By Sankar Ray
Stupefying poll-pundits, the 65-year-old cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan, president of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (meaning Pakistan Movement for Justice) has ‘out-Bruce-d Robert Brucc by racing up to the coveted seat of Pakistan premier after a 22-year battle. The first cricketer to be elected as Prime Minister in the history of parliamentary politics, Khan is the fifth Oxford –educated PM of Pakistan. After lifting World Cup trophy for his country in 1992, the victory of PTI in the 11th general elections is the most important milestone in his career.
Aptly worded tweets came from his first wife Jemima Goldsmith with whom he remained in wedlock for nine years: “22 years later, after humiliations, hurdles and sacrifices, my sons’ father is Pakistan’s next PM. It’s an incredible lesson in tenacity, belief & refusal to accept defeat. The challenge now is to remember why he entered politics in the 1st place. Congratulations”. She hastened to add nostalgically, “I remember IK’s 1st election in 1997- untested, idealistic & politically naive. I waited up for the call in LHR with 3 mo old Sulaiman, who I had lugged around the country”.
PTI failed to reach the magic figure of 137 seats as it has to be happy with less than 120 directly elected members of National Assembly. The rival Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) is expected to bag 63, followed by 38 of Bilawal Zardari Bhutto-led Pakistan People’s Party. Khan eyes the ‘other block’ comprising 50 MNAs for cross the magic number.
Going by poll data, released by the Election Commission of Pakistan, the PTI chairman won from three constituencies, NA-131,NA-243 and NA-95, apparently an impress of overall acceptability of his party and his pledge to build a ‘Naya Pakistan and Islamic welfare state’ to the 105 million electorate. But the allegation of rigging and manipulation in favour of PTI by two major rivals, PML-N and PPP, sticks. PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari’s daughter Bakhtawar has shared a photo on Twitter of a form from Jhang on how 12,000 votes in favour of a PPP candidate were cancelled. “In case anyone was wondering how #PTI ’won’ so drastically, here’s another example from #Jhang… 12K votes cancelled,” she quipped. Michael Gahler, head of the European Union’s election monitoring mission in Pakistan, too noted that media access was restricted by soldiers posted at polling stations. His preliminary report is awaited. No less intriguing is an unprecedented number of extremist religious parties that took part in the election.
Friday Times editor Najam Shetty in his latest commentary snapped fingers at the triumvirate, the Miltablishment, Supreme Court and ECP. “Before the elections, every political party (except PTI), every foreign newspaper and every independent journalist had concluded that The Aliens, Khalai Makhluk, Agriculture Department, Miltablishment, Whatever, had conclusively pre-rigged the elections in an unprecedented manner. A day after the elections, every political party (except PTI), every foreign newspaper and every independent journalist has confirmed the finding. Before the elections, Media were on trial. After the elections, the Election Commission of Pakistan has joined them in the dock”. Doubting the ECP’s claim that the Remote Transmission System, bought from a British company broke down, causing delay in announcing results, he bluntly wrote, “Was the RTS deliberately glitched because the Agriculture Department panicked when the opposition began to weigh in and something had to be done to get things back on track? Even if it was an unforeseen breakdown, this does not explain why the polling agents were kicked out while the votes were being tabulated or why such lengthy delays ensued”.
Obviously, the ‘miltablishment’ is happy .especially after Khan made a significant statement that to criticise the army is unpatriotic. But conscientious voiced warned ahead of the polling day against the risk of emotional welcome to the PTI. Pervez Hoodbhoy, distinguished Professor of Physics and Mathematics at Forman Christian College, Lahore, and listed among the 100 most influential global thinkers by Foreign Policy magazine in 2011, branded Khan as Pakistan’s Donald Trump — the same narcissism, the same disregard for moral values, the same hatred for liberals” The PTI chief, he reminded, gave a Rupees 300 million dole to the madrasa that produced the once top global Taliban dictator Mullah Omar. The boss was banteringly called ‘Taliban’ Khan by some of his adversaries. His brighter side – honesty and aversion to monetary greed — is marred by such aberrant signs attached to political ambitions.
Little wonder, the bourses are bullish as Khan’s party will form the government. The Karachi Stock Exchange index – KSE-100 index – is up by 767 points to reach 42,106 points – a reflection that business community is happy that the PTI is to call the shots in the coalition government as Pakistan has to go to the IMF in September to ask for the biggest bailout in Pakistan’s history, somewhere between $15 billion and $18 billion. The current account deficit peaked to a record high of $17.994 billion (5.7 per cent of gross domestic product at the end of last fiscal, ended 30 June, 2018 mainly due to exorbitant imports and less-than-projected inflows. It means a 44.7 per cent rise from $12.44 billion recorded in the previous fiscal. A tensed-up State Bank of Pakistan governor Tariq Bajwa termed the gap as of “unsustainable level” keeping in mind the soaring aggregate demand in the economy. Nonetheless, a stable government is a need at the moment. Adnan Rasool of Georgia State University stated, “If you have a strong coalition you can push through policy measures that we need in order to secure that kind of bailout, which is to take away subsidies and reduce budget deficit and reduce the value of the currency – again.”
However, pragmatic financial analysts in Karachi, the financial capital of India’s troubled neighbour, are of the view that it is absurd to expect that the World Bank twin will agree to grant even to $4 billion. So the former skipper has many a nightmare ahead, as China is not expected to help Pakistan reduce the huge current account deficit. (IPA Service)
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