PTI winning where PML-N failed?
While Zardari camps in Lahore he is bedevilled by three questions: Is the era of movements really over? How to block the way of PTI in Sindh? And how to revive the PPP’s fortunes in Punjab?
Zardari has held firmly all these years that agitations and movements were outmoded political tactics that had become redundant with the passage of time. In the present era, he maintained, talks are the only way to resolve issues. He is being asked by party members to explain why the opposition’s political jirga assisted among others by Rehman Malik failed to resolve the differences between the government and the PTI and PAT through talks. Further, why is the tactic, discarded by Zardari as obsolete, helping PTI recruit more and more motivated youth?
Imran Khan, who had so far confined himself to Punjab, is now threatening to spread the movement to Sindh. After a mammoth gathering in Karachi he is poised to hold public meetings in the interior of the province. This has led Bilawal to publicly concede that mistakes had been committed in the past and to pledge to correct them to regain the workers’ trust. How much effective the apology turns out remains to be seen. Reports continue to appear meanwhile of some of the influential leaders meditating crossing over to the PTI. Will the PTI succeed where PML-N failed? The question must be bothering Zardari more than anyone else.
Punjab turned out to be PPP’s Waterloo in the 2013 elections, where it could bag only one national assembly seat. To be able to play any significant role in parliamentary politics the PPP has to put up better performance in forthcoming local government elections. As things stand there are reports of desertions from the party to the PTI. The youth is obviously not willing to buy Zardari’s view that the PTI is just a bubble and that one cannot become a political leader by just setting up a hospital for the public.