Judging by the title, if you are a Pakistani (or a lover of politics for that matter), then you either know of or support Imran Khan’s political party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (and if you do not support them, then kindly exit off this post because you are cancelled ☺). And no, I am not late on the Pakistani Elections that took place on Wednesday 25, 2018 (the results are still popping up on every Pakistani News Channel there is…).
Now, I was NOT a lover of politics before (I honestly had no interest in it whatsoever, not Canadian, Pakistani, American, or any sort of politics), but where and when Imran Khan was/is involved I kind of sort of began to like it… *insert weird face here*
Let’s do a quick recap of the two most major political parties of Pakistan: Imran Ahmad Khan, ex-captain of Pakistan’s national cricket team, that lead them to their first and last victory of the World Cup title in 1992. He founded his party, PTI, on April 25, 1996, and is currently the chairman as well. Then we have PMLN, Pakistan Muslim League Noon, which is Nawaz Sharif’s party. He is a Pakistani businessman and former politician who has served as the Prime Minister of Pakistan for three non-consecutive terms and Chief Minister of Punjab for two consecutive terms, and he founded his party on October 6, 1993. He is not the current chairman of his party, for reasons that I will get into later, but for those curious (or clueless), his party is now run by his younger brother, Shahbaz Sharif.
Let’s just review the statistics for a quick second to refresh our memories: According to gulfnews.com (the article can be found here), “Provisional results of 260 out of 270 National Assembly seats have been declared by Election Commission of Pakistan. Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) is leading the tally with 116 seats. Trailing is the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) with 62 and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) with 43 seats.”
Now, the statistics are different for every Province in Pakistan (there are four: Punjab, Sindh, Baluchistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa). However, for the first time in all of Pakistan’s history, a party has won, for the second time(!), ALL the seats that were required for majority. And guess who’s party acquired ALL 98 seats? PTI, that’s who! According to an article on nytimes (here), Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly is an assembly with 124 seats (that is the elected number of members on the National Assembly), 98 of those seats are being competed in by 1,132 candidates. In the 2013 elections, Imran Khan’s party had for the first time, won all 98 seats, and once again, in the July 2018 elections, they have obtained all the seats again.
A look at the finalized candidates for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Provincial Assembly, procured by The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP): https://www.thenews.com.pk/latest/337856-pakistan-election-2018-khyber-pakhtunkhwa-provincial-assembly-candidates-list-for-general-election-2018
So, we can now confirm that Imran Khan will be Prime Minister, however, the only troublesome problem he faces lies in Punjab. If you are a lover of politics and follow them all around the world, or if you are Pakistani, then you would know that the Province of Punjab is in the hands of Nawaz Sharif’s party, PMLN. Up until now, this is where Khan has almost always lost, as they could never secure enough seats to assemble their own party in that province. There is a higher level assembly, which is the National Assembly, in which you must obtain either the required number of seats to become PM, or secure more than that. There is also a lower level assembly, at the Federal level, in which a party must obtain a required number of seats to assemble their government. Khan had no problem securing seats in the federal level, as he now has his federal government in KPK and Baluchistan. As for the Sindh Province, the PPP party, which is Bilawal Bhutto Zardari’s Pakistan Peoples Party, will run their federal government.
As for the PMLN party, mostly everyone knows what happened to it’s chairman, Nawaz Sharif and his tragic (not-so tragic, based on his actions) downfall. On July 6-7 2018, NAB (National Accountability Bureau, Pakistan’s anti-graft court) sentenced Nawaz Sharif to 10 years in jail, followed with his daughter’s, Maryam Nawaz, sentence of 7 years, and lastly, his son-in-law’s sentence, Captain Muhammad Safdar Awan, a retired Pakistan Army Officer, of 1 year. As to why they were all sentenced, I’ll get to that in a second.
Nawaz Sharif, the former Pakistani PM, has been sentenced to 10 years in jail for corruption in a verdict likely to influence the general election on July 25, 2018. Money laundering was and is already a huge reason for the corruption that has overtook Pakistan, but, Nawaz Sharif went ahead and ruined it even more (yay to all the leaders of Pakistan, am I right?).
Let’s, however, get to the reason as to why exactly Sharif was sentenced to 10 years. They (Sharif and his entire family) laundered money in the 1990’s to pay for four luxury apartments in Park Lane, central London, drawing on allegations that resurfaced in the Panama Papers (the Papers are 11.5 million leaked documents that detail financial and attorney–client information for more than 214,488 offshore entities) leak, published by the Guardian and others in 2016. Additionally, the court fined the family 10 million pounds (!) and ordered the seizure of the Avenfield properties.
Here, the Pakistan Supreme Court has released their order in the Panama Papers Case.
Despite the evidence and the hearing, Sharif’s younger brother denies the accusation; “The Pakistani nation and the PMLN [Pakistani Muslim League (Nawaz), Sharif’s party] reject this decision,” Sharif’s brother, Shahbaz Sharif, told reporters. “This is a dark chapter in the history of this country. There was no solid legal evidence in the entire case.” I mean, okay, I understand you are siblings, bonded together by blood, but under no circumstances, should you even try to defend your brother, when there is solid evidence against him. No one in their right state of mind would believe Shahbaz over the proof that was submitted in court.
In other shocking news, Nawaz did not attend his hearing, as he was in London beside his sick, hospitalized wife, Kulsoom Nawaz. Even then, the court earlier denied his request for a week-long delay to the verdict while she is on a respirator after treatment for throat cancer. In July last year, the supreme court removed Sharif from office and ordered the NAB trial, before barring him from politics for life. The 68-year-old claims his legal troubles are the result of a military-backed conspiracy; allegedly in revenge for attempts to assert civilian control of foreign policy and put the former military dictator Gen Pervez Musharraf on trial for treason. It is expected that Sharif will launch an appeal.
The punishment of Maryam, who received an additional one-year sentence for presenting forged documents in court, may see control of the party shift to Shahbaz Sharif, who has pursued a more conciliatory approach with the army. Sharif has long struggled to explain how the Avenfield flats came into his family’s possession. Family members initially told different stories. During the NAB trial, his defense claimed that a Qatari investment fund gave the expensive properties to the family to repay a debt owed to Sharif’s father. Commentators last year mocked a letter from a Qatari prince apparently testifying to that deal as a rabbit pulled out of a hat.
Still, analysts point to a variety of events that suggest a campaign by Pakistan’s deep state to hurt the PMLN ahead of the vote. The process has left “little doubt that the system is geared to get Mr Sharif”, said Zaidi. The NAB has arrested several PM-N members in recent weeks and in May its chairman was ridiculed for ordering an investigation into Sharif over spurious claims in a newspaper article that he laundered almost $5bn to India.
Not surprisingly, Imran Khan blames Nawaz Sharif for the four-fold increase in Pakistan’s debts in the past 10 years and also for the depreciating value of Pakistan rupee. “In 10 years, Pakistan’s debts went from Rs 6,000 Arab to Rs 27,000 Arab and the value of the Pakistan rupee as against the US dollar has risen from 60/dollar to 125/dollar. If we want to pull Pakistan out of this, we’ll have to run it on principles on which Medina is run,” ANI quoted the cricketer-turned-politician as saying at a rally in Islamabad.
Claiming that this was the first time in the country’s history that the powerful have been held accountable, Khan said Sharif was accountable for Rs 30,000 crore and the money went into the accounts of his children. Khan, who has been pursuing this case vigorously in courts, further said everyone knew Sharif was lying and he was finally exposed. “I would like to ask the people who stood by Nawaz Sharif, don’t you have to answer Allah? He is accountable for Rs 30,0000 crore, the money which went into the accounts of his children. Everyone knew that he is lying. Everything was exposed in the Court,” Khan said.
But alas, Nawaz is finally paying for his poor and selfish actions not only with his sentence, but also with the fact that he will be facing the wrath of the majority of Pakistan that always supported and voted for him. Now, that does not necessarily mean that all of his so-called supporters will turn against him. Some will (sadly) stick by his side no matter, while the majority head towards Khan’s party (thank God). I do not know what will become of Pakistan now that Imran Khan is PM, but according to his 8 (or eleven point) agenda, every Pakistani will be living a poverty-free, educated life (IA)! All we need to do is support him to the best of our abilities, and change ourselves as well. Someone once said, that a country cannot be changed by one single person, that it’s citizens must change themselves and their actions first, in order to see a result in where they live. And I could not agree more.
Now, what I do know, is that Imran Khan will, InshAllah, lead his country into a better Pakistan, financially and morally. Pakistan will once again, be as it was when Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah (the founder of Pakistan) was the great leader of Pakistan. If the youth, who are the main targets (not in a bad way!) of PTI stay supporting Khan, then there really is no stopping him! Pakistan will most definitely see a better tomorrow, InshAllah.
You cannot change a country and it’s people all at once, or over a night, however, you can hope and take the first step towards a better future for everyone around. Mubarak ho Pakistanio, نئی Pakistan pai!
Taabdeeli aa nahi rahi, tabdeeli aagayi hai!
XO,
Sam ♡
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