Reflections on the leadership of Imran Khan
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As Imran Khan’s troubles grow, there is lot of serious debate about his political thinking, leadership qualities, and personal character. For his detractors from rival parties, he was an outsider, a novice in politics, demagogue, and agitator. They countered his political rise and mass popularity by raising questions about his personal life, digging up dirt from his past before entering politics. They may have a chip on their shoulders, but what has gradually emerged as a behavior pattern, doesn’t make Khan a wise, capable, or pragmatic leader. For many well-wishers, he has messed up his chance in politics in a big way and now faces an uphill task to merely stay afloat in the turbulent waters of Pakistani politics-- a contrasting outlook compared to when he was riding the high horse of power politics a year and a half ago.
The beginning of his end started with a confrontation with the powerful military establishment. He was their top choice before his win at the ballot box in the 2018 elections. He had impressive credentials: a leading public figure, philanthropist, an inspiring character for the youth and public. He had a cricket World Cup win to his credit, the first cancer hospital in the country and a university in a remote area accredited with a British university. Nothing of this was, however, enough for him to get into power. He needed the support of the military to take on the two powerful dynastic political parties in Pakistan— the PML-N and the PPP.
Pakistan’s political system as we have known for long, has solidified into a hybrid or mixed one of elected government and the military retaining control over key national security and critical foreign policy issues. The first and fatal mistake of Imran Khan was not to realize his tenuous position within this system. He was not flexible enough to handle the hybridity, as he floundered on addressing economic and political challenges. A pragmatic leader would have made amends in time, and worked the differences out with the establishment. Persistent confrontation with political classes turned him vulnerable. He earned the odium of being the first Prime Minister of the country to be ousted through a no-confidence vote in the Parliament.
Pull-quote: The first and fatal mistake of Imran Khan was not to realize his tenuous position within this system. He was not flexible enough to handle the hybridity, as he floundered on addressing economic and political challenges.
- Rasul Bakhsh Rais
Khan had an opportunity to play a powerful role in the Parliament as a leader of the opposition, as he had formidable numbers, but unwisely directed his party members to resign en masse so that he could force fresh elections. Parallel to that, he went on mobilizing the people, targeting the military and its role in politics, blaming the top general for his ouster, and threatening all and sundry of dire consequences. He pulled very big crowds in every city, building his new image as an anti-establishment, populist leader. The public response was massive, pumping Khan further to play the role of the Pakistani Erdogan to end the ‘hybrid’ system and establish civilian supremacy. He failed to realize that Pakistan is a very different country, and the route to power he took had a dependent path. He could flourish as a leader in his own right but there was not much to show by way of performance when he was in power for four years.
Some of the other political decisions of Imran Khan were confounding for the sincerest supporters within the party and out of politics. He further crippled his ability to play a political role by getting the two provincial assemblies dissolved where his party had majorities, quitting government in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, hoping the 90-day fresh election rule of the Constitution would come into play. It didn’t work.
Khan’s party is being dismantled piece by piece, just the way it was once constructed. The irony is he continues to enjoy mass support, but faces heavy odds of ever rising again. These are the not so strange ways of the world of Pakistani politics.
- Rasul Bakhsh Rais is Professor of Political Science in the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, LUMS, Lahore. His latest book is “Islam, Ethnicity and Power Politics: Constructing Pakistan’s National Identity” (Oxford University Press, 2017). Twitter: @RasulRais
