Opposition, establishment fail to counter Imran Khan’s popular narrative

The anti-US narrative of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman and former prime minister Imran Khan has gained popularity across the country while the opposition and the establishment are seemingly failed to counter it as yet.

Not only PTI workers and supporters but also a large number of Pakistanis are acknowledging the truth of Imran Khan’s anti-US narrative. The PTI turncoats are facing the wrath of the PTI workers as the situation has now reached physical assaults from verbal criticism.

A dissident PTI MNA Noor Alam Khan has faced the same situation at Marriott Hotel in Islamabad when he was having iftar with Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leaders including Senator Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar, Faisal Karim Kundi, Nadeem Afzal Chan and Sheikh Waqas Akram.

An elderly PTI supporter got angered over Noor Alam Khan and hurled abusive remarks against him. The verbal confrontation turned into a scuffle after the PTI supporter threw a bottle at him.

The elderly supporter was taken away from the dining hall by the hotel staffers.

Nadeem Afzal Chan, during an interview with Asma Shirazi, said that they were sitting for iftar when he came and insulted Noor Alam Khan in the Pashto language. Noor Alam Khan did not say anything in response. After Iftar, they asked the man to apologise over using foul language against Khan but he started hurling abuses again which later turned into a scuffle.

Noor Alam Khan has been staying at the Marriott Hotel Islamabad for a month due to security concerns and he faced attacks thrice so far.

Anchorperson Adil Shahzeb claimed that it is surprising that two dozen people left PTI, but no one else was targeted like Noor Alam Khan. He added that a party leader has now decided to target Noor Alam Khan and Marriott Hotel like incidents were not a public reaction but a targeted attack.

Sources told News360 that the man who had attacked Noor Alam Khan was not a PTI worker but a sympathiser who runs a dry fruit shop at Jinnah supermarket and Centaurus Mall Islamabad. In any case, violence could not be justified as both sides should have shown tolerance.

It is the success of Imran Khan’s narrative that pushed a common man to confront the political rivals in the country after his ouster from the office. The popularity of Imran Khan’s narrative can be gauged from the fact that the educated elite class, which used to stay away from politics, has also started participating in political rallies and protests.

Despite the absence of PTI leadership in protests across the country, a large number of nationals participated in the protests in Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Quetta and Peshawar on Sunday after the toppling of the Imran Khan government following the successful no-trust motion. There is no precedent for such political activities in Pakistan, especially during Ramadan.

The protests were also attended by showbiz celebrities while a large number of personalities from the showbiz industry is supporting Imran Khan.

Moreover, some media personalities have chosen to leave those media houses that are involved in running propaganda against the PTI. Rao Faisal, a senior producer of Express News senior anchorperson Mansoor Ali Khan, announced to leave the private news channel. In his social media statement, Rao Faisal said that he decided to resign from his job to work to start independent journalism as he thinks the media was also becoming a facilitator of the imported government in Pakistan.

A woman reporter of Samaa TV had also announced to resign after claiming that the news channel hid realities and backed the propaganda.

Imran Khan’s popular narrative is increasing the troubles of the new government and the establishment while the slogans of the imported government became the top trend on the social media platforms over the past week.

Government agencies including the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) have failed to counter the trends despite their efforts.

On the other hand, the growing popularity of Imran Khan has created serious troubles for the ruling Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N), Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), Muttahida Qaumi Movement Pakistan (MQM-P) and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazl (JUI-F) as the results of immediate elections could go in the favour of the PTI, whereas, if they chose to delay the elections the coalition government will bear the brunt of the deteriorated economic situation of the country.

However, Imran Khan’s anti-US narrative divided the nation into different segments as now close relatives and friends are seen confronting each other besides blaming each other as traitors, slaves of the US and anti-state elements. The political leadership should promote tolerance to end the division in national unity.