A new hope... for naya Pakistan

“Twenty-two years later, after humiliations, hurdles and sacrifices, my sons’ father is Pakistan’s next PM. It’s an incredible lesson in tenacity, belief and refusal to accept defeat. The challenge now is to remember why he entered politics in the first place. Congratulations @ImranKhanPTI.” This is perhaps the most definitive reaction that came on Twitter on July 25 as the Pakistan election results showed a clear lead taken by Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party.

Tweeted by Imran’s ex-wife Jemima Goldsmith, the essence of the message was to remind him why he joined politics at all; which was to fight corruption and give Pakistan a decent future.

With this mandate, Khan’s popularity goes beyond the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, with the PTI emerging as the single largest party with 115 of the 270 seats in the National Assembly, for which results were declared. But the polls have been marred by allegations of massive rigging by Pakistan’s military establishment.

Both the major parties, the PML (Nawaz) which won only 64 seats and the Pakistan People’s Party, which did worse with 43 seats, have charged that Pakistan’s all-powerful army is behind the “engineered verdict” in favour of Khan. This allegation has muddied the waters for what is only the second transfer of power from one civilian government to another in Pakistan’s army-coup-riddled history of 71 years.

As Imran’s supporters celebrated in Pakistan with chants of “ naya Pakistan” that Imran had promised in his campaign, along with the election mantra of “clean Imran vs the corrupt mafia” slogan, his sullen opponents cried foul. Zardari had earlier already spent several years in prison on corruption charges, and bang on the poll eve, on July 13, Nawaz Sharif began what is considered “a legally dubious” 10-year prison term for corruption, and accused the ISI of leading a campaign against the PML-N, by pressuring its candidates to defect, planting a spate of court cases on his family and silencing supportive media.

Youth appeal

But despite the rigging charges, Imran’s appeal among Pakistani youth cannot be wished away. The man, who was once described as the “Lothario of London’s night clubs”, did have a lot of support from Pakistan’s young voters, as reiterated by Huma Baqai, a professor of international relations at Karachi University.

On Imran’s appeal he told the media, “He is hope in the midst of hopelessness. He has no past political experience. He has committed blunders. But we have tried the two main political parties, and they have not delivered.”

There is general agreement that the disenchanted voters of Pakistan were fed up of the rampant corruption practised by both PML-N and PPP while in power. Dismissing charges of massive rigging, Karachi-based industrialist Majyd Aziz, President of the Employers Federation of Pakistan, says: “The PPP and PML(N) leaders believe they are invincible and they and their progeny will forever continue their hold on our nation. But times change and priorities change; people who have lived under two political dynasties and the armed forces for decades, are oppressed by the economic disaster and have rejected the regal style and in-your-face opulence of these dynasties.”

Economic quagmire

He says the first priority of the new Prime Minister, who is expected to be sworn in on or before August 14, Pakistan’s Independence Day, should be “to pull the country out of the economic quagmire and refrain from populist measures.”

Aziz Memon, Chairman of Kings Group, an industrialist in Karachi, adds: “A strong and sustainable economic growth comes only from a strong and committed political leadership. We expect the new Parliamentarian to formulate a long term economic policy to improve our growth rate and reduce poverty.”

As the results came out indicating a victory for Imran, the equity market shot up nearly 2 per cent in early trading. Pakistan faces a mounting economic crisis and will be looking to the IMF for a bailout this September, which Adnan Rasool from Georgia State University, quoted in the Guardian , described “as the biggest bailout in Pakistan’s history, of between $15 billion and $18 billion. If you have a strong coalition you can push through policy measures required to secure that kind of bailout, which is to take away subsidies and reduce budget deficit and reduce the value of the currency — again.”

Well, a “strong coalition” is exactly what Imran is now trying to put together. The man who has held no government positions, has no administrative experience and has come to power on the single mantra against corruption and slogan of “ naya Pakistan” will now have to pull the country out of a quagmire not only of economic woes, but also violence, terror acts against India, and the worst possible relationship in its history with Afghanistan.

Imran is going to need much more than the cover picture on his twitter account — a young girl waving the PTI flag with the slogan: “ Pakistan ka mustaqbil mazboot haathon mei” (Pakistan’s future is now in strong hands). But if he can work towards a more stable and violence-free Pakistan internally, and really take two steps forward against one taken by India, as he has promised, India will certainly welcome the change in regime in our neighbouring country.

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