President Arif Alvi, who happens to one of the PTI’s arch-loyalists has been forced by circumstances to reposition himself on one issue. In clear departure from party chairman Imran Khan’s current strategy, he has urged political parties to put politics on the backburner and launch nationwide rescue and relief efforts in the calamity-stricken vast areas all over the country. The statement comes as Mr Khan continues to hold public meetings, the latest in Gujrat where he again launched verbal attacks denigrating his political opponents personally and threatened to launch a march on Islamabad if his ‘political victimisation’ continues. Of late the PTI leadership has been widely criticized for neglecting millions of affected people suffering from the ravages of climate change. A time when thousands of villages and habitations have been wiped out and the UN and friendly countries are trying hard to help the suffering population Mr Khan remains fully concentrated on getting back to power. The way he tried to sabotage the pact with IMF has led some to conclude that Imran Khan wants to use, rather than end, human misery to return to power.
Mr Khan says he leads the county’s biggest political party with a presence in every province. One had expected that he would call meetings of provincial party leaders to organize relief work. He also enjoys considerable influence among youth. How is it that there was no word about Mr Khan‘s Tiger Force all this time? What one is forced to conclude is that Mr Khan has no interest in any activity that takes away attention from the pursuit of political power. Mr Khan has concluded after the victory in by elections in Punjab that he can come to power by winning over voters in the province. With the common man suffering on account of the impact of IMF imposed policies, Mr Khan considers this is time to go haranguing against the PML(N) and PPP and to hold them responsible for people’s woes. Mr Khan fears that the window of opportunity might close once the economy starts improving.
Imran Khan is not likely to be influenced by the opinion of President Alvi who owes his political career to the former PM.
