Reconciliation, not confrontation

In Pakistan, the February 2024 elections generated an academic discussion in the wake of the surprising success of the PTI-supported independent candidates in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab and the large number of purported votes polled by them in Karachi despite the daunting odds. Two senior columnists wrote in Dawn that the PTI received a vote against the persecution of its leadership during the past many months.

Some others have opined that populism and Imran Khan’s cult following lured the voters, while others have termed PTI’s success a vote against the establishment.

All these opinions have shreds of truth.

Owing to space constraints, we leave all other opinions aside and examine only populism in this piece.

The question of populism and cult following in the context of Pakistani politics warrants deeper analysis. Has South Asian politics been free from populism and cult following? This question has remained unanswered since the decolonization of the Sub-continent. K.M Gandhi was elevated to the status of Mahatma; the Nehrus became identified with the Indian National Congress and free India; Muhammad Ali Jinnah received the title of Quaid-e-Azam; the Bandaranaike and Jayewardenes ruled Sri Lanka for decades on a wave of a cult following; Bhuttos in Pakistan have become legends. The politics of all these dynasties had strong traits of populism and cult following.

The life of MK Gandhi was shortened by his assassin, Nathuram Godse. However, Nehrus have remained relevant in Indian politics since the passing away of Jawaharlal Nehru. His daughter, Indra Gandhi, rose to the pinnacle of power in 1965 after the sudden demise of Lal Bahadur Shastri and ruled India until 1984. She proved to be the most ruthless Prime Minister, dissecting Pakistan into two halves and striking a debilitating blow to the Sikh separatist movement by flushing out Sikh militants violently from the Golden Temple at the risk of her own security. Her Sikh bodyguard assassinated her. Her political mantle was inherited by her son, Rajiv Gandhi, who also was killed in a bomb blast by a Tamil militant. Rajiv Gandhi’s widow, Sonia Gandhi, could have taken over as Prime Minister, but in the broader interest of her country, she preferred to saddle the economist and retired bureaucrat, Manmohan Singh, with power, keeping in view the precarious condition of the country’s economy. Manmohan Singh had two terms with her unstinted support from 2004 to 2014.

The Indian National Congress is currently led by Rajiv Gandhi’s son, Rahul Gandhi. However, the popularity of the Nehrus has witnessed a steep decline because of a wave of Hindu Rashtra created by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

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The iron lady of Sri Lanka, Sirimavo Bandaranaike, ruled her country from 1960- 2000, intermittently serving two terms each as Prime Minister and Chief Executive. Before retiring from politics, she served as Prime Minister from 1994 to 2000 under the second Presidency of her daughter Chandrika Kumaratunga. Ms. Kumaratunga had two terms as Chief Executive due mainly to the cult following of her family. The successors of the Bandaranaike in Sri Lanka had their cult following.

Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah lost his battle against tuberculosis in September 1948. Nevertheless, his sister, Fatima Jinnah, remained a political force to be reckoned with. She lost in her bid to dislodge General Ayub Khan to usher the country into democratic and representative governance in 1964. Interestingly, she won the overwhelming majority of the middle-class-dominated Basic Democrats in former East Pakistan but could not outperform her opponent in West Pakistan, swayed by landlords and sajadah-nashins. Soon after this debacle, she passed away in July 1967.

Following his expulsion from the cabinet by his mentor General Ayub Khan, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto formed his political party, Pakistan People’s Party, in November 1967 with the help of the country’s left-wingers and feudal politicians including G.A. Rahim, Dr. Mubashar, Mahmood Qasuri, Hanif Ramay, Muhammad Rashid Shaikh, Dr. Ghulam Hussain, Malik Mairaj Khalid, Ghulam Mustafa Khar, Sardar Farooq Leghari, Talpur brothers and Jatois. He had already cultivated a substantial following for himself in his youth through his populist style of politics. His party took no time to overshadow the old political parties in West Pakistan.

However, he failed to create any following in the former East Pakistan, where the nationalist politics of Shaikh Mujeeb had the sway. In the general elections of 1970, Bhutto’s PPP won only 81 in West Pakistan out of the National Assembly seats of 160. The remainder went to different political parties, including the Pakistan Muslim League (Council), Pakistan Muslim League (Qayum Group) and National Awami Party. In the Eastern wing, the Awami League of Shaikh Mujeeb captured all the National Assembly seats, barring the lonely constituency of Nurul Amin, and emerged as the largest party in the parliament to lay claim to power.

The persecution of the late Bhutto at the hands of the ruling military junta after his overthrow and his mock trial and execution on flimsy grounds made him a legend in the annals of the political history of Pakistan. The two brave ladies kept his political legacy alive – Nusrat Bhutto and her young daughter Benazir Bhutto, braving all the odds. Benazir Bhutto created her own cult following her populist style and became larger than life. Though launched by a military dictator, the Sharif brothers assiduously worked to develop their political following by blending their populism with client-patron politics, and have been relevant in Pakistani politics since the mid-1980s, faring well in the political niches created by them in their province.

The public support for Imran Khan owes a great deal to a blend of factors – his performance as a legendary cricketer and philanthropist, his unceremonious dismissal from power, his populist style, the persecution he suffered from, and the appeal of his narrative for freedom. On top of all, his steadfast stance for civilian supremacy has hypnotized the young voters, helping him outperform his political foes in the electoral arena. The vote shows the voters’ frustration with the old political dynasties and the system that patronizes them in managing the electoral outcome. We have to bear with the fact that the vote of 8 February has amply demonstrated the public urge for change. This urge for change continues to enthral the people unabated. We witness unprecedented political awareness among the public, particularly among the middle and lower-middle populations of the country.

The public mandate received by the PTI cannot be wished away. It has emerged as a political force to be reckoned with and buried all the false propaganda that was assiduously carried out against it in social media. As the government intensified its efforts to suppress the party’s supporters by imposing 144 in the cities and towns and refusing permission to hold peaceful public meetings, the people’s anger would further grow. The country has been beset with debilitating political polarization since April 2022, when the PTI government was shown the door through the so-called no-confidence motion aided and abetted by the establishment. Imran Khan has since been looked upon as the victim of the state’s coercion and oppression.

Today, when the country’s economy is in the process of rehabilitation with full insurgencies raging in Balochistan and KPK, the country needs political reconciliation rather than continued confrontation. To begin the reconciliation process, the initiative must put confidence-building measures in place to assuage the apprehensions of the opposition. The government needs a calm political atmosphere to rule and implement its manifesto. Therefore, the rulers will be well advised to engage the PTI in serious talks to end the ongoing political confrontation. The legislation curtailing the independence of the judiciary, extending the tenure of chiefs of the armed forces and establishing constitutional benches in the centre and provinces would not bring about any stability to the country. Individuals matter but cannot be substituted for stable representative governance and an independent judiciary working within the constitutional and legal parameters to uphold the trichotomy of power.