And how he proposes to make it too
What Imran Khan promised in his “Thanksgiving Day” speech was nothing short of God’s plenty. He was going to create a welfare state, end poverty and unemployment, bring huge foreign investment and introduce merit based employment. Among those sitting around him on the dais were some of the old sinners who willingly served under administrations that Khan considers highly corrupt. There were others who spent tens of millions of rupees to win their seats in violation of the election rules. With Imran Khan in power, everybody in the government would be honest, he claimed. This was indicative of an undemocratic and authoritarian streak in the PTI chief. This explains Pervez Musharraf’s fondness for him.
The limits of what an all-powerful leader can achieve is illustrated by Imran Khan’s failure to introduce what he promised would be “a new model of true party polls in line with true democratic norms”. Criticising dynastic politics months before 2013 elections, Khan said traditional political parties held dummy elections just to deny their workers the opportunity to get elected for any major office. Justice (rtd) Wajihuddin’s election tribunal ordered fresh intra-party polls and the suspension of the basic membership of Jahangir Tareen, Aleem Khan and Pervez Khattak after serious irregularities were detected during the election process. Wajihuddin had to leave. Imran Khan’s insistence on nominating major leaders led to the resignation of Tasneem Noorani, the next election commissioner chosen by him. Four years after 2013 elections Imran Khan settled on a dummy exercise of type conducted by the parties he had lambasted. If a powerful leader cannot set his party right how can he turn Pakistan into a country flowing with milk and honey?
Imran Khan’s alliance with JI, JUI-S and Tahir ul Qadri’s PAT and his nomination by the TTP as its representative at talks with the government indicates Khan’s ideological leanings. Most of these parties believe in intimidation and reliance on physical force in pursuit of their agenda. There are times when forces waiting in the wings use elements of the type to clear the way for them.