When we talk about Pakistani politics, who is not familiar with turncoats? yes, we are talking about ‘lootas’, who are said to be the kingmaker in the formation of any government, especially during the past 20 years.
Pakistan People’s Party, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf formed their governments with the help of turncoats in 2008, 2013 and 2018 respectively.
The practice of switching parties is often made fun of, but, on a more serious note, it hurts democracy and weakens political parties.
No doubt it is the democratic right of politicians to choose a party of their liking. However, their blatant lack of consistency as far as political ideology goes is questionable — especially since they are vying to represent millions of citizens, with many of them also seeking public office.
There are far too many examples of such individuals in our political culture — whether it is Shah Mehmood Qureshi, who went from the PML-N to the PPP when they governed, and who is now in the PTI, or the likes of Fawad Chaudhry, who was once Gen Musharraf’s media man, then a PPP and now a vocal PTI representative. Even a stalwart like Javed Hashmi, after years of lending dedicated support to Nawaz Sharif, ditched the PML-N for the PTI as the grass appeared greener under Imran Khan’s banner.
The role of turncoats cannot be ruled out in the ouster of Imran Khan as prime minister and the election of Hamza Shahbaz Sharif as Punjab CM. Those who were once with Imran Khan turned against the PTI. Since then, the former prime minister has taken every step to expose the politics of electables aka lootas. PTI moved SC and ECP, where 20 dissident members of PTI were de-seated and the repolling on the vacant seats is scheduled to take place on July 17.
The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan in a by-election campaign in Punjab asked the party supporters and workers to teach ‘turncoats’ a lesson with a humiliating defeat.
No doubt, the lootas have been playing their role in making and removing governments, but the way Imran Khan has exposed the game of lootas full marks must be given to him for unveiling their face.
