Why Pakistan's Imran Khan is just like our Arvind Kejriwal
Former-cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan and firebrand cleric Tahir-ul-Qadri instigated intense protests in Islamabad in August this year in an attempt to overthrow Nawaz Sharif, whom they accused of rigging the 2013 General Election. One can easily draw a parallel to the current political turmoil in Pakistan to protests instigated in 2011 by Anna Hazare and Arvind Kejriwal.
Anna Hazare quite successfully politicised the question of rampant corruption but refused to indulge in electoral politics. His former ally, Arvind Kejriwal, created Aam Aadmi Party and in a year after setting it up, became Delhi’s chief minister in December 2013 and 49 days later he abdicated governance responsibilities in Delhi stating he did so because of his government's inability to pass his proposed anti-corruption legislation due to a lack of support from other political parties.
Ambition
Kejriwal gave up governing the state of Delhi to feed his personal ambition and played the political game to protest against Modi to become India’s next PM which fizzled out. In a similar fashion, Imran Khan floated a new party - Tehreek-i-Insaf and took control of the Khyber Pakhtunkhawa province. Only time will tell if Imran Khan demanding Nawaz Sharif’s resignation is doomed to fail in a similar fashion. On the 56th day of protests in Islamabad, Imran Khan promised a "naya Pakistan" to the people on the pattern of the Islamic State of Medina and Muslim Caliphs. Drawing an Islamic welfare state, he suggested that the state would exist to serve the interests of all sections of society.
The demands raised by Imran Khan and Qadri echo the same sentiment/demands similar to that of Arvind Kejriwal’s demands from the former Congress government with the same theme as anti-corruption, transparency, accountability, electoral reforms, with the exception of rigging of election results. The perils of their protests signal an episodic reversal of this budding democracy as such a frenzied situation has all the ingredients of an emotional journey towards political despotism and assertive self-righteousness.
Although both Imran Khan and Arvind Kejriwal’s politicking share similar populist base in urban middle-class (which turned out in huge numbers), the Parliaments in both the countries have backed the elected governments as they were unified in their assertion that mob-led protests posing governance related issues will ultimately weaken democracy. The likes of Imran Khan and Arvind Kejriwal posit a polity in which there is direct democracy, sans gluttonous mediators, between the citizen and the state. This liberal venture runs into jagged weather in non-individualistic and communitarian societies such as India and Pakistan where group and identity still matter the most.
The question that begs to be asked in both the contexts is this: does supporting these protests weaken democracy in both countries? Can such a movement garner so much public support without the 24x7 media? Time will tell if the Nawaz Sharif government is able to withstand the onslaught of the urban section of the civil society through Imran Khan and Qadri.
Face-off
The twin-assault Nawaz Sharif is facing from Imran Khan and Tahri-ul-Qadri is perceived to be scripted by a section of the military establishment discomfited by his inclination to break free of its influence. Their worries are enhanced by his rise to power for the third time despite dangerous face-offs with four successive army chiefs: Asif Nawaz Janjua, Abdul Waheed Kaker, Jehangir Karamat and Pervez Musharraf. Javed Hashmi’s rebellion divulging Imran Khan as a stooge of the establishment is a key pointer to this claim.
In the case of these protests in Islamabad, the law of diminishing returns is setting in. Slowly and surely, the plot is being lost; their grip is being loosened; their narrative being weakened; their moral strength being sapped. The army had disavowed any intent to take over, insisting instead on renegotiating its space within the political realm.
Negotiations
The Parliament has fused behind Nawaz Sharif and turned the tables on Imran Khan, leaving him stranded in a cul-de-sac. Nawaz Sharif has been trying to assume control over Pakistan’s security and foreign policies and has dared to put a former army chief on trial. This has complicated matters for his survival depending upon army’s sanction. His dream of a rapprochement with India, or greater trade linkages, seems highly unlikely given the current political stalemate.
Sharif has refused to step down, while protest leaders have rejected his calls to come to the negotiating table, creating a deadlock and prompting fears of military intervention. But in the latest twist, Khan and Qadri agreed to talk to a committee of opposition politicians seeking to mediate between the government and the protesters and find a political solution. This is a latest development tracing the risks of alienating Imran Khan’s base of young, urban voters, who are disillusioned with his role in the protests rocking Islamabad.
As TV Paul has suggested no matter how ineffective the regime is, foreign aid keeps pouring in from major powers, their allies and global financial institutions. The reliability of such aid defuses any pressure on political elites to launch the far reaching domestic reforms necessary to promote sustained growth, higher standards of living and stable democratic institutions. These protests demonstrate the dire need to implement such reforms in Pakistan.