Time to move on
Some in the PTI seem to have drawn the right conclusions from the party’s several defeats culminating in the recent local government polls disaster. Those who led Imran Khan down the garden path have, however, remained un-reconciled. Ejaz Choudhary, the lead conspiracy theorist of PTI, has again declared that the election was a fraud and the PTI has been deprived of victory through rigging. Ch Sarwar, on the other hand, responded sensibly when he said the party would collect evidence and would meanwhile take part in the remaining phases of the LG polls. The future of the PTI will depend on whether the party is able to come out of its make-believe world.
The reliance on accusations has not helped in the past; it will not in the future. What is the use of an accusation when the party cannot establish it in a court? From time to time the PTI has blamed the government of foul play and initiated a propaganda campaign before approaching the courts, which have rejected several of its complaints for lack of evidence, beginning with the Judicial Enquiry Commission which decided that there was nothing to show that a systematic and organised rigging had taken place in 2013 elections and ending with the Supreme Judicial Commission turning down a reference seeking the dismissal of four members of the ECP, again for lack of proof.
Even Imran Khan was dissatisfied with the party’s performance in cantonment board elections in Rawalpindi and Lahore. He had attributed the disastrous failure to dissensions within the PTI. The day is fast approaching when the excuse of rigging will not be accepted by many in the party who would demand a more credible explanation of why the expectations built up before every election invariably turn out to be unfounded.
Every political party commits mistakes, sometimes even momentous blunders. Those who realise their mistakes and make the necessary course correction come out of the doldrums. Those who persist in committing the same mistake again and again are lost.
