Where Did PTI Go Wrong?
By Yasmeen Aftab Ali
Where did PTI go wrong on the local front after emerging triumphant in the national and provincial general elections? My gut feeling and personal experience at one constituency says that it was a complete disconnect at the grassroots level. In my village constituency of Thanil Kamal (Chakwal) I witnessed firsthand a micro picture of the fault line within PTI.
Like in every constituency in rural areas, Thanil Kamal has groups based on clan and other basis. These groups usually look up to their ‘House’, the elder of the village to guide them as to who to vote for (there can be many elders of a ‘House’ within one village). This ‘House’ swings those hundreds or thousands of votes. Whereas PML-N exactly knew the game at the grassroots level and understood the pulse going not only after the voter but the ‘House’ heading it as well, PTI was absolutely clueless about the local conditions. They simply did not know how to go about the grassroots politics.
The question is: was this the only reason? Or did some other reason led to this reason? PTI for all practical reasons has been a top-to-bottom party not a bottom-to-top one. ‘The essential link between the ‘Block Code’ and Union Council level has been missing,’ feels Brigadier Samson Sharaf, senior leader for PTI. This was probably the reason why PTI lost the LB seats for Shah Zaman as well as Shafqat Mehmood’s constituency.
The newly emerged PTI as a player in Pakistani politics needs to learn the art of swinging votes that is crucial at grassroots level. ‘The success in 8 UCs in Lahore owes much to the swinging votes of Christians, particularly Youhannabad, that the party swept. This swing is not because of the party policy but rather the presence of some high profile Christians who can compete with the best in the party. Had the party adopted this pattern, it could have won hundreds of additional UCs in Punjab and Sindh,’ comments Brigadier Samson Sharaf. The organizing activities from the district presidents and ticket holders are a crucial part of the link to LB polls that should have been closely and regularly monitored. Was that done?
Rubina Fatima Aziz, former Chairperson Advisory Committee, Women Wing, Punjab, is sad over this new low of PTI after its recent success. “One thing is for sure, ‘Imran Khan factor’ alone is not going to work for the party anymore. A party that achieved so much in 2013 in Pakistan’s political arena kept on sliding downwards and nobody noticed or took any action, except blaming biased government machinery for every defeat dished out to its candidates. To troubleshoot an organizational development expert always look at the goals, policies procedures and leadership. More often than not problems are identified at that level and solved.”
Brigadier Sharaf shares that in year 2008-11 a system of grassroots organization was evolved. The model was put to trial in NA 129. Party structure was established from a block to the district level covering one national assembly and two provincial assembly seats. Despite some teething issues, the system delivered to sweep the constituency. Unfortunately, with the entry of the ‘electables’ in 2012 and fake intra-party elections 2013, the system was not replicated elsewhere. We saw the outcome of the policy in the recently held local body elections.
PTI, having emerged as the second largest party after the general elections, had a duty to focus upon not only delivering its promise to make KP a model in terms of good governance, but also strengthen its structure up to the grassroots level without which good governance is simply not possible.
Instead, PTI since 2012 used all its energies and those of its supporters on ‘dharna politics’. Laments Rubina Aziz, “Dharna, which was supposed to be a catalyst for change, became a stage for demands and actions and then (there was) a U-turn even on those. Demand for the Prime Minister’s resignation, call for civil disobedience, call for party parliamentarians’ resignations… then the packing up of dharna, using the APS tragedy as a pretext. And that is without taking the input of the participants.” The fact that the long dharna made going to work a torture for the people is yet another story besides being a violation of the constitution.
There is another reason that Khan must review. The old diehards of the party who stood side by side with him have all been sidelined. In their place are all those who jumped on to the bandwagon at the right time to reap the benefits of the party’s new found popularity. ‘The party due to the nature of the top leadership acts as on an exclusive rather than an inclusive culture,’ states Brigadier Sharaf. ‘Khan was taken away from the approach of ordinary worker, the worker who had been keeping the party alive at the grassroots levels without any support from the middle or top leadership. Irony was that the ticket allotment process was given to the same people pointed out in party commission reports as the ones who had created a fiasco,’ says Rubina Aziz. Organizers at the top must be responsive to the lower and middle level workers of the party. The ‘old wine in new bottle’ ruled the roost.
In an email sent to PTI members and shared by Abdul Karim Khan Kundi, I share an excerpt: ‘Electables like Pervez Khattak, SMQ, JKT, Aleem Khan, Ch Sarwar and many others joined the party for their own political ambitions. So we can’t expect them to respect the values promoted by the party. The real damage is done to the party by the so-called nazriati people. Those who called themselves the nazariati are the real culprits and responsible for damaging this party. All violations of merit, party constitution and conversion to status quo party happened on their watch. They were too eager to protect their titles rather than stand up on principles.’ (He had named the people but their naemes have been edited)
There are reports of tussles within the party. ‘Merit was torn apart and most of the time “electables” were given preference. Nepotism and “halqa-e-yaran” played a role at every level. Ghost office bearers at grassroots levels actually worked against the party interests… lack of interest by ticket holders or elected members to troubleshoot and organize the party at the grassroots level let the party down at the LB polls.’ (Rubina Aziz). Many echo this view.
One example is of the elected president of PTI in Balochistan (reported by a local newspaper). ‘Qasim Khan Suri, the youngest elected president of Balochistan’s PTI chapter, was quietly shown the door last week when two senior PTI leaders recommended that Khan kicked him out from the party to pave the way for ‘nawabs’ and ‘sardars’ – the traditional politicians in the province. “Imran Khan with immediate effect fired the PTI Balochistan president. Can he legally remove Suri from office? This is a big question mark,” a senior party leader told a local newspaper. (January 20, 2014) The same paper further reports, “The old guard of the party has been sidelined in Balochistan. Now, sardars and landlords will bring change in the province,” a furious Suri said, adding that there was no top Baloch party office bearer in the province currently.
This shift in policy has reportedly let the morale of the party workers down.
PTI did well in mobilizing the youth. It did well in giving hope to the people that a change in the lives of the common man can come. It did not do well in delivering on the promise. Before Khan can walk his talk, he needs to have a hard look inward to take stock of the simmering issues and take measure of the men walking with him.
(The writer is a lawyer, academic and political analyst. She has authored a book titled ‘A Comparative Analysis of Media & Media Laws in Pakistan.’ She can be contacted at: yasmeenali62@gmail.com )
