which many reject is that Imran Khan failed in his tenure – the people he vowed to bring to justice are still out and free, the money illegally obtained by individuals is yet to be fully recovered.
If his goal was to divide the country and create such a narrative of one man against everyone, then he achieved it.
The view of him being good against evil, honest over corruption and the use of religion to elevate himself into the only one to save Pakistan is just a sign of arrogance from him – he was the same PM who violated the constitution he took an oath to uphold just to cling to power.
Neither was he seen at the national assembly to oversee the No Conference Vote against him, in fact he allowed his party members to act against the law just to dismiss the said motion.
While the odds were stacked against him and it was presumed he would lose, he should have lost with dignity to stage his comeback for the next election or to become the current leader of opposition or even to be seen as a political martyr — instead his arrogance and ego won and he saw himself above the law.
Time will tell if Imran Khan can make a comeback, but it all depends if he is willing to compromise his pride and work and listen to others to develop the nation of Pakistan rather than causing civil unrest and division.
—The writer is Lawyer, Businessman.
