F S Aijazuddin
Pakistan elections have a tinge of Shakespearian drama to them: conspiracies, intrigues, assassinations, defeats, and finally victory assured to the hero

Imran Khan may not be the prime minister every Pakistani voted for or wanted. He is certainly the chief executive Pakistan needs.

Until August 11, when he will be sworn in by “the now you see him, now you don’t” President Mamnoon Hussain, Imran Khan is PM-elect. He is yet to wear the hollow crown kicked within his reach by obliging fate. He still has time to spend with his cronies, exchanging “stories of the death of kings; how some have been deposed; some slain in war, some haunted by the ghosts they have deposed.”

The Pakistani general elections held on July 25 have a Shakespearian ring about them: conspiracies, intrigues, assassinations, defeats, and finally victory assured to the hero. There has been a drama played out in three consecutive acts — five years of Zardari’s PPP, followed by five years of Nawaz Sharif’s PML-N, and now, a performance by Imran Khan’s PTI.

Whatever insinuations of impropriety his detractors may secrete against Imran Khan, one has continuously eluded them — financial impropriety. Everyone knows that Imran Khan has little experience of governance beyond establishing a fine cancer hospital in Lahore, a nascent Namal College in Mianwali, and remote control stewardship of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

His skills lay in using his name as a magnet to attract funds. Only the late Sattar Edhi (Pakistan’s Mother Teresa equivalent) had comparable skills. Edhi raised money for the orphan and the dead. Imran Khan’s charity extends to the sick, the illiterate, and now the 200 million downtrodden, bankrupt compatriots.

Will Imran Khan’s allure still work?

Some indicators are positive. Can it be accidental that China last week publicly poured $2 billion to grout Pakistan’s sinking forex reserves? Or that Imran Khan (once as anti-CPEC as Theresa May was once anti-Brexit) referred in his victory speech to China offering “a huge opportunity through CPEC to use it and drive investment into Pakistan”?

In that speech, Imran Khan’s also asserted provocatively that the relationship with the US has hitherto been “one way”. Stung, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo responded by warning the IMF against providing a handout to Pakistan to “bail out Chinese bondholders or China itself”.

Chief executives in countries where democracy functions (if not flourishes), usually bring experience in national governance and parliamentary practice. Imran Khan has neither. He will be an adult student in both.

Former UK Prime Minister Harold Wilson once dismissed his predecessor Anthony Eden with this devastating remark: “Eden had an expensive education: first Eton, and then Suez.”

Imran Khan had an expensive education — at Aitchison College, Lahore, regarded as Pakistan’s Eton College. Eton has produced 19 British PMs. Imran Khan will be Pakistan’s 19th elected PM. Shakespeare could have made a saga out of this.

How will Imran Khan choose his team? He will be constrained by three Cs. His acolytes will want to be rewarded for their Constancy. His parliamentary partners will want the spoils that accrue from a Coalition. But above all, Imran Khan will search for self-less Competence. And that may prove to be the most challenging demand to satisfy.

Imran Khan has finally realised the prescient dream his wife Bushra Bibi had. He has reached the top of what Disraeli described as “the greasy pole”. He has until 2023 to perfect his balance. And after that, which fourth ‘C’ should he expect? Shakespeare’s King Henry VI had the answer: “My crown is in my heart, not on my head; not decked with diamonds and Indian stones, nor to be seen: my crown is called Content, a crown it is that seldom kings enjoy.”

— The writer is a Pak-based historian

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Courtesy: The Tribune: 05 Aug 2018