Irked by media mogul Mohsin Naqvi’s appointment as caretaker chief minister of Punjab, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan has launched a new protest campaign. “We would not accept a ‘corrupt’ person as an interim chief minister.

We would hold a series of protests in all the cities of Pakistan, the first protest would be held in Lahore on Tuesday (yesterday),” a visibly upset Imran Khan said while addressing a press conference through video link in Lahore. In my view, PTI chief’s protest lacks legitimacy because the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) named Mohsin Naqvi as caretaker chief minister only after Parliamentary Committee failed to agree on a name for the caretaker chief minister’s post. In other words, the ball was in ECP’s court after Parliamentary Committee’s failure to reach consensus on any of the names the two sides had come up for the post of caretaker chief minister.

Unlike Punjab, PTI and Opposition in KPK agreed to appoint former bureaucrat Azam Khan as caretaker chief minister. It’s increasingly clear that Imran Khan has been unnecessarily displaying dogged determination not to change his attitude or position on ECP. He has been attacking ECP day in, day out. His approach to politics shows that he’s still struggling to achieve the goal of political emotional maturity. Yes, his consistent opposition to corruption is both laudable and inspiring. But he’s required to appreciate the fact that the relationship between corruption and democracy is always a complex affair.

Saadat Husain (Lahore)

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023