Things are not going well for PTI chief Imran Khan as his latest speech at Government College University seemed to show desperation. It was almost as if he knew that the early elections he had been, and still is, demanding, were not going to come. His continuing to attack the military, without calling it by its right name showed that the reported meeting or meetings he is supposed to have had with the COAS, had indeed ended as reported, without any understanding. The message has apparently been conveyed to him that elections cannot be held, not until there has been a modicum of recovery from the floods, which means that the elections are to be held on schedule, after the completion of the tenure of the current National Assembly.
This frustration of the leader has been transferred to the party, as is virtually inevitable when the party leader is accorded the kind of status associated more with cult leaders.The disarray has started to become visible, with the exchange of barbs between party spokesman Fawad Chaudhry, and senior lawyer Hamid Khan. Though it was known that there was little love lost between the two, the differences would probably have been papered over had the party had less of a feeling that it was going to go nowhere. Perhaps most importantly, the inability of the party leader to prevent this clash of individuals springing into the open, is an indication that things are not going well in the PTI’s inner circle.
And that is the part of the party that is best aware of how things are going. As Mr Khan had been used, both in government and before, to practice politics with the help of crutches, the absence of those crutches will be felt strongly, and will also be felt in the party as a whole. The PTI had been staying energized because there was a hope that the party would hold office soon, and stay there for a long time. That hope underpinned the PTI’s narrative, buts fading has meant disarray in the party’s ranks.
