EDITORIAL: Last January three prominent politicians, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and Miftah Ismail from the PML-N and Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar from the PPP — the latter paying the price in loss of his Senate seat — had launched a forum “Reimagining Pakistan” with the stated objective of creating a consensus on major issues confronting the country.
It was supposed to be a non-partisan platform where civil society representatives and public intellectuals could participate in debate and discussion on what has gone awry in the last over seven decades, and suggest sound solutions as a power tussle indicated an imminent breakdown of the political process.
That called for a radical departure from the way the ‘system’ worked rather than becoming a part of it.
It has not taken long, nonetheless, for them to try and find a place in the same ‘disappointing’, ‘rotten’ political system. In separate media interactions, Abbasi and his former party colleague — better known by his first name, Miftah — have disclosed that along with Khokhar they are holding consultations with various people for the launch of a new political party initiating also conversations on the subject in the formal as well as social media to explore its feasibility.
Miftah also told a reporter that the group had done a public opinion survey in July last which showed PTI’s (now jailed) Chairman Imran Khan was way ahead of all others in the popularity contest.
In fact, various other surveys are known to have produced a similar result, which is believed to be the reason why the elections to the dissolved Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa assemblies were held up and the fate of the general elections, too, hangs in the balance.
The other major challenger, the PML-N, seems to be in some disarray due to the hard line statements its supreme leader Mian Nawaz Sharif has been issuing against generals and judges from his London abode. Meanwhile, the newly created ‘king’s party’, Istehkam-i-Pakistan Party, has yet to take off.
The PTI deserters who made an appearance in its inaugural meeting have since stayed away. The construct is termed by the sceptics to have almost failed and the forces at its back are now contemplating further disruptions in the major political parties.
The trio may have genuine reasons to disagree with the policies of the PTI, PML-N, and the PPP and form a new party, but they have yet to announce a manifesto to show how it is to be any different from that of the other players in the field. The people, though, tend to trust more what the already established leaders represent to them rather than contents of their party manifestoes.
The proposed party’s prospects do not look very bright. Abbasi and Khokhar, being constituency politicians, are likely to win their own seats as independent candidates whenever electoral exercise comes about. Some ‘electables’ in the Nawaz League unhappy with the path taken by its leader also could join them provided that certain quarters give a blessing.
But if the said politicians have really imaginative, sensible solutions for the problems besetting this country since its inception they can do that without acquiring a political tag, relying instead on the “Reimaging Pakistan” forum as well as a few independent voices inside Parliament to elicit public support for their professed cause.
Going off on a tangent sounds a bit confusing, if not conspiratorial, particularly in the absence of a charismatic personality in their midst that would sway the masses to its side.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023