While few would disagree that corruption needs to be weeded out from national politics, to many Imran’s search for pure politicians is nothing short of a quest for the Holy Grail. Corruption among the political elite is by and large a gift of the successive military regimes who debarred genuine politicians critical of military takeovers from participation in politics and raised political nurseries of their own to recruit all sorts of fortune hunters for political support. It is comforting to note that the PTI has politicised a considerable section of highly educated urban middle class disillusioned by rampant corruption in rulers which mostly abstained from casting votes. Finding that few among them might be able to get elected, Imran has opened the door of his party to everyone with the condition that only those found honest would be given party tickets. Does it mean there is no bar for the corrupt to be a part of the party hierarchy? It is understandable to find lawyers and even former NAB officials in the committee formed by Imran to probe the politicians’ assets. The presence in the committee of retired army officers who have little expertise in probing corruption is however surprising. What would matter in the long run is how far our political parties succeed in creating independent and powerful institutions of accountability which alone can bring down the level of corruption in politics.
The Election Commission was unanimously formed early this year by a parliamentary committee comprising both the treasury and opposition members. Hopes were thus roused that unlike its processor, the new ECP would be able to hold free, fair and transparent elections. Instead of rejecting the Commission out of hand as not being independent, the PTI leader should have suggested measures to further ensure its nonpartisan character.
Imran has announced to hold the next big rally in Karachi which he hopes would be bigger than the one in Lahore. While this would be a challenging task in view of the position enjoyed by the MQM, PPP and ANP in the mega city, this would also prove that Imran’s party is not confined to Punjab and KP alone. What is more it would also disprove those who maintain that Imran has been assigned the task of luring away the PML(N) votes in Punjab.
