One of the finest quote attributed to James Freeman Clarke is, “a politician thinks of the next election. A statesman, of the next generation”. In the past few months back-to-back events in Pakistan have seen the intensifying of not just a statesmanship crisis, but also the emergence of a political fiasco. Besides governance problem, the irrefutable realities of corruption, abuse of power, and all the macroeconomic indicators trending downwards, Pakistan is currently fronting multiple challenges on foreign policy and security such as American pressure to shift the focus away from China, and military tension with India. Similarly within the government, there are multiple fault lines. Internal groupings in Pakistan Tehreek-E-Insaf (PTI) have become so intense that it is no longer possible to keep them under cover. Senior government ministers are publicly condemning their cabinet associates of backstabbing and conspiracy. The lack of inner cohesion and trust within the PTI has produced cracks in the government’s ability to govern the state. The PTI government has also been extremely incompetent in dealing with CoVID-19, resulted in a hasty decline in public trust in the government’s capability to rule effectively.
Prime Minister Khan was once Pakistan’s extremely trendy man, but now is under criticism from the media for what is being called his failure to make visible progress on the political fronts. In my opinion, the biggest hitch in the progress of Khan’s government is feudalistic mindset. Feudalism is increasing gradually in Pakistan that is too dangerous for the democracy and development of Pakistan and it is a biggest hitch which is creating problems for Prime Minister. Undoubtedly, feudalism is the biggest contributing factor for the failure of Prime Minister Khan. Almost half of Pakistan’s intact private product and the generality of its export revenues are reaped from agriculture sector, which is controlled by a few feudal families; with this extractive economic power, they also have significant political power. The feudal families not only hold control on national affairs through bureaucratism and military, but also political parties. Currently, there are many feudal lords and their kids and kins enjoying positions of lawmakers. Consequently, feudalism has extensively damaged the struggle of Imran Khan.
Prior to elections, Prime Minister Khan’s charisma and his heart-winning speeches swiftly won the hearts of deprived nation. His vision of “NAYA PAKISTAN” was inspirational and reinvigorated a new zeal in the youth of Pakistan. Khan made the people believe that the solution for every problem was getting rid of hereditary politics. After elections, Pakistan has a democratic system without democrats and Prime Minister Khan is hijacked by a small group of feudal lords, political elites, bureaucrats under foreign influence. People of Pakistan chose a charismatic figure who could have done so many inspiring things with distinction, but has failed to deliver. Since politics is much more than playing cricket, giving tough looks, leading charity campaigns, and inspiring people with eloquence and rhetoric. Realistically, the power circles and people of Pakistan will have to understand that the failure of Prime Minister Khan is not the failure of Pakistan. And, the current political and governance problems can only be better addressed by Presidential form of government rather than parliamentary system.
