By Justice Markandey Katju
Going by all accounts, Iman Khan’s PTI will sweep the polls if national elections, or elections in Punjab and KP, are held in Pakistan. This seems evident from the result of the bye elections held some time back
But to my mind this craze for Imran Khan among many Pakistanis is emotional, and not rational. For what is there in the man ?
In the 2018 national assembly elections he curried favours from religious bigots, and gave PTI tickets to dubious ‘electables’, and became Prime Minister with the support of the army. After becoming PM he removed Atif Mian, an internationally renowned economist from the Pakistan Economic Advisory Council, merely because he was an Ahmadi, an act which received worldwide condemnation.
During his tenure as PM prices of food, fuel, and other commodities skyrocketed in his Naya Pakistan, which he admitted, though he called it ‘a global phenomenon‘.
Inflation tripled during his tenure as PM, and public anger against him was widespread in Pakistan
Now public anger seems to have turned against the Shahbaz Sharif Govt
Imran Khan is now perceived by many Pakistanis as a saviour, as contrasted to the corrupt PMLN and PPP leaders, and as Pakistan’s only hope.
But does Imran Khan have any solution to Pakistan’s massive problems of widespread poverty, unemployment, malnutrition, price rise, etc? He has only glib rhetoric.
The people of Pakistan, who were cursing him when he was their PM, now hail him, believing him to be their redeemer. They are like the children following a Pied Piper of Hamelin, which now has taken the form of Imran Khan.
However, disillusionment will rapidly set in among Pakistanis if he again becomes the Prime Minister, for he has no solution to Pakistan’s massive economic problems.
