Pakistan: Imran Khan in his labyrinth

His obstinacy is depriving him of erstwhile allies

Led by false hopes Imran Khan has landed himself in a cul-de-sac. It has suddenly dawned upon him now that the army and courts won’t support any move against the status quo. One is not sure how long this moment of lucidity remains. Instead of going round and round and reaching the same dead end, he needs to stop for a while, relax and do some thinking. Unless he does so it may not be long before workers, tired of unproductive protest marches, start ditching him.

Despite all the commitment on the part of his workers and spending huge amount of funds, Khan has failed to get Nawaz Sharif’s resignation. A good leader has to try a new set of tactics when the old ones fail. It is not a matter of shame to change course or stage a retreat when necessary. The resignations sent by his MNAs have yet not been accepted. Would it not be more sensible to try now to achieve his objectives through Parliament? By returning to NA the PTI can play a key role in evolving the much needed electoral reforms.

Imran Khan’s obstinacy is depriving him of erstwhile allies. The first to part company was Tahirul Qadri. He needs now to take note of Sirjul Haq’s remarks whose Jamaat-e-Islami is a part of the coalition led by the PTI in KP. The unbending stance taken by Nawaz Shrif and Imran Khan has led Haq to maintain that “both are playing dirty politics for their own benefits”, and that the both are “two sides of the same coin”.

Despite its confrontationist politics, the PTI is considered to be a party with a modern outlook. Khan needs to review what kind of an image the PTI is acquiring by following JI’s ideological lead. On Wednesday the KP Assembly put aside a resolution for Malala Yousafzai whose Nobel brought honour to KP and Pakistan. Instead the Assembly passed another resolution to press the US for freeing Aafia Siddiqui.