Pakistan’s cornered tiger
https://arab.news/64bv6
It is a tale worthy of a thriller as the battle between good vs. evil rages. In the fable often told by Prime Minister Imran Khan, Pakistan is Gotham City from the famous ‘Batman’ series, trapped by the nexus between political mafia and crime syndicates.
But Khan is his own worst enemy when he vows revenge against political dynasties. Four years in, Khan is faced with inflation and bad governance. And now the big guns are being readied with the tabling of the no-confidence motion on Sunday, after he has lost his majority in the lower house.
But populist tactics and the image of Khan as the cornered tiger once again, have fired up the PTI support base and despite the growing realisation that the bell is tolling for Khan, the tide of public opinion seems to be swinging in his favour. Even his worst critics now say that no government should be shunted out before it completes its term.
Khan has always parlayed the image of himself as the cornered tiger as evidenced in Pakistan’s 1992 World Cup victory. He is on strike, facing impossible odds, but fighting it out in the hope of hitting a sixer off the last ball. And the people in the stands are cheering him on, hoping against hope.
A traffic policeman in the southern city of Karachi sums it up well.
“Before, everyone was talking about inflation and he (Khan) was unpopular. Now we are all behind him, because we do not want these thieves coming back,” he said, referring to the opposition in the Prime Minister’s words.
“I will leave this country if Imran is defeated!” a waiter at a cinema in Karachi’s Defence area said. “There will be nothing left in this country for us. I want Imran to stay for at least 20 years!”
These are the firebrand supporters lassoed by PTI’s mantra for change. His supporters are energised by Khan’s rhetoric alluding to a foreign power working to bring him down because of his independent foreign policy as illustrated by his refusal to back the US and its allies in the Ukraine imbroglio and his visit to Russia.
“Can any leader look the West in the eye and tell them off like Imran Khan?” an engineer asked. “Does anyone have the guts? Our leaders couldn’t even speak to the Americans without reading from slips of paper.”
There is a growing consensus that the opposition have done Khan a great favour and shot themselves in the foot by trying to force him from office by tabling the no-confidence motion.
Maheen Usmani
With foreign investment nosediving and the country on edge, there is a palpable sense of nervous tension in the air. The anxious business community has pleaded that Khan should be allowed to complete his tenure, no matter how unlikely that seems in the current scenario. And there is a growing consensus that the opposition have done Khan a great favour and shot themselves in the foot by trying to force him from office by tabling the no-confidence motion.
Support for the embattled leader is increasing while his unpopularity due to inflation and poor governance is being consigned to the dustbin of history by the masses. This is well illustrated by PTI’s resounding victory in the second phase of the local bodies’ polls in Khyber- Pakhtunkhwa where the rejuvenated PTI beat its main rival – Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz in its stronghold of the Hazara belt.
In addition, Imran Khan’s recent rallies in different parts of the country have also drawn mammoth crowds. It is probably a combination of Khan’s narrative of being persecuted by foreign powers and his refusal to give in to their whims, which has stirred the people into action as well as the revulsion at the prospect of “these three stooges” as the Prime Minister refers to them, helming the country again
On the other end of the political spectrum, a grocery store owner is wreathed in smiles. “Change is coming next week!”
His customer retorts, “The opposition couldn’t fix the economy in 40 years! How can they claim that they will magically fix it now?
Undoubtedly, Imran Khan has proven himself to be a pragmatic and shrewd leader in a time of crisis. He has come to terms with the volatile situation and has milked it for all its worth. His eyes are firmly set on the distant horizon, and he is already prepping for the next elections by honing his election narrative on the national stage. Hamstrung by the coalition cobbled together to form his government, he has declared that he wants the masses to return him to power with an absolute majority in the next elections. Khan’s confidence is not misplaced: in fact, it shows that he has his finger on the pulse of the people.
What is remarkable is that losing the vote of no-confidence in the National Assembly no longer seems to be a thorn in the Prime Minister’s side.
As he put it: “It is not defeat that destroys you, it is being demoralized by defeat that destroy you.”
— Maheen Usmani is a Paksitani journalist and author. She tweets @MaheenUsmani
