Imran Khan, PTI, General Elections 2013

IMRAN KHAN, PTI GENERAL, ELECTIONS 2013

            Considered as one of the strong contenders in the upcoming general elections of 2013, Imran Khan and Pakistan Tehreek-E-Insaf are shaping out to be the next in line to form the government. Being termed as the Leader of the Youth, Imran Khan has not only gained tremendous popularity amongst the youngsters but is also being viewed as the Savior of Pakistan. According to a recent survey, this year’s electoral poll, 68% of the total registered voters are under 35 years of age. Now, some may consider this fact as the game changer, but only time will tell whether such facts are just there to create hype amongst the masses or not.

            Imran Khan, along with his PIT will be looking for their first official victory since their creation in 1996 and their recent rally might give them exactly that. The rally itself was the talk of the town not only because of the massive crowd that were present; around 2 million people, but also because of the promises that the fearless founder of PTI made to the public. Vowing to build a ‘new and better Pakistan’, he stated that he would never leave his nation and would keep all his assets where the people could see them, he pledged that he would establish supremacy of the law; not to indulge in nepotism or misuse his right of authority, he guaranteed the protection of the taxpayer’s money, to be honest and supporter of the masses and to wage ‘jihad’ against tyranny and injustice in all forums of the world.

            It seems very obvious that the party lacks financial support to enter with a ‘bang’; whereas others are focusing on ‘advertisements and mass media promotions’ to gain attention. The only promotional activity that he is concerned about is speaking to the masses directly, interacting with the nation fearlessly and speaking in the face of opposition boldly. His recent statements on Pak-US relationship has highlighted the fact that for once the nation would not live under the America’s way of life. In Gallup’s most recent polls, 92% of Pakistanis disapprove of the current U.S. policy towards their country. Not to mention the disapproval for the drone strikes in the Tribal regions, the ‘act of eliminating’ Taliban from the region and the foreign aid that seems to be promoting corruption in the country. Imran khan said, “Unfortunately, aid has been a curse for Pakistan. It is not helping the people, it is disappearing in corruption. If we have aid which keeps feeding these governments, it’s propping them up. If we don’t have aid we will be forced to make the reforms and stand on our own feet”. Addressing the issue of suicide bombers, he said, “Unless we get out of this partnership with the United States, hard core nucleus of militancy will continue to use it (Jihad) as a motivational tool for preparing suicide bombers.” Unlike the previous leaders, Khan is open to criticize the American policies and treat it with tough love. The upcoming elections could prove to be very important not just Pakistan, but America as well; if the relations continue to go in the direction that they are now, any sort of support for America will become the kiss of death for Pakistani politicians, leaving America in much worse position than it is already in.

            Many a times, Imran Khan has restated his position that the PTI would not enter into an electoral alliance with any party during or after the elections; total victory, however, would come as a big surprise. Winning 272 seats would be considered remarkable for a party that mainly has the youth as the backbone. Seeing that the country has a dismal election turnout percentage that ranges between 32%-36%, victory for the PTI will largely depend on the youth turnout that can be brought together, the extent of their power will be determined by their ability to maximize this turnout rate. A more conservative number could leave Imran Khan’s party as 'kingmakers' in a hung parliament, allowing them to form a government with one of the other major parties. This would, nonetheless, represent a huge move forward for the party, though not the outright victory that Khan expects.