The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, formed on the slogan of creating a ‘Naya Pakistan’, seems to have instead found itself in a heap of trouble with new layers added to it almost each passing day. The latest crisis has erupted following the unfavourable verdict of the Judicial Commission on its election rigging charges, with senior lawyer Hamid Khan, a stalwart of the party who had played a major role in setting it on its feet, attacking PTI Secretary General Jehangir Tareen for taking the wrong steps while leading the talks on setting the TORs for the JC. In an interview, Hamid Khan has pointed out that the PTI had plenty of legal experts, but Tareen was not among them and his actions in insisting on dealing with the JC had in fact badly messed things up for the party. It is for party chief Imran Khan to find a way out of this mess, with the internal rifts within the PTI growing wider by the day. He does not appear to be doing a very effective job and at a convention in Islamabad on Sunday openly backed Tareen, who was reappointed the secretary general of the party a few weeks ago after being removed from that position, as a man of solid standing and a good tax payer. These qualities do not mean Tareen is a good political leader, and certainly within the PTI his growing power has created animosity with those who see themselves as the founders of a party set up to bring change. Tareen, on the other hand, belongs to a more established set of politicians and the two groups now march to different tunes.
The problems within the PTI have been growing for some time. Justice (r) Wajihuddin Ahmed criticised internal polling within the PTI in a verdict that was rejected by Imran Khan. This does not seem to be a particularly democratic way to run a party. Others who were fundamental to the creation of a political group that many had hoped would usher in real change have also now distanced themselves from the PTI. They include Fauzia Kasuri, who has made no bones about her displeasure with the manner in which she has been treated. Whether justified or not, this level of displeasure suggests a leadership problem within the party. This is not good news for anyone. The PTI, many had hoped, would bring new life to politics in the country. The induction of new people into politics and the burst of interest created within this group by the PTI were hugely significant. A class of educated persons who had in the past kept themselves away from the murky politics of their homeland was drawn in to the political battlefield and all its intricacies. But now, after the JC verdict which has left the PTI badly weakened, it seems all this could be squandered and that would be a huge pity for politics in the country as well as for the PTI itself.
The problems within the PTI have been growing for some time. Justice (r) Wajihuddin Ahmed criticised internal polling within the PTI in a verdict that was rejected by Imran Khan. This does not seem to be a particularly democratic way to run a party. Others who were fundamental to the creation of a political group that many had hoped would usher in real change have also now distanced themselves from the PTI. They include Fauzia Kasuri, who has made no bones about her displeasure with the manner in which she has been treated. Whether justified or not, this level of displeasure suggests a leadership problem within the party. This is not good news for anyone. The PTI, many had hoped, would bring new life to politics in the country. The induction of new people into politics and the burst of interest created within this group by the PTI were hugely significant. A class of educated persons who had in the past kept themselves away from the murky politics of their homeland was drawn in to the political battlefield and all its intricacies. But now, after the JC verdict which has left the PTI badly weakened, it seems all this could be squandered and that would be a huge pity for politics in the country as well as for the PTI itself.
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