The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) is swiftly emerging as its own worst enemy, with reports of infighting commonplace in the aftermath of last week’s Islamabad protest.
Even before the Islamabad protest collapsed after Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur and Bushra Imran abandoned supporters ahead of D-Chowk, all was not right within the PTI. Multiple verified reports made clear the party leadership did not agree with Imran Khan’s protest call, evident in the failure to mobilize any significant support from outside Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. Gathering supporters was one thing; even most PTI leaders did not bother to attend. These rifts have only widened after the protest, with two clear camps emerging: those aligned with Bushra and those against.
Both sides share one commonality: they each claim to represent the “true” vision of former prime minister Imran Khan. Their biggest divide: one group primarily comprises parliamentarians while the other has no political stakes.
The fact remains that despite claims to the contrary, the PTI is a monarchy. All decision-making stems from Imran Khan—and only him. There is ample evidence proving this; the party’s 2022 resignations from the National Assembly and its decision to dissolve the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab assemblies despite majority opposition are just two examples. The party papered over those rifts because it still had the guiding hand of Khan to fall back on. Khan’s ongoing incarceration—and his limited contact with the party—negates this, facilitating a stagnation in decision-making. In times of crisis, this poses serious challenges for political success. Attempts to overcome this deficiency through bloated political and core committees has the opposite effect.
The PTI has thus far claimed the deaths of 12 of its supporters in last week’s “do or die” protest. Party leaders have alleged “many more” they lack evidence to verify. For any other political force, this would be a time of setting aside differences to present a unified front against alleged state excesses. Instead, by turning on itself in the manner of an ouroboros, the party has shifted the discourse away from its self-claimed martyrs and toward its own failures. The PTI’s dedicated supporters—and democracy as a whole—deserve better.