Ironically, on March 25, 2022, the Speaker of the National Assembly (NA) of Pakistan has requisitioned the house to commence proceedings on a no-confidence motion against the incumbent PM (pitting him against the wall) to oust his coalition government. PTI won the general elections in 2018, but opposition parties never conceded. However, only a year has elapsed from when the assemblies again bestowed ‘confidence’ in him, a vote he voluntarily undertook to uphold the constitutional democratic process. That should have been enough to re-legitimise him as the chief executive for a complete tenure of five years, followed by a smooth and ‘neutral’ general election contested in 2023, leaving it to the ballot and politically sovereign electorate. While the coalition partners take a hard look at their options, this political scientist analyses whether Khan still has the capacity to out-work, out-think and out-manoeuvre all his opponents (either way), waiting to see him derailed, dethroned and humiliated.
In phase-1 of the onslaught a “they” has emerged; the ‘Pakistan Democratic Movement’ (PDM) and PTI turncoat MNAs’—being whipped into Parliamentary party-line on the grounds of legitimacy, collective sacredness of the vote and accountability to the electorate as well as the judiciary and ‘any coalition partner’, decidedly with ‘them’ having magically chosen to abruptly end their own coalition-government in haste. Without motivation? Absolutely not! This unnecessary step—as the general elections are within sight—will lead to a spiral of events in 2022 that the nation, our economy and our people, can honestly do without after two years of a global pandemic. They wanted him to resign under pressure before the March 23 Parade but have suffered a set-back, having underestimated his reaction and determination to dig in deeper and resist. Marcus Aurelius’s maxim best encapsulates Khan’s political sloganeering, ‘When a bunch of known corrupt people unite against one man and spare no effort to ridicule him, blackmail him and attempt to assassinate his character, blindly follow that one man!’ Khan has brought the debate into the public realm, wants to unequivocally convince the electorate that they are ‘all has-been corrupt politicians only driven by self-interest’; hence he is once again calling out to Pakistanis explaining that it has to be a sum-zero effort in order to cleanse the political arena. He requires an overwhelming mandate to purge Pakistan of ‘them’, otherwise it is not doable as he further exposes their lack of character and ‘brands them’ the root-cause of all evil, having absolutely no right to lead Pakistanis. Admittedly, a tall target even for him, many have (perhaps reasonably) tried to talk him out of it, but Khan never swims with the current, rather tends to make his own gigantic ripples in whatever he does, often colliding and causing friction with established norms and the status-quo.
When Ex-PM Sharif left as per his will, an earlier piece published in December 2019; ‘Game over? Has Khan granted Sharif an NRO?’ conclusively stated that this moment was an inevitability of time and chain of events, as the brawl between those two powerful individuals would continue on, making every political force realign accordingly. Leaping past the turbulent two years of the covid-19 pandemic—the government’s handling of which has received international acclaim—we come to the routinely televised PM Q&A session with citizens on January 23, 2022 where the PM went off on a tangent and for the first time, publicly expressed his frustration carrying on with a handicapped mandate and showed his intent to step back into the political arena (if needed). He set his sights on an ambitious 10-year plan for the nation. That day, I heard him and saw the glare in his eyes. His ‘appeal to conscience’ transcended the manifest political realm and it seemed he was talking simultaneously to our state elders (heads of constitutional institutions) and the citizenry. Being a master orator, he has the unique talent and capacity to talk to world power centres/organisations, decision makers, domestic electorate and the entire Pakistani community in one breath. This is an ability he relishes utilising and again showcased as he started addressing well attended public gatherings in far-flung areas and then (rightly) rallied support in the 48th OIC session of FMs (plus China) in Islamabad against Islamophobia, and in favour of attaining human rights for the downtrodden Kashmiris, Palestinians and 1.5 billion Muslims residing worldwide.
The so-called ‘brokered peace’ is a past and closed transaction. ‘They’ were banking that by throwing everything they had up their sleeve at once at Khan, it would simply exert such pressure from all sides that he would implode, crumble and resign. He has survived the first stage, but a lot of work needs to be put into it by him and his team if he is to (once again) achieve the impossible he has now set out to try and accomplish. This episode is just the beginning.
Since the motion has been tabled, Khan has shown tremendous physical and mental capacity to still react like a cornered tiger. His game-plan remains true to his identity; a man fated to be cornered, yet still choosing to bite off more than what others can dream of chewing on and then miraculously outperforming and rising to his full potential when under extreme pressure. His body language and public roars show the tiger’s survival instincts have fully kicked in and this ‘all against one matchup’ will stretch on. The old Imran Khan is back! Re-engaging his core support base and those who dream of seeing Pakistan rise to its true potential, by drawing a red line, and politically pushing ‘them’ outside that line. The cornered tiger is surely batting well under pressure.