Why say no to Azadi March?

On 30^th October 2011 I with few of my friends journeyed from our suburban houses in Islamabad to attend Imran Khan’s rally held in the shadow of the iconic Minar-e-Pakistan.

For me and my friends it was the day of various first’s, it was the first time we had attended a political rally, it was the first time we got the chance to experience the charisma of Imran Khan live and it was the first time we vowed to vote.

For the next few years we saw Khan Rise, and his party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf expand at unprecedented scale. We saw the stalwarts of status-quo politics submit to his leadership, we saw him became a major contender for premiership and above all we saw him pulling millions of middle-class professionals out of their houses to vote for his narrative of change.

Even though Khan and his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf lost the elections but it won something more than that, a place in the hearts of 75 million Pakistanis. It single handily shifted Pakistan’s political landscape and created a genuine voice for the traditionally politically inactive middle class and the neglected change-loving youth of Pakistan. It brought morals back in politics and challenged traditions.

Much to my despair the last month has been filled with premature and imprudent decisions by Imran Khan and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf. As the voter of PTI I have felt it as vital to voice my resentment to the decision of the party to hold Azadi March, to call for civil disobedience and to resign from the parliament.

There is certainly no doubt that many PTI Jiyalas would disagree, some more harshly than others, with me; but on the risk of flooding my twitter feed with critics, I would argue that PTI’s decisions are derailing the most fundamental principal of Pakistan; democracy.

Irrespective of the fact that many inefficient politicians try to hide behind this argument, but one can comprehend effortlessly that these protests have made the democratic institutions weaker, and has made the already powerful GHQ, more powerful. Knowingly or unknowingly PTI has ended up hurting the state more than the PML(N), which still today stands surrounded by allies, ill they might be.

Economic losses aside, these decisions will have astonishing effect on PTI’s own future. First it has shown to the masses and the political pundits that PTI isn’t a mature party, hence not immune to ill-timed actions. Second it has revealed cracks within the party leadership, the refusal of K-P’s legislators to resign and the much public estrangement of Javed Hashmi from recent party decisions along with the questioning of Imran Khan’s motives behind the rally by the man once he revered; has created tremendous challenges for the party to overcome.

To conclude, PTI should have accepted the government’s demand of impartial judicial commission to oversee possible election rigging and meanwhile set an example of governance in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and lay bases for victory in 2018 elections. Unfortunately Imran Khan forgot the most basic principal of politics, timing, as much as one might disagree, he has given the prime minister a loaded gun and his party’s life is on the line.