Accusations and Counter-accusations: PTI vs PML-N
By Syed Kamran Hashmi
Westfield, IN
What goes around comes around, but on its way back, in Pakistan it hits a lot harder. The appearance of a fuming, annoyed Imran Khan at a press conference after the accusations laid out by Khawaja Asif tells a similar story of accusations swinging back and forth, a story of a ‘great’ leader with zero tolerance to take counter-criticism. (Of note, the same attitude has transcended into the second tier leadership of the Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf [PTI]; it has amplified in the workers and has gone beyond any rational limits in its supporters.)
The gist of Khan’s press conference was indisputable: How can they — being corrupt, robbers, plunderers, looters and money launderers — question the good sense of Shaukat Khanum Memorial Hospital’s (SKMH) endowment committee members? How can they point a finger on me — the only non-corrupt, God-sent, honest and honorable cricketer-turned-philanthropist-turned-politician — about financial irregularities? How can a sincere Pakistani — a non-thief, non-corrupt and a non-looter — doubt my integrity in his right mind? If he does then he must either be an agent of the ‘status quo’ or have a personal agenda.
For years, Khan had no serious opposition in politics; there were some ‘lunatics’ and liberal fascists in the print media who did not agree with his right-leaning, pro-Taliban stance but in reality, he was the ‘epitome’ of honesty and a role model philanthropist, who had decided to bring a peaceful revolution in Pakistan. He was absolutely free and completely heedless in his criticism; he would accuse any politician of any amount of corruption, any time and get away with it. He would make unrealistic claims about his capabilities: he would eliminate corruption in nine days. He would narrate unfounded stories: Winston Churchill’s concern about the judiciary during World War II. He openly sympathized with terrorists, blaming army actions in FATA for killing civilians in the cities, and still would not be confronted with hardcore ground realities or accosted about his own simple understanding of the complicated issues.
In those days, Khan was not a political threat to any of the major political parties and that was why he was not getting a great deal of attention from them either. But as his party’s popularity has ballooned, two important changes have taken place. He has intensified his so-called criticism — a branch of insult comedy — on all the political parties and secondly, we see a rebound and a serious counter-attack for the first time on Imran Khan himself. Earlier, the accusations from the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) or Pakistan People’s Party were harsh but they were both weak in content: transactions related to the purchase of land in Islamabad, and below the belt — his personal life. Both were easily refuted and rebutted by the PTI.
On private news channels also, Khan was treated like a celebrity by some young, immature, semi-trained and under-qualified television anchors. They would ask Khan soft questions and listen to his bizarre explanations for a long time — mesmerized and star-struck. The PTI Chairperson’s grip on these interviews was also unmistakable, especially when the anchorperson who was supposed to be the ‘devil’s advocate’ would start nodding in agreement with him in the middle of his response.
However, the latest press conference of Khawaja Asif would hopefully transform the culture of self-righteousness and ‘angelic’ honesty to bring the debate back onto the specific issues and their solutions. Essentially, it has put the SKMH board members on the back foot in order to come clean and the PTI members too have acquired a more defensive position to expound on the justifications of their ‘rash’ decisions. The points raised by the former banker were brilliant since they were based on the documents provided by the SKMH on their website and the PTI could not escape denying the existence or the validity of the claims. His questions too were fair and objective; some of them were political, others were legal and still others were purely financial.
Although Khawaja Asif tried to differentiate the SKMH from the PTI and its chairperson, but it was an extremely difficult task to accomplish. It has therefore provided an ample opportunity for the PTI to attack the PML-N in response with the most obscure and subjective inquiries: what was the intention of the PML-N to bring this up in Ramadan? Why would the PML-N attempt to hurt the SKMH cancer patients for political gains? We all are well aware of the fact that intentions are one’s secret to be shared exclusively with the Almighty but it seems like, out of self-rectitude, the PTI considers it as its prerogative as well.
Months before the press conference, the PML-N tried to cajole and address Khan’s concerns about the coming elections and proposed Justice (Retd.) Fakhruddin G Ebrahim’s name as the chief election commissioner even after Khan had insulted the 20th Amendment. Also realizing that they were not constitutionally bound to discuss it with the PTI, the PML-N promised that they would consult him in the caretaker government setup as well, but the former cricketer could not be convinced out of his accusatory style of politics and would not bring down his rhetoric. In the end, it looks like Mian Nawaz Sharif has finally decided to punch Khan back with even fiercer accusations and vicious allegations in an attempt to put a stop to the PTI’s ramblings about corruption and deceitfulness.
(The writer is a US-based freelance columnist and can be reached at skamranhashmi@gmail.com )
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