There is no doubt that today Imran Khan enjoys strong public support.
Imran Khan has a lot of support from the public these days. It is in no way understandable to deny this fact.
All predictions that the sun of Imran Khan’s popularity would soon set once he left power proved wrong.
Just as things start to go against him, something happens that makes his popularity rise once again.
Public relations have always been an important part of his politics. For example, after the no-confidence motion was successful in April 2022, Imran Khan announced to march towards Islamabad in May 2022.
But the long march failed because it did not gather enough people to bring about any change. On reaching Islamabad, Imran Khan suddenly ended the long march and went to Bani Gala.
It was assumed that the so-called Tsunami March of August 2014 played a role in his rise, the politics of excitement will no longer work because he no longer has the support of the establishment, which was the mainstay of his politics before.
It was an element. Nevertheless, Imran Khan attracted a large number of people through his fierce rhetoric full of arrogance and deceit.
But then came the by-elections for the 20 seats of Punjab Assembly vacated by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Imran Khan won 15 of them. This was the first shock that indicated that something was afoot.
Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM)
Some people say that PTI won back the seats that were theirs. However, in some quarters, anti-government sentiment played a major role in his success, as the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) government introduced a series of fuel and energy price hikes that pushed inflation past its peak. had reached its peak and the purchasing power of the people was severely affected.
Then came October 2022, in which by-elections were held on 11 seats of the National Assembly, out of which Imran Khan himself stood as a candidate in 7 seats and he also managed to win 6 seats.
Imran Khan lost the Malir Karachi seat to the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) candidate, which was heavily discussed by the PPP.
But the picture was becoming clear on the bigger picture and that was that when Imran Khan went to the people’s court, his public support only increased.
In this spirit, Imran Khan made a big move and dissolved the provincial assemblies of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in January 2023 because he hoped that he would get the required constitutional majority in the by-elections of the two provinces.
But fearing that the elections would increase their power, the PDM government kept delaying the elections and eventually succeeded in postponing them for a year.
February 8, 2024 was another opportunity for Imran Khan to go before the public and this time all possible tactics were adopted to suppress him.
Imran Khan was in jail, his party did not have an election symbol, his workers and leaders were under arrest, a large number of party leaders were forced to leave politics or join another party, while their political leaders They were not even allowed to hold rallies or corner meetings for elections.
Corruption
The credibility of the election results was significantly affected due to allegations of rigging as some of the constituencies where Imran Khan’s candidates were winning were defeated by the opposition.
Despite this, Imran Khan’s candidates have secured one-third of the total votes cast, indicating that his vote block is the largest.
They also got more seats because their voter mobilization strategy was better than other political parties.
There is no point in denying or suppressing the fact that Imran Khan has established a strong bond with the voters.
The more efforts are made to suppress them, the stronger will be their connection with the public and the greater their popular support.
There are many speculations about the factors behind their success. To some, it is an anti-establishment vote. While it was also said that the back-breaking inflation faced by the people for 20 months attracted the people towards Imran Khan’s party.
It is also being said that it is not the people’s liking for Imran Khan, but it is the dislike (even can say hatred) for Nawaz Sharif, which resulted in us having the support of PTI in large numbers in general elections 2024. Seen in the case of success of independent candidates.
We can talk about Imran Khan’s powerful public support but cannot expect it to end. Imran Khan has got more success than he thought.
Therefore, it is now important to examine the deep and underlying motivations of this magnificent political story of his. In this regard, the failing economy and changing demographics are important to look at.
Domestic Resources
Pakistan needs serious decisions, so it needs a leadership that does not hesitate to take decisions. First, we face persistently expensive energy while dwindling domestic gas reserves are being replaced by imported LNG.
Second, an extraordinary burden of debt means that business as usual will not be able to operate. Pakistan has to work simultaneously on these two realities, abandoning energy-based production and relying on domestic resources instead of foreign loans to promote growth in the energy sector.
Failure to make these changes means rising inflation and unemployment while our country’s youth population is increasing and 2 million people are joining the country’s workforce every year.
These are all young people. These people were not even born when 9/11 happened. These young people are increasingly joining our voter lists.
Compared to the 2018 elections, 22 million people were registered in the voter lists in 2024, which is a record increase. However, it is not clear how many youths were among them.
Pakistan is changing. Old production sectors are being rendered economically obsolete as energy prices are rising rapidly with each passing year.
While in the political world, as the registration of young voters continues to increase, difficult situations are emerging for the patrons of the old political parties.
Those who embrace the change and adapt themselves to it will remain intact, otherwise it will be difficult for them to remain a part of this system.
Also read this: Will Democracy Survive in Pakistan?
