1. Imran Khan had vision, charisma, reputation, but no intellectual background to build a mega political party. He was a popular public figure, but not a politician. He lacked the discipline and grip on realism to create credible and realistic political goals. He believes more in his charisma than realism and does not possess the flexibility and accommodation that is the hallmark of a successful politician. So the first mistake of his was over-estimating his potential and capabilities
Imran khan is not a politician is a statement many are aware of especially after this dharna. To do politics you need a different mindset. You need to be flexible, you need to be able to tell lies in such a way that it seems truth and truth in such a way that if its distorted in the future you can easily wiggle free from its effects. You need to be able to exert your authority with your sensibility not only amongst your peers but also amongst your opposers. The reason why we see soo many U-turns from him is bcz he says one thing in emotions and then after thinking later and receiving criticism he backs away from it. This and his straightforward personality will always be a hamper to his political career.
2. PTI grew too fast after 2011 and into it rushed many people, some of whom had questionable repute and ethics. Rather than taking a well-considered approach and advancing at a measured pace, PTI ballooned within days. It was chaotic and unwieldy and apparently unmanageable. There was hardly any strategy and absolutely no grooming within the ranks which resembled a conglomerate with diction, delivery, and aggression of a mob. The absence of strategy for growth, recruitment, and grooming of raw talent was indeed a reflection of the leader himself. This was the second mistake.
The thing was PTI faced immediate support. The 2011 jalsa was a shocker for everybody including N and seeing the massive support many people started to come to the party. Imran knew at one point that he needed some seasoned politicians as well if he was going to run the country. With elections barely 1.5 years to happen he was overwhelmed and frankly i believe he did as good a job as anybody would have if he faced such immediate growth being soo close to the elections. He faced questions of old and new members and TBH his inter party elections also took time but it was a great step and he gave new people tickets as well which lost ( whether this was politically right or not is another statement) the elections. No this was not his mistake. When you face such growth is such a short period of time and you are forced to hold elections and decide who will get tickets is very very difficult.
3. The lack of realistic goals and absence of a workable strategy guaranteed wild enthusiasm among PTI supporters and they convinced themselves of impending victory in 2013 elections. Some thought that PTI had come to believe its own spin. Now it seems that PTI leadership was somehow insulated from not only its supporters, partisans, and workers. It was out of touch from its ‘electorate’ as well. There was no feed-back mechanism by which to adjust expectations, find areas of strengths and weaknesses, and thus fine tune strategy. The third mistake was being out of touch with voters and assuming victory as guaranteed.
Well yes. The thing is amongst all the manifestos that parties gave PTI ones seemed the best and was actually very good however it had unrealistic goals that would make shahbaz sharif proud. The thing is that PTI ignored was that there is a massive sector in pakistan that does not support PTI and that sector is the rural sector ir as we like to say the ghareeb tabqa. You see PTI supporters were divided in the small minority of rich in urban,higher middle order, and half of middle middle order. It ignored the rich in rural areas, and the other half of middle middle order and the lower order. They completely ignored them and thus the elections results. There is a reason why N lost in islamabad,lahore and pindi.
4. A workable and sustainable strategy might have been to be prepared to assume the role of leader of opposition in the National Assembly, and to bet on possibility of forming a coalition government in KPK. This would have been realistic and would have allowed PTI to emerge as a disciplined party instead of a mob party. The fourth mistake was not having an electoral strategy.
Yes without a doubt it showed that they had no contingency planning if what would happen if PTI would lose the election. It also showed that how much belief they had of winning that to this day imran literally begs to become PM and the thus has became the very man he used to malign before elections as he asks for his turn. Imran has lost his mind on the PM seat and is still unable to comprehend the reasons behind his loss apart from rigging.
5. The fifth mistake is a logical extension of #4 – in that outside KPK, PTI should have focused on urban and semi-urban areas in Pakistan, since that is where middle class - PTI’s strength, was concentrated. This showed lack of focus and subsequent disappointment. A little more targeted effort could have overturned the marginal defeats into marginal victories in key cities, such as Lahore
Agreed without a doubt that is the forward planning that was missing in PTI and TBH you would expect it from a party that has accepted defeat while PTI never accepted defeat in their hearts and always vouched for the PM seat. Thus its again showed the immaturity of the party and its leader. Its still not too late. after dharna there is plenty of time and they can make amends for it and work outside KPK. Remember the beauty of our people is that we easily forget events.
6. PTI should have whole-heartedly accepted the election results even though there were serious reservations. Instead of focusing on party’s organization, delivering results with better governance in KPK, and being de-facto opposition in National Assembly, Imran Khan resolved to follow the politics of agitation. He did not consider that politics of agitation brings instability and doubtful results. The lack of numbers in PTI’s march just shows that PTI leadership was unprepared for lack of Public appetite for politics of agitation. Embarking on this course of action was the sixth mistake, and it ties with #1, #2, and #3.
PTI stand against rigging was not questionable TBH. They did question many things and it will be for the future of pakistan elections if a party keeps questioning and asking for reforms. the thing became a mess when the focus of the dharna turned from electoral reforms and audit of 2013 elections to an unrealistic demand of resignation. Those important demands were forgotten in that pursuit. The fact is that whether agitation or not the dharna at the start was working however PTI comepletely ignored the real focus of the dharna which would have not only benefited the party in the future but also pakistan. Imran forgot about everything else in pursuit of his dream of sitting on the PM chair. Result is he might not get either of those things. The saying comes to mind. " one bird in hand is better then two in bush". Imran threw away the electoral reforms demand and decided to go for the PM resignation demand. The birds in the bush flew away and now his only hope is the previous bird that was in his hand is still on the ground.
. Once the decision to pursue an agitation-based agenda was made, search for possible partners took PTI leadership to undesirable and / or rejected elements in Pakistan’s body-politic. PML-Q, the shameless and corrupt beneficiary of Musharraf’s dictatorship, though moth-eaten, was an eager partner. The next step was contacting PAT and its mental Mullah leader Tahir-ul-Qadri, a psychotic and megalomaniacal individual, who in the course of his rise to fame had been rather shameless in pursuing, using, and dumping benefactors. His political capital consisted of a few thousand die-hard supporters for whom Tahir-ul-Qadri was a political, spiritual, and moral leader. Over more than two decades these people had been brain-washed with a blend of sectarianism, messianic zeal, and certainty of the coming Revolution. This fanatical support should have rung all sorts of alarm bells. But since Imran Khan likes to overestimate himself, he wrongly assumed that he could control his coalition partners. Corralling questionable support was seventh mistake and a consequence of #1, #3, and #6.
Yes imran without a doubt chose his friends and allies very unwisely and the result was that he is blamed for anarchy with them. Imran made a big mistake here and he is and will pay for it without a doubt. Not the first time imran khan over-estimated himself in controlling his allies. When he was in cricket imran ran the team like a dictator which was good for a cricket teram but for a party with high egos and support it was not and thus we saw many problems rise.
8. Once the faulty and (now-apparent) counter-productive strategy of agitation was rolled out, there was no Plan B. The narrative of victimhood was questionable, and did not drum up support from the masses. As has been mentioned in other points above, there was no feedback from the public. PTI essentially believed itself, convinced itself, and strode into the unknown without questioning or counter-checking leadership’s assumptions. The lack of flexibility as apparent in lack of critical review, Plan-B, or exit-strategy was the Eighth mistake.
The thing is there couldnt have been a plan B. Plan A was soo risky that it ddint allow room for Plan B. Imran needed to know that since there was no contingency or possible contingency then one must make sure to do everything in its power to keep Plan A and its objectives ( which he forgot afloat). The thing is i have heard imran doesnt listen to anybody nor his councils. If that is true then the 8th mistake was inevitable. Thus he came with foolish ideas of civil disobedience that were beyond unrealistic. Extremely unreal and the lack of support for it also showed that people were just not into it.
When every neutral force says there were only 30 to 50 thousand people present then it has to be true. Imran did not get the feedback he once got a long time ago in 2011. Seems like an eternity.
9. One must know the strength or weakness of one’s political capital. Seeing that most support for PTI emanates from middle class of Urban and semi-urban population centers, it would have been sensible to see how far and at what pace is this class able to support politics of agitation. On social media, this class is over-represented and very active – thereby creating an illusion of popular support for its cause. In the real world that support melts into thin air. This happened in Egypt where social media was of immense help in toppling government of Hosni Mubarak, but then its doyens were duped by the Deep state. Therefore the Ninth mistake was depending on this class which can talk much (and creatively!) but not act as well.
Agreed no matter what kind of determination they just arent riot material and does imran seriously think that their fathers would not pay their bills or taxes. It was just never going to happen although i personally believe that imran tries his best to be non-violent and this agitation method was a bluff that was called. Imran knew that he could not win on blood.
10. This brings us to the Last and (in my view) most serious blunder that a political party can make. Playing Establishment’s game and thinking that Imran Khan could somehow beat the odds and come out the winner. All one needed to do was look at PML-Q and see how, despite massive rigging in 2008 elections, it lost its grip and completely melted in 2013. Our Establishment has a survivalist mind-set and is therefore ruthless. Depending on Military Establishment (or the illusion of it) was the TENTH mistake – and the one which is more a kiss of death.
Our establishment works with the mindset that politicians destroy this country and we must save it for the people. They literally work with that mindset. They dont trust any politician and would betray any if they see fit. Perhaps the true masters of playing the political game is the army. If he had no assurance of military backing then it was highly and extremely foolish to drag this down for soo long. Should have ended it during the negotiations phase. Imran should ahve known that the army is not ready for martial law. They are for once staying away from politics and if he actually thought of using them for his ends then imran ithirst for power is dangerous for us.
After all of this i believe that imran could actually do some good in power. He has done well in KPK in the time given to him and i know at federal he will do much better but he needs to forget about shortcuts and focus on the next elections. I want him to come to power but not like this.
He still has time. He can make amends. I dont believe that its all doom and gloom like you have claimed for his party future. We forget alot of things and if he gets some good demands in and goes back and works on KPK and succeeds there whilst working in other provinces as well then i am sure he will come to power in the future.
these old horses can NOT be relied on.
, Allah maaf karey mujhey.)
