Skepticism towards institutions
SINCE inception, Pakistan has witnessed numerous political mayhems, economic crises and strategic tremors that certainly affected the development and progress of the country.
Diverging political interests and linguistics-based politics kept the nation disunited over one or the other issue.
From 2000 onwards, urban population adopted relatively sensible political approach due to growing awareness in the youth due to bourgeoning media.
In the post-2010 scenario, social media became voice of the youth globally and Pakistan was no exception in this regard.
PTI started getting public attention at national level in 2011 and by 2013 election; it became a popular party at national level, challenging the well-settled political parties PPP and PML-N.
By election 2018, PTI was successful in creating a narrative of anti-corruption and economic boost that enticed a large number of masses, thus PTI won election and came in government with allied parties.
However, PTI could not deliver as it promised before election and nearly three and half years tenure of PTI was marred by mass unemployment, massive inflation and poor governance.
Interestingly, instead of focusing on performance, Imran Khan keeps delivering lectures on moralities and religion.
Ignoring the concerns of allied parties and public, opposition parties finally succeeded in submission of a successful no confidence motion and democratically ousted PM Imran Khan.
Sensing the success of no-confidence motion, PM Imran Khan started projecting a narrative of US backed conspiracy with local abettors that resulted in ouster of his government as his government wanted an independent policy which was not acceptable for the US.
Imran Khan started using the metaphor of Mir Sadiq and Mir Jaffer, and in this way insinuated towards a state institution for playing the alleged abettor role in the so-called foreign conspiracy.
There is no doubt that Imran Khan is very popular leader, especially among youths and has a large following in the whole of Pakistan.
This veiled pointing towards the military leadership certainly created doubts among youths. Youth plays very important role in the progress of any country and indeed an asset for any nation.
It is very difficult to grasp what exactly Imran Khan is trying to do by creating this sort of hype about foreign conspiracy, certainly it is not merely the election.
Is it merely inflated ego that is playing role behind such sort of narrative or the greed of power; can also be something having far reaching effects on the country and institutions?
Exploiting youths in the name of foreign conspiracy against national institutions cannot be called politics in any case.
This is akin to challenge the legacy of the institution and creating doubts among the young generation about our state institutions, especially security institution that are rendering countless sacrifices in the war against terrorism.
This is similar to not only ignoring their services for the nation but doubting them for playing in the hands of foreign masters.
Such a narrative and impression is highly detrimental, not only for the institutions but for entire country.
This sort of projection means that everyone who would disagree with the narrative of Imran Khan would certainly be an abettor in the so-called foreign conspiracy.
Going even beyond this, Imran Khan is time and again questioning the neutrality, not only by the institutions but also by the general public that are not much interested in the politics of egomania.
Questioning the aloofness means spreading hatred in the society as either those who differentiate or stay aloof are not acceptable for the followers of PTI.
Besides being detrimental for the institutions and for the country, this narrative is highly damaging for Imran Khan himself too as he would be seen merely a narrow-sighted politician who prefers the national interests over his political interests instead of a leader of national stature.
PTI and its leadership need introspection and revise what they are projecting for the last nearly two months.
They need to stay relevant in the national politics for a balanced approach rather than trying to pressurize the state institutions and creating doubts about their legacy before things start get unpleasant for the party.
—The writer is an Islamabad-based media analyst and quasi columnist.
