Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaaf (PTI) is considering filing a reference in the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) for the removal of four members of Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for the ‘irregularities’ revealed by the Judicial Commission report and the recent annulment of the NA-122 election. The proposal claims that “lapses (by the ECP) made the entire election 2013 non-transparent and unlawful”, furthermore, Imran Khan promises that if the ECP does not respond to his call for resignation, he will stage a sit-in outside its premises. Unlawful elections, sit-ins, judicial commissions – it feels like we have been here before.
Imran Khan needs to stop clinging to the 2013 election results, plain and simple. If PTI ever wants to be a party that seriously contends for the leadership of this nation then it must address nationwide issues. The Chairman must confront a harsh truth; he tried every trick in the book to topple the government, and he failed. Now he must get back up, and try to achieve political power like the rest of us mortals; by actually working towards solving Pakistan’s myriad of problems. He has a vast following, and if he utilises it to become an effective opposition in the parliament, he can bring change. People will applaud him if he proposes police reforms in the parliament. They will salute him if he hounds the government on holding Local Body elections. Energy, tax collection, seminary reform, water management – there are so many issues that he could lend his voice to, yet he chooses to drag the dead issue of the 2013 election out of its grave once more. The demand for resignation only serves to nurse the pride of the PTI and its chairman, whose “ironclad” evidence of rigging was found wanting.
Of course, Imran khan is well within his rights to demand the resignations of ECP members for not properly managing the elections; in fact he is well within his rights to demand the resignation of a errant traffic warden for a mismanaged road junction, but that does not entitle him to a response – nor does allow him paralyse the system until his demands are met. Even if they were met, it would change nothing; it won’t make the ECP more accountable, it won’t make it more competent, nor would it change its structure in the slightest way. Khan just wants to see heads roll. If he wanted real reform, he would be in the Parliament canvassing support, not planning the logistics of another sit-in.
The PTI must prove it is not a one trick pony, it must prove that it cares for other issues, it must show that it has the magnanimity to move beyond a personal defeat to help serve the nation. Imran Khan must remember, determination is an important quality, but it is a few thin strokes away from foolish stubbornness.
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