What I find strange is how ethnonatiuonalism is a dirty word in PDF. The jarring reality is most of Pakistan politics is now clustered around ethnocentric parties. In fact at times the reality is Pakistan is just a geography where differant ethnic groups contest for resources.
Please tell me what exactly is MQM? Please? Here on PDF thread after thread cry about how Karachi is being done in - in that crying there is blatent exceptionalism. That is they are being discriminated and that JUSTIFIES special action to remedy that. In this narrative Pakistan and their ethnic interests merge when the fact is that 'Pakistan' is used as excuse to peddle parochial or ethnic interests.
Then moving on to PPP - we all know it's now just a Sindhi franchise that pretends to talk of Pakistan. PML-N is a Punjab centric party, indeed not even all of Punjab but the Lahore - GT belt.
The country is already divided along ethnic lines if you look at the parties. IK is the only national leader who can connect with KPK and rest of Pakistan.
The fact that he has always voiced his concern about the drone attacks on FATA and the war there, the fact that he is pro Taliban Afghanistan, the fact that his base is KPK, the fact that he even supported the idea of giving Afghans in Pakistan citizenship - all this cuts into the PTM and secessionist impulses within the Pakhtun population.
The fact that he can't speak Pashto or was not brought up in KPK does not remove his leaning to his heritage.