A moral defeat for PTI chief
Nine months back Imran Khan accused the CEC (Chief Election Commissioner) of being politically biased and in league with Akbar S Babar who had initiated a case against the PTI chief. Khan’s counsel subsequently tendered an apology on his behalf but the PTI chief refused to own it. He was summoned a number of times by the ECP but continued to dodge the contempt hearings on one pretext or another. Meanwhile Khan and his party leaders hectored the ECP (Election Commission of Pakistan) as an institution and leveled unsubstantiated charges against its chief to blackmail him. It was also maintained that the ECP had no authority to initiate contempt proceedings. Some of Imran Khan’s acerbic remarks led to the initiation of yet another contempt case against him.
On Thursday Imran Khan appeared before the court and apologized for his improper remarks. By accepting his mistake nine months back Khan would have saved the ECP’s time. He could have also claimed the moral high ground for rectifying a mistake when it was pointed out. Further, he would not have had to face the embarrassment of signing a virtually dictated apology. By appearing before the ECP, after the issuance of warrants, Khan has accepted its mandate to hold contempt proceedings that he had consistently challenged. That he was made to rewrite the apology which he had originally presented to the court however indicates that Khan is still not contrite and was acting out of fear of punishment. The apology thus constitutes a moral defeat for Khan.
Imran Khan is the leader of a major political party. There has always been a need on his part to weigh his words before uttering them. The PTI chief is used to relying on offensive and disparaging remarks against political rivals and state institutions that take decisions against his wishes. The malaise has spread to the PTI also. Recently the SC had to give a shut up call to those in the PTI who had started talking about the possibility of the apex court sentencing Khan to balance the disqualification of Nawaz Sharif. The attitude that leads to such utterances has to be discouraged.