Ready for any deal to secure PM’s slot

With the approaching election date, political turbulence has started intensifying. While Imran Khan has unexpectedly received bail in the cipher case. It is being said that the powers that be are trying to convict Imran Khan and Shah Mahmood Qureshi in the cipher case and they are particularly angry with the bail decision.

The process of scrutiny of nomination papers has begun, and many candidates have higher chances of having their nomination papers rejected. Efforts are being made to encourage candidates to contest elections independently. If they win, whether supported by the PTI or not, controlling them will be easier. These independent candidates will also be free to make their decisions, regardless of whether they continue to claim that they will immediately go to Adiala jail after winning seats in the election.

For these independent candidates, the biggest advantage will be that if they join any party, no one will accuse them of being a turncoat, and thus, they can set their own value. On the other hand, for the institutions and forces that want to keep Imran Khan out and bring Nawaz Sharif back to power, it will be easier for them to manage and manoeuvre. Therefore, the large number of independent candidates in this election will create confusion for PTI voters. If the bat symbol is not returned to the PTI, every PTI candidate will fight on a different symbol, making it difficult for voters to understand which symbol belongs to which candidate, and finding and putting a stamp on the PTI-supported candidate among the 15 to 20 candidates and their symbols will be particularly challenging.

Especially if PTI-supported candidates receive different symbols in every constituency, PTI’s women will be most affected because they will have to search for PTI’s supported symbol among twenty-five symbols when putting the stamp. This task will be even more challenging in rural areas because women there do not take part in the election process with much interest. It has been observed that most of the votes that go waste are either from women or elderly people.

Although the debate on who is more responsible for the current situation has become older, whether it is the PTI or the powerful circles. Whoever is on the side of their “own truth” will consider it like that way. In one of my programmes on April 25, 2022, Fawad Chaudhry was talking tough, saying that the people will decide, and they will decide. His words raised some concerns for me, and I said, “Brother, it appears that everyone is afraid of you.Your morale will increase, and the movement will progress beyond long marches and protests, and one day you will kick the bomb, and the powerful circles will take you into their fold.”

Anyone could read from it that the situation was heading towards where the PTI would get stuck, and there would be a mob violence. Imran Khan’s popularity, especially after leaving the Prime Minister’s House, had reached a new level. The powerful circles had been pushed to the wall and Imran Khan’s speeches, especially on the cipher issue, had ignited the youth across the country.

Our friend, a government official, used to say about another government official that he does not slow down on the speed breaker, and one day, a big incident will happen, and later it happened. Sometimes, a person sitting far away can feel that you are on the wrong side, but you yourself do not know where you are falling and where the speed breaker is and the car needs to be slowed down. In countries like Pakistan, political parties, leaders, and workers need to be more cautious because state institutions are much stronger than them. Perhaps these institutions would not be so powerful than politicians if politicians themselves set some rules of the game and keep themselves clean.

I read somewhere that once in the 1950s when two judges’ locked horns over a seniority issue, the issue went to the then law minister. When they reached the minister’s office, they were kept waiting outside for a long time. A considerable time passed, and the minister did not call them inside. One of the judges stood up and said to his fellow judge, with whom he was having a quarrel, that I consider you my senior. I am your junior. The minister is keeping us waiting outside because we are fighting with each other. Let’s solve the issue ourselves. Come on, let’s go somewhere and have a cup of coffee. In a moment, both judges relaxed. It only took one judge to show courage, ending the minister’s influence on them and they were free.

But here, the issue is different altogether. Here, there is a competition to cut each other’s throats. These people are not willing to set the rules of the game even after taking turns. In 2008, Zardari took his turn for five years, then in 2013, Nawaz Sharif had his turn for the third time, while in 2018, Imran Khan was given the opportunity for the first time. Now Nawaz Sharif wants a fourth turn, while Zardari is currently planning a programme to pitch Bilawal, and they seem to be losing control of the game.

Meanwhile, Imran Khan understands his popularity and that if he cannot cash in on it this time, this task will never be accomplished. Now all three of them are desperate. They are ready to make any deal. Democracy, the constitution, the law, or the country’s safety and political stability are not their priority at the moment. Their priority now is to become the prime minister, even if, like Dr Faustus, they have to sell their soul. The prime minister’s slot is one and the candidates are three. Now all the three are sitting outside the offices of the powers that be with their respective stance. None of these three is, like the judge, can stand up and tell the other, “You are the senior.” Let’s go somewhere and have a coffee.