[Politics] Center-Provincial Frictions and Imran Khan’s Ouster

[Dr@g0n]

The PTI led by Imran Khan came into power with a consistent narrative that promised to eliminate elite-led corruption—allegedly rampant among opposition leaders—which would inevitably revive Pakistan’s economy. However, this narrative began to falter as the PTI’s central and provincial governments failed at governing their respective administrative units during their four years in office. The then-opposition used their provincially concentrated vote bank to rally against Imran Khan. This consensus eventually formed the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), a joint opposition front, that ultimately ousted the Khan-led PTI government on April 9, 2022 making him the first Pakistani Prime Minister to be voted out of office through a Vote of No Confidence (VoNC). The addition of the 18th Amendment to Pakistan’s Constitution has made provincial politics more consequential to political stability. The 18th Amendment—passed in 2010 during the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) government—gave the four provinces increased autonomy relative to the federal government through increased budget spending and administrative rights. This year, it enabled several provincial parties and individuals with strong provincial voter banks to play a vital role in uprooting Imran Khan from office. The PTI’s failure to consolidate the federation through an inability to facilitate provincial administration worsened the center-province power balance. This essay will establish how each province’s politics affected the PTI, coalition allies, and opposition amidst political powerplays preceding the VoNC. Sindh The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) formed Sindh’s government through a majority in 2018. However, despite the PPP’s majority, the political stage was set for confrontation. In a significant electoral upset for the PPP, the PTI triumphed in Karachi, which, while remaining under Sindh’s jurisdiction, remains the province’s largest and most influential constituency. The PTI’s failure to consolidate the federation through an inability to facilitate provincial administration worsened the center-province power balance. The PTI has long criticized the PPP’s decade-long policies in Sindh, promising a change of the status-quo when in office. The critiques of the PPP ranged from not instituting solid waste management mechanisms in Karachi, appointing a controversial mayor, instituting a European-style COVID-19 lockdown at the expense of daily wage laborers, and being responsible for decades of administrative and governance neglect. The confrontational environment between the PPP and PTI resulted in needless semantic political powerplays that detracted from the PTI’s governance. The PTI attempted to hijack the PPP-instituted Benazir Income Support Program—a social safety scheme that provides direct cash transfers to the most vulnerable—by rebranding it as “Ehsaas” while facing additional challenges in implementing the program in rural Sindh without PPP support. The PTI failed to rectify the PPP’s decade-long mismanagement of Sindh by not prioritizing governance. Much of the PTI’s electoral success in Karachi and sway in Sindh can be attributed to its partnership with the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) in a coalition alliance from 2018 to 2022. The MQM’s voter base are primarily Karachi residents who immigrated from India during Partition and speak native Urdu. Soliciting their coalition support was essential for the PTI to win Karachi and compete with the PPP for provincial control in Sindh. During the PTI’s tenure, Karachi’s living situation continued to remain unbearable for residents, who experienced monsoon floodings, water and power shortages, and anti-encroachment drives resulting in homelessness under the PTI. The MQM, which enjoys a large Karachi-based Muhajir vote bank, could not afford to lose Karachiites’ goodwill due to the PTI’s misgovernance. In March 2022, after four years in the PTI’s coalition, the MQM announced it would join the PDM’s coalition days before the Vote of No Confidence. With the MQM bidding farewell, the PTI lost one of its most important provincial coalition partners in the National Assembly. Punjab In 2018, the PTI formed government through a slender majority in Punjab. However, Imran Khan’s nominee for the Punjab Chief Minister, Usman Buzdar, proved unpo[CENSORED]r both internally within the PTI and externally in the (then) opposition. Historically, the post is held by politically powerful members in the Punjab Assembly; current Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif was previously the Chief Minister of Punjab between 2013 and 2018. In comparison, PTI’s Usman Buzdar’s relatively low-profile baffled policymakers. Speculations about the unconventional choice later led to Farah Khan, Bushra Bibi’s friend and confidant, leaving the country in early April 2022 after (unproven) allegations surfaced accusing her of influencing Imran Khan’s decisions about his executive appointments in Punjab. Prior to the 2018 election, Imran Khan successfully received support from the Junoobi Punjab Sooba Mahaaz Party (JPSM), led by Makhdoom Khusro Bakhtiar. The JPSM broke its historic alliance with the PML-N in favor of the PTI on the condition that the PTI will take tangible steps to create a fifth Pakistani province: South Punjab. This was supported by a wide range of lawmakers, including within the PTI, who hailed from South Punjab. While the PTI repeatedly attempted to pass the requisite legislation, Punjab’s provincial administration and other lawmakers wielding influence and power did not allow the PTI to fulfil its promise in over almost four years. By the end of 2021, forward blocks emerged from within the PTI. Imran Khan’s close confidant, friend, and financier, Jahangir Tareen, was booked for money laundering by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA). His sudden alienation from Imran Khan had negative ramifications for the Tareen’s (and PTI’s) voter base, who saw him as the face of PTI in Punjab but was now out of favor. Several members of the so-called “Tareen Group,” including dozens of disgruntled PTI parliamentarians in the Punjab Assembly, voted for PMLN’s Hamza Shehbaz (and not PTI’s candidate) as Chief Minister of Punjab during the week of the Vote. The PTI failed to demonstrative administrative muster in Punjab and implement its provincial policy reforms, which undermined its campaign promise for a better governed Punjab under a PTI government.
link:https://southasianvoices.org/center-provincial-frictions-and-imran-khans-ouster/