The newly-appointed prime minister of Pakistan Imran Khan who promised a ‘Naya Pakistan’ in his maiden speech, has inducted as many as 12 key members from the regime of Rtd Former Army General Pervez Musharraf in his cabinet, including a former spokesperson of Musharraf. Interestingly, there are only three members in the team who are Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) stalwarts and who never joined any other party.
How can India forget veteran politician Shah Mahmood Qureshi who held the same foreign minister’s portfolio from 2008 to 2011 under the Pakistan Peoples Party government. It was during his tenure that Mumbai witnessed the 2008 terror attack and it was he who reminded India that Pakistan was fully ready for war if it was imposed on the nation.
Khan’s team appears to be a big letdown for the fact that the Naya Pakistan roadmap which he envisages is packed with tried and tested players. There can’t be any new expectations from them. With a majority of the cabinet ministers having links to the Musharraf era, the new PM has only served an old wine in a new bottle, much to the disappointment of the people of Pakistan who voted for a change.
Khan, however, is faced with some major challenges and only time will tell how he manages to do a delicate balancing act between his ambitions and the army’s framework and yet keep his connect with the people of Pakistan intact.
The new Kaptaan faces a different but difficult test of leadership, an arena where the Army is the non-playing captain but whose role “ from national security to foreign policy “ takes precedence. How long a rope Khan is given to maneouver and how best he manages to dispel the notion that the Army calls the shots in Pakistan is to be seen.
Imran’s plans to move Pakistan away from security-driven politics and show zero tolerance to violence and religious extremism are too forceful. So is his agenda to bring back public money stashed abroad, identical to the one set by India’s PM Narendra Modi.
But there are positives. Khan, in his first media interaction, sounded the peace bugle for neigbouring countries including India. “Without peace with neighbours, we cannot bring peace in Pakistan. If they take one step towards us, we will take two, but at least we need a start,” he said. The very fact that he made his intentions known on dialogue over Kashmir sounds positive. But again, his ambitions are linked to the army since the reins of policy-making rests with them. At best, the former cricketer may be given the liberty to bowl the odd bouncer at the opposition, and the army will ensure that he doesn’t stray too wide off the line drawn by them.
Khan will have a tightrope walk to do and he is likely to
find himself in conflict with the army on some key issues like cut in defence expenditure and Pakistan’s policy on jihadis. Leaders are known to make sweeping statements when they take on positions of power. It remains to be seen if Khan can walk the talk.
