A TV grab shows Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chief Imran Khan speaking from his hospital bed in Lahore, yesterday.
ISLAMABAD: In perhaps the most dramatic outcome of Pakistan’s elections, Imran Khan’s (pictured) party has won power in the northwest, putting to the ultimate test the former cricket star’s anti-US rhetoric and calls for peace talks with the Taliban.
After years of war, displacement and broken promises from religious parties and the secular Awami National Party, voters on the frontline of the Taliban insurgency rewarded Khan’s untested party with the highest number of seats.
For Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, which previously only held one seat, it was a staggering victory in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa — one of the most troubled parts of the country — and hands Khan an almost poisoned chalice of responsibility.
Early results indicated PTI has secured at least 33 seats in the 99-member KPK provincial assembly, with nearest rival Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam on 15 seats.
Bitterly opposed to US drone strikes and Pakistani offensives against Taliban fighters blamed for killing thousands of people, victory in the northwest propels PTI from the lofty ideals of opposition to the comfortable realities of government.
Many analysts believe Khan will have a rude awakening and will realise very quickly that his policies of appeasement are naive, that it is not just “America’s war” and that the Taliban are not people he can do business with.
“They will wake up to reality very quickly because the stance of the Taliban is such that it is absolutely not reconcilable with any government in KPK or in the federal capital,” said Saifullah Khan Mahsud of the FATA Research Center.
The ANP, which governed KPK for the last five years, was all but wiped out at the polls, sent packing by an electorate fed up with corruption and their inability to bring peace to the war-racked province.
Khan, on the other hand, presented himself as a charismatic leader. He visited repeatedly, talking with and walking among ordinary people. He promised peace and denounced the US drone strikes — it proved a heady combination.
The Taliban, who denounce democracy as un-Islamic, killed more than 150 people during the election campaign, including 24 on polling day itself. Secular parties in the outgoing government suffered by far the heaviest losses.
AFP
