By Justice Markandey Katju
The recent spate of resignations of prominent figures in Imran Khan’s PTI party in Pakistan reminded me of the above verse of the great Urdu poet Mirza Ghalib.
Fawad Choudhry, Shireen Mazari, Asad Umar, Maleeka Bukhari and others enjoyed the loaves of office when the PTI was in power, but when adversity has struck, like rats jumping from what they perceived as a sinking ship, they fled, giving all kinds of excuses.
While they have given all kinds of excuses for resigning, the real reason is fear of being arrested and their financial/business interests being adversely affected.
I am reminded of the English poet Robert Browning’s famous poem ‘The Lost Leader‘.
The test of a person’s character is whether one sticks to one’s principles and allegiances in all circumstances, even in adversity, and not just as a fair-weather friend. These persons resigning have proved that they are crass opportunists, and the PTI will be well rid of them.
A mistake which Imran Khan made after starting the PTI in 1996 was to permit all and sundry to join his party, and giving PTI tickets to dubious ‘electables’ in the 2018 national elections. But now he has learnt from his mistakes, and will surely not repeat them.
Imran Khan is now leading a fierce struggle of democratic forces against the fascism unleashed by the army, abetted by the corrupt PDM leaders. He is sure to ultimately triumph, but he must now take care to give leading positions in his party, and PTI tickets for elections, to those who are genuinely wafaadaars ( loyal ) to democratic principles and men/women of the highest integrity.
