RISE OF POPULISM IN 21st CENTURY IN PAKISTAN part 3

23 among the populist leaders is that they don’t care about the constitution. They believe only in people support. They amend the constitution according to their own will..

24 CHAPTER – 4 POPULIST NARRATIVE OF IMRAN KHAN AND ITS IMPLICATIONS 4.1 INTRODUCTION The key feather of any populist leaders is to constitute catchy slogans through which he/she attract the common people towards oneself. Populism in the 21st century in the world and particular in Pakistan is seen from the perspective of academia. It is widely accepted by a set of scholars that the phenomena of populism exists globally and Pakistan is also passing through it. The growing speed of populism is a threat for democracy and even its rise is also one of the failures of liberal democracy. Researchers have also pointed out that in some countries populism has been addressed by the people on time. The most prominent example which they present is that of the United States. The victory of Joe Biden in Presidential elections of 2020, shows that the people of the United States have addressed the rise of populism in very democratic way. The researcher has found a list of factors which constituted the populist narrative of Imran khan. These factors include slogans of accountability, corruption, critical approach towards elite, patriotism, the concept of state of Madina, highlighting the cause of Kashmir in United Nations, and Islamophobia. Moreover, currently the anti- American narrative developed by Imran khan made him popular once again. 4.2 DEFINITION OF POPULISM FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF ACADEMIA During my discussion with Shahzad Ali, he said that populism is the sensitization and mobilization of masses in order to support or promote any political cause for the benefit of common people. It can also be defined as the stirring up or activating the passive voices of resistance that are being kept silent due to the oppressive tactics of elite groups in a country. So, fundamentally, populism is a kind of tactic to question the existing mass manipulation tactics of elite groups (Ali, personal communication, 7 April 2022). However, one can say that this definition is fine until the any populist leader is in opposition. Once he/she gains the power, so he tries to control the entire system. He wants to control the media, judiciary and even each and every institution of State. For instance, pre 2018, elections Imran khan was a strong champion of independent media but when he came in power and the same media criticized his government so it was not acceptable to him. Same is the case with the rest of the populist leaders as well. One can check the comments and tussles between the former president of the United States Donald Trump and CNN news. Therefore, one can extend this discussion.

25 in a way that yes populist leaders talk about the people but when they are in struggle for power. Once they get it so they want to establish their own authoritarian regime. The same question was asked in discussion with a Ph.D. scholar Amir Sohail. He said that populism refers to the unified will of people under any political leader (Sohail, personal communication, 29 April 2022). However, here we can see this answer through another angle and that is diversity and differences of opinion are the essence of politics and democracy. If there is no difference of opinion and diversity, so it means the essence of politics has been lost. Secondly, if populism refers to the unity and unified will of people then why the populist leaders are so much exclusive in decision making process. Along with this, populists always talk about in the form of “we and others”. If populism is the force of unity, so, why the populist leaders are failed in it to do so. For instance, looking to the rise of Donald Trump, the black people of the United States were targeted by him on the basis of color. Similarly, Muslims of the United States were criticized by him on the basis of religion. The second example we have from India in which Prime Minister Modi and his party BJP always try to favor only Hindus and sidelined the rest of the communities like Muslims and Sikhs. Once again, if we look at Turkey, so there we again find a populist leader Mr. Erdogan who is famous for his islamist ideology. A number of steps were taken by him in order to popular himself in the Political arena of Turkey. For instance, the converting of Hagia Shopia29 into Masjid is also one of his acts. He is such a politician who ignores even the basic principles of constitution in which secularism is one of it. In one of his gathering he answered to domestic critics in the words “we are the people, who are you.” It means he was pointing to his majority and was ignoring the rest of the people who were belonging to the same country and same community. The next leader who lies in this domain of politics is our former Prime Minister Imran khan. He is considered to be the next populist leader after the Zulfiqar Ali Butto in the political history of Pakistan. The way, he ignored the political leadership in his own government and the way he sidelined the parliament during his tenure was not a good tradition in the parliamentary democracy. One can extend this discussion in Europe as well. 29 Built between 532 and 537, Hagia Sophia (Holy Wisdom, Ayasofya) represents a brilliant moment in Byzantine architecture and art. It was the principal church of the Byzantine Empire in its capital, Constantinople (later Istanbul), and a mosque after the Ottoman Empire conquered the city in 1453. The decision of the Turkish government in 1934 to establish Ayasofya as a museum was intended to make it a repository of human history— all human history, not a single history confined to one religion or people. President. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan made the controversial decision in 2020 to convert the building back into a mosque(Hagia Sophia | History, Architecture, Mosaics, Facts, & Significance | Britannica, n.d.).

26 4.3 POPULISM AS A GLOBAL PHENOMENON The researchers’ opinions are quite diverse to the response of this question that whether populism is a global phenomenon or not? Some of them agree that it is global phenomena while at the same time they also admit it may exist locally as well. Muhammad Ilyas said that the transformation of the world into a global village as a result of technological advancements has greater social, political and economic implications for the people of every corner of the world. Rise of political movements and inspiration of people from one political ideology in one part of the world have long lasting effects on the people of other part of the world. Dissemination of information through different social media platforms and mainstream media led to orientation of the people in a particular direction. The question is debatable that whether the people are inspired by mass oriented or elite oriented programs and movements, but they are easily inspired by any kind of ideology irrespective of its benefits. So populism as an ideology has attracted people of all parts of the world and they extended electoral support to populist leader without properly analyzing the implications of their support and long lasting consequences. Nothing is less global in this globalized world and globalized nature of the people (Ilyas, personal communication, 9 June 2022). According to him Media is one of the factors in making the populism as a global phenomenon. Here, we can give it another perspective as well and that is, yes it is true that media has played a decisive role in constituting this phenomenon as a global one but at the same time media has responded it as well. For instance, looking to the rise of Donald Trump who was supported by media but the same media criticized his role when he was in power. Similarly, one can see to the rise of Imran khan as well which was promoted by media but when the same person came in power, so, it was the same media which started to criticize his policies. Therefore, one can add this point in a way that if media has a dominant role in making of populism a global one so why not the same media can reverse this process, if it is effective that much. Here, a person may agree that yes media has a role but second point should also be considered that it is two way process. On one side populism has promoted the leaders, in which media definitely played a role, but, at the same time people accepted populism because of these leaders. The reason behind it is, populist leaders keep their nations in ideal situations. They frame slogans which are very catchy due to this reason, they are very famous among own people. Although, media also point out the populist leaders for their policies and actions, when they have in power. But they don’t care of it. For instance, if we see to the Prime Minister Modi in India, so, he has been criticized by so many media houses and different research centers. However, still he is not considering it a threat for himself rather, provides ground for himself that what I am doing.

27 is the will of my people. Similarly, our former Prime Minister Imran khan also does not care about any type of criticism. When he was in government, he always criticized his opposition and called them Sicilian Mafia30 and thieves of the nation. Currently, when he is not in office and removed through vote of no- confidence from the prime minister’s office, so, he is again talking about the opposition and declaring them Mir Jafar and Mir Sadiq. No matter how much media is against him but still, he uses catchy slogans in order to maintain himself popular in the people. Hence, we can say that it is two way process as mentioned earlier. 4.4 POPULISM IN WEST AND THAT OF PAKISTAN According to academia, since 2010, the second decade of 21st century west is passing through the biggest challenge of populism. In most of the countries of Europe and even the United States a number of populist leaders and movements were emerged. Among those leaders, former American President Donald Trump in United States, Boris Johnson in United Kingdom and Marlin Pen in France etc came on the horizon of western politics. Similarly, in populist movements Brexit, anti-emigrants issues movements, anti- Muslims movements in Europe and homosexuality in Europe are included. However, the people in Europe and the United States are also trying to question the populism as well. Due to the developed political culture of Europe and United States people are now questioning populist leaders as well as populist movements. They consider it danger for their democracies as well as for their own peace and national integration. For example, in France Marlin Pen was populist leader and similarly Donald Trump in the United States, but, people did not accept them. The wave of populism not only leaps in the western countries, rather, rest of the world has been also affected. As earlier it is mentioned that media has played a role in making it global one. We can see the existence of this threat in Asia as well. For instance, it is second time in India where a populist leader comes in power. He is not only a populist, rather, his politics directly or indirectly affect the half billion population of his country. His anti-Muslims and anti-Sikh populist narrative is really a threat for the country instability and global peace. Similarly, in Pakistan the rise of Imran khan in 2018 elections also marked the populism. Currently, he is not in office, but, still he is one of the most popular leaders of Pakistan. The way he responded to the removal from his office made him once again popular. Therefore, the mostly globe is in a serious verge of populism which is one of the biggest and the most serious threat to Parliamentary democracies especially when it comes to developing countries. 30 This is the word which is used by Imran khan for the politicians of Pakistan..

28 The same point was discussed with Shahzad Ali and he said that Pakistani populism is very novel and in infantile phases, while the Western populism is not that new. In Pakistan, probably, Bhutto and Khan can be considered populist leaders. Moreover, in some sense, Pakistani populism is not that much dangerous as of India, Brazil, Turkey and the US. But it can mislead the nation, since; we do not understand its ramifications in the long run. Moreover, the problem with Pakistani politics is that here the cultish appeal of leader can sabotage almost everything. For example, the use of religion as a mass manipulative tactic has not provided any good to this society. And the current populist leader Mr. Khan is not only using religion to appeal to the masses but also to sabotage his opponents. In this context, he is setting up a very dangerous precedent for the whole country (Ali, personal communication, 7 April 2022). On the same question Waseem Murad commented that in the contemporary world, populism is everywhere in the political spectrum like Marine Le Pen in France , Donald Trump in US , Narendra Modi in India . In some western counties there is a focus on socioeconomic issues like France and US. Other may have focused on national identity, immigration like Germany, UK and India. In Pakistan the recent populist slogan of Imran Khan was to take the country back from plunderers and looters among politicians such as Zardari and Sharif. He has claimed many times that these two parties are working against the interest of masses (Murad, personal communication, 23 June 2022). Here, one can agree with both of the respondents views with the slightly addition, that is the discussion leads to a very serious issue which lies in the foundation of Pakistan that is religion. As we know that the ideology of Pakistan is Islam. It has a very decisive role in the political history of Pakistan. Sometimes, it has been misused by military dictators for their legitimacy and some of the time political leadership misused it for their political gains.31 So we can say that in western populism the slogan of religion is missed but in Pakistan religion is on driving seat of populism. The concept of Riyasat-i-Madina and to enrich the national curriculum from Islamic materials is some of the examples. Along with this, Kashmir cause and anti- Indian approaches also strengthening the wave of populism in Pakistan. The same point was raised with Dr. Rahman Ullah who said that in west the populism mainly used before the election and election campaign and it is the part of political campaign. I mean the blame game is absent in west. On the other hand in Pakistan it is going through out even before election and after election and anytime (Ullah, personal 31 General Zia-ul-Haq held referendum on December 19, 1984. The question was read as “Whether the people of Pakistan endorse the process initiated by General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, the President of Pakistan, for bringing the laws of Pakistan in conformity with the injunctions of Islam as laid down in the Holy Quran and Sunnah of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) and for the preservation of the Islamic ideology of Pakistan, for the continuation and consolidation of that process, and for the smooth and orderly transfer of power to the elected representatives of the people.” The purpose of this referendum was to gain its own legitimacy..

29 communication, 13 April 2022). It means that populism in Pakistan is more associated with blame game as compare to the west in which it is used just for the political gains. However, one can discuss it through another perspective as well. For example if we look to the Donald Trump, so he was most critical to his opponent when he was in power. Similarly, the same element we can see in UK in the form of Boris Johnson and Turkey in the form of Erdogan. Hence, we can say that blaming is the part of nowadays populism. 4.5 FACTORS WHICH CONSTITUTE THE POPULIST NARRATIVE IN PAKISTAN AND PARTICULARLY THAT OF IMRAN KHAN As Pakistan is multi ethnics’ society, therefore, a large number of factors will play a role in the political system of Pakistan. Similarly, populism exists in the political system of Pakistan since the decade of 1970. Hence, a large number of factors are associated with it. However, we will discuss here the populism of Imran Khan as it is our main objective. There are a lot of factors which constitutes the whole populist narrative of Imran khan. Amir Sohail said that in Pakistan, conservative and right wing parties have already been in strong position and they enjoy wider support in the Pakistani society. It is the liberal elements that have been struggling in Pakistan. The rise of Imran Khan is seen by many as the rise of populism in Pakistan and the factors for this rise were his popular anti-corruption slogans, vilifying the traditional politicians and an appeal to huge youth bulge in the country. Anti-corruption and accountability slogans have been at the core of populist drive in Pakistan. The nearly unbelievable stories of corruption by Pakistani politicians were greatly orchestrated by Imran Khan to gain support among the youth of Pakistan. The stories of corruption were wisely attributed as the cause of the overall bad shape of governance and economics in Pakistan. Imran khan has been emphasizing upon the argument that corruption is the mother of all evils in Pakistan and it has severely degraded the morality of our society. Such narrative was quite helpful in providing the bulk of support to Imran khan among the youth who were dissatisfied with the employment and other socio-economic indicators of the previous governments. While one thing in common among populists, is their unfinished romanticism with past glories and the promises to revive those glorious days (Sohail, personal communication, 29 April 2022). We can agree with this opinion by adding some other factor as well. Those factors are religious slogans of Imran khan. For instance, he gave the concept of state of Madina, established Rehmat-lil-Alamin authority and so many other steps which he has taken for his own legitimacy during his government. In one of his speech on 26 may 2022 in Islamabad at the.

30 end of “Haqiqi Azadi March”32 the former deputy speaker Mr Qasim Khan Suri told him during his speech that give “Islamic touch” to your own speech. It means that religion is also contributing to the populist narrative of Imran khan. Lastly, he always starts his speech with Quranic Phrases which catch the attention of people. In contrast to this, one can admit that if Mulna Fazul Rehman wouldn’t have declared him “Yahodi Agent” so there was a chance he would not use the religion for his own purpose. This is how the Politics of Pakistan work. However, Dr. Muhammad Ayub Jan sees to the religious slogan of Imran khan through another perspective. He said that this is not only Imran Khan who misused the religion or incorporated the religion in his politics rather every leader in Pakistan used it for his own political gains. He supported his argument by giving the example of Zulfiqar Ali Butto, who was a strong advocator of Islamic socialism and Islamic principle of democracy. Another interesting thing he added was that Imran khan did not use the religion before the elections rather he used it when he was near to form the government that is when Imran khan secured the majority as a result of 2018 elections, so he announced that he will establish the state of Madina. Therefore, one cannot blame him for the religious cause. One another thing was also added by him and that was Imran khan had a strong relationship with Qazi Hussain Ahmad sahib( former Amir of Jamat Islami) and mainly the concept of welfare state was taken by Imran khan from him (Jan, personal communication 27 May 2022). Here, we can support the Dr.Muhammad Ayub Jan argument with some other examples as well. For instance, the way Imran Khan started his struggle to counter the Islamophobia in international level and particularly in west and the way he presented the case of Islamophobia in United Nations is appreciable. Moreover, he was the first leader even he talked about the welfare state. At least this concept was introduced by him in this society. In order to make it practical, he introduced a number of steps. For example, he started a program (Koi Boka Na soye) and for that established Ihsas Langer Khana and Shelter home in different cities of the country. Secondly, Insaf Sehat card33 and Ihsas Kafalat program34 are also introduced by his government. Simply, he not only took the name of religion rather he took some steps for it as well. 32 It was the first long March after the removal of Imran Khan through vote of No-confidence from the prime minister office. After the addressing the huge gathering in the month of May in different cities across the countries and even abroad the country virtually. Finally he decided to have a long march towards Islamabad on 25th May. The date was given to the people and finally this Haqiqi-Azadi March was started. However, due to barriers on the roads, people did not reach in large number. Consequently, it was ended on 26th May. 33 It is the reform in health sector. It was initially started in the first tenure of Pakistan Tehreek Insaf’s government in KP and then it was extended to the entire country, once PTI gained power on federal level. 34 Ehsaas Programme is a social safety and poverty alleviation initiative launched by the Government of Pakistan in March 2019. The former Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan called it a key initiative towards a welfare state that PTI had promised with people of Pakistan in their elections manifesto. The aim was to uplift poor people and reduce the inequality. A separate ministry was established under Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety.

31 4.6 THE CHANGING POPULIST NARRATIVE OF IMRAN KHAN One can divide the populist narrative of Imran Khan into three phases. The first phase is before the elections of 2018. The second phase is from 2018 to 7 March 2022 and the third phase is the Post Vote of no- confidence. Many experts believe that the populist narrative of Imran khan getting popularity day by day by adding other factors in it. The populist narrative developed by Imran khan in first phase was mainly against the corruption and dynastic politics in Pakistan. For instance, in 2018 , Imran Khan seemed to be the part of progressive movements , coming with the slogans of ‘Naya Pakistan ‘ and bringing political and social reforms in the country. Amir Sohail said that the anti-corruption and accountability slogans have been at the core of populist drive in Pakistan. The nearly unbelievable stories of corruption by Pakistani politicians were greatly orchestrated by Imran Khan to gain the moral and political support among the youth of Pakistan. The stories of corruption were wisely attributed as the cause of the overall bad shape of governance and economics in Pakistan. Imran khan has been emphasizing upon the argument that corruption is the mother of all evils in Pakistan and it has severely degraded the morality of our society. Such narrative was quite helpful in providing the bulk of support to Imran khan among the youth who were dissatisfied with the employment and other socio-economic indicators of the previous governments. Almost many of the respondents to this question agreed on the same point. This was the reason that after he came into power, he never stopped to target the opposition on the issues of corruption. Whenever, he was facing any issue from opposition side, he used the word of the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO). The populist narrative in second phase was mainly consisting of all the factors which were responsible for the first phase and the use of religious slogans as well. It means that his populist narrative in second phase was addressing the religious factors as well. According to Muhammad Ilyas, he said that his populist narrative in second phase was comprised of religious slogans. For instance his stance on Kashmir Issue, Palestine issue and Islamophobia made him popular among the people (Ilyas, personal communication, 9 June 2022). However, we can do a slight addition in the above said factors. If we look to the political campaign of Imran khan in 2018 elections, so, there we can see that he was openly challenging Narendra Modi what he was doing in Kashmir at that time. So many times, Imran khan mentioned the Indian Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi for the violation of rights of People of Kashmir. Division which was headed by Special Assistant to Prime Minister Sania Nishtar who previously was serving as chairperson of Benazir Income Support Programme..

32 Therefore, when he came into power, so, he incorporated it in his political narrative. The reason behind it is that every leader of Pakistan knows that two cards in Pakistan work every time. The first one is Kashmir Card and second one is religious card. Political history of Pakistan shows that these cards were used frequently by many leaders, whenever they needed it. Hence, we can say in the second phase Imran Khan was greatly relying upon religious slogans such as establishment of “Riyasat-i- Madina”, inculcating more and more religious content in education, glorifying the Muslim past and the global campaign against Islam phobia. These slogans coupled with vilifying the opposition leaders seems to be intended and presenting himself as one of the true patriot and inevitable savior of Pakistani society and state. The too much reliance upon religious slogans resulted increased religious intolerance across the country. On the other hand, as it is mentioned earlier that religious card has been used by different leaders and the same was done by Imran khan and used religion as a tool to divert public attention from real life issues of governance, employment and others. The third phase starts from the day when vote of no-confidence was tabled in the Parliament. The third phase is mainly on the basis of anti-American narrative. The current narrative of Imran khan is on the basis of what we call it cypher form the United States. Imran khan talked about it for the first time in one of his gatherings in Parade Ground Islamabad. According to Imran Khan, the removal of him from the prime minister office is not a democratic process, rather, it is through treachery. According to him a number of people are involved in it. In a number of gatherings he directly criticized the state level institutions particularly Judiciary and military establishment for it. He developed a narrative in such a way that it is again catchy in the political system of Pakistan. The anti-American narrative once again made him popular in among the people. People welcomed his absolutely not statement and almost one can see it even on number plates of cars and motor cycle which shows how much it is catchy one. The next statement which got popularity is (kia ham Gulam hai jo ap kaho ge, Ham man jayengy) Are we slaves that we would act upon your orders? One another statement about the newly established government of Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM)35 is Imported government and it is unacceptable (imported government namanzoor). Such kind of words and statements are now very common among the people. According to Abdul wakeel, he said that before 2018 elections, his populist slogans attracted masses to some extent. However, his failure as an administrator as well as a leader left him with no other option than 35 It is the alliance of Political parties in the Pakistan. It was established in September 2020, as movement against Imran khan government, accusing his regime of poor governance, political victimization of opponents, and mismanaging the economy and foreign policy of the country. The main political parties are PMLN, PPP, ANP, JUI (F), and PMAP. Later on other political parties also joined it. This movement got success in April 2022 after removing the former Prime Minister Imran Khan from his office through vote of no-confidence..

33 that of revenge and targeting his opponents without any proof. Sooner or later he will become irrelevant in the politics. He quoted the famous quotation of Abraham Lincoln: “You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time” (Wakeel, personal communication, 24 June 2022). Yes to the extent of the quote we can agree with it but here conditions are different. The mentioned statement has been given by Abraham Lincoln in the context of democracy. However, we can see in Pakistan that they are being fooled so many times by the same politicians on the name of religion and patriotism. The reason behind it is the majority of voters in Pakistan are illiterate and youth. They can be easily blackmailed through one or another means as we had experienced in past. For instance, Shahzad Ali said that though he cannot predict the future....as anything is possible but while observing the present he thinks Khan saab is going to re-emerge with more strength. His populist narrative will get more support because his opposition cannot make a stronger case for themselves (Ali, personal communication, 7 April 2022). This is what nowadays we can see from the political situations of the country. 4.7 IMPLICATION OF POPULIST NARRATIVE OF IMRAN KHAN Generally, all the populist regimes in the 21st century brought negative implications both in domestic and International Politics. If we see to the regime of Donald Trump, so, he isolated the United States from rest of the world. Similarly, looking to the Boris Johnson, whose rise resulted the Brexit. In India Modi sidelined the Muslims, Sikhs and rest of the communities which perverted the national integration. The populist narrative of Imran has implications on both domestic and international politics. It is seen from the perceptive of academia. For instance, Abdul Wakeel said that politics in Pakistan is highly polarized and religion oriented. All leaders are using religious slogans for their own benefits in one way or another. Therefore, Imran khan is not exception to the prevailing situations. Here it should be mentioned that Imran has not used religion for his political benefits but also used it for persecuting his opponents (Wakeel, personal communication, 24 June 2022). Now, here we can say that as religion is also one of factors which constitute the populist narrative of Imran khan. Since, Imran khan always talked about the religion and Islamic Falahi Riyasat, therefore, some of the religious extremist found space for themselves in it. They started to use religion for their own enmity and revenge. They knew that religion has gotten special attention in this government. Therefore, if they will misuse it, so less pressure will come from government side. A number of brutal events were reported. To cite an example, one of the employees of Sri Lanka was killed by a mob in a factory. When the mob was asked for it, so, they started to incorporate religion in this murder. Similarly, on the name of accountability, the government of.

34 Imran khan started the politics of revenge. Those who were criticizing his government and policies, then the next day they would have to receive the notice from National Accountability Bureau (NAB). This act was not only extended to the politicians, rather, to media persons as well. These kinds of actions resulted the political division in the country. This was the reason due to which opposition was not taking any interest in state affairs. However, Mr Shahzad Ali views on the question of divisiveness are different. He said that i am not in favor of unity, I like division and it is necessary. But here populism is not creating division rather it is creating “dehumanization” and violent means to destroy the other. Like I believe in this idea of I and other but for me to exist there should be other. If there is no Other, I won’t be able to exist. What Populism does is that here it is propagated to destroy the Others (Ali, personal communication, 7 April 2022). In order to support his statement, we can say that in Pakistan the case is like that. Populism destroyed the opposition. It is also necessary to mention that this division resulted intolerance in society which is severe threat to democracy and national integration of Pakistan. However, Dr. Ayub jan and Dr.Aamer Raza, views are quite positive about this division. They said that division is the essence of politics and it is quite present everywhere even in the United States and United Kingdom. Therefore, it should not been seen a threat for the democratic setup of any country. This division is quite normal and we should not be pessimistic (Jan & Raza, personal communication, 2022). In support of this view, we can give another angle to this discussion. For instance, in Pakistan While analyzing the above views we can say that this may not only be the narrative of Imran Khan to hold his populist agenda. Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PMLN), Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), Awami National Party (ANP) and Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) have also tried their hands in such kind of stances. For example, Nawaz Sharif’s narrative of “Jag Punjabi Jag Teri Pag Nu Lag Gaya Dagh”, Awami National Party and Pashtukhwa Milli Awami Party narrative of asking for the Pakhtoonistan. These kinds of narratives are very much serious threat for the integration of the country. In front of such kinds of narrative Imran khan Populist narrative is nothing. Internationally, Imran khan populist narrative made and won the campaign of Islamophobia. For instance, the resolution regarding the Islamophobia was introduced by Pakistan on behalf of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). The UN General Assembly adopted by consensus that resolution and declared March 15, as International Day to Combat Islamophobia. Similarly, he highlighted the issues of Kashmir and Palestine on international level. Moreover, after the removal from the office, he becomes popular in international politics. For example, the foreign minister of Russia accused the United States for.

35 interfering in the internal affairs of Pakistan to punish disobedient Prime Minister Imran Khan for not canceling his February visit to Russia. His anti-American’ slogan attracted the Russia as well. As we know that after the removal from his office, he has more popular because of the anti-American slogan. 4.8 CONCLUSION In nutshell, the entire discussion can culminate on a single point that is populism exist in 21st century Pakistan in the form of rise of Imran Khan. A lot of factors contributing to the populist narrative of Imran khan as discussed above. Similarly, the populist narrative of Imran khan is changing with changing circumstances. Moreover, his populist narrative becomes more and more comprehensive with the passage of time. His slogan like corruption, accountability, rule of law, Riyasat-i-Madina, and independent foreign policy is very much catchy among people. These are the burning issue of the country upon which most of the time, most of the political leadership developed their narrative. In addition to this, now he is incorporating economy of the country and climate change in Pakistan in his populist narrative. Kashmir cause and campaign against Islamophobia makes him very much popular in the entire Muslim world. The next point which we can deduce from the discussion is the political temperature of the country is very much high nowadays. There is so much division on the basis of party’s affiliation in the country. However, it should be kept in mind that PTI is not the regional party like PMLN, PPP and the other parties rather it is the only party having leadership from all the four provinces as well as in Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir.. This is the only point through which one can say that Imran khan populist narrative not supporting any region or people of any region rather he talks about the entire Pakistan. However, in long run such divisiveness and party politics is dangerous for the country integration..

36 CHAPTER – 5 CONCLUSION It is fact that Populism exists in 21st century Pakistan. It is not only limited to Pakistan, rather, this element is present in the world biggest democracy India and world largest democracy united kingdom. This is not only the issue with developing world rather developed world is also facing it. Therefore, it is a global phenomenon. It is true that populist leaders search issues and then highlight it in the form of their election manifesto. Sooner or later they gain political power and consequently they fail to deliver political goods to the people. In past, populism was more oriented with people but the modern populism is more dominated by the elite people. This elite class people manipulate the people and then they rule the people. In many countries populist regimes failed in delivery of political goods and therefore people change them through their vote. In such countries developed countries are mainly included. If we take the example of United States, so, we can see that Donald Trump was replaced by people of the United States through their vote. They elected Joe Biden and rejected the Donald Trump. Similarly, one can see the Boris Johnson removal from his office also one of the example of failure of populist regimes. This should be kept in mind that these changes occurred mainly in developed states. However, there are some populist leaders which are more popular among their people. In this regard the prime minister of India Narendera Modi and President of Turkey Rajab Tayyip Erdogan. In spite of the fact that both the leaders violated their constitution for their own political gains but still they are very popular among their people. We can say that they are the successful populist leaders. For instance Prime Minister Narender Modi was elected by his people for the second time. It shows that people of India still trust him and consider him their leader. In the same way, President R. Tayyip Erdogan was also elected by the people, which show his greater popularity among his people. There are some other populist leaders who do not lie in the above said categories. In this regard we can take the example of Pakistan and Imran khan. Although, Imran khan was removed from his office through vote of no-confidence but after his removal he has more popularity as compare to the previous one. All the polls, surveys and political analyst predict that Imran khan will come in more majorities in parliament in upcoming elections. Here a number of Factors playing the role in his popularity. One of the factors is his charisma as well. If we observed his government, so we can say that while in government he was losing his popularity in people because of not fulfilling the promises with people. However, in the post.

37 vote of no confidence scenario, he has become the star of heart of majority of the people in Pakistan. This is the fact that populism is driving force of politics of Imran Khan in Pakistan. There are so many positive aspects of it as well. For instance, the young leadership came as a result of his politics. In his last term, we saw that a number of ministers were from the youth which indicate that sooner or later the politics of Pakistan will be in hands of youth of the nation. This is one of the benefits of his populist narrative. Along with this, for the first time he talked about the welfare state in Pakistan. At least, people get familiar with the concept of his welfare state. The successful campaign against Islamophobia is also one of his achievements of his populist narrative. Besides all these steps, he introduced a new kind of politics in Pakistan that is Dhahrana Politics. Now the people can ask the question and they can protest for his own rights. Such kinds of activities were seen very rare before his rise in the political system of Pakistan. It is also observed that his populist narrative is now catching more people as compare to the 2018. His removal from his office made him more popular as per the expectations of some of the political analyst. His narrative of Independent foreign policy is welcomed by majority of the people in Pakistan. One thing necessary to add here is majority of the youth and women were his supporters in 2018 elections, but, now it seems that his anti-American narrative attracted the old age people as well. He is the most popular leader of Pakistan. No one can compete him, nor his narrative in popularity in near future. In contrast to all of the above discussion, he has some challenges as well. Among the challenges, the poor economic condition of the country, his anti-American narrative, his own popularity, limited resources with the country and religious extremism are included. Along with this, he has challenges as well on political ground as well. For instance, JUI (F) is one of strong hard liner political party in KP. PPP has its strength in Sindh. Similarly, PML (N) is also a strong political party in Punjab. All these three parties are in his opposition which can give him a tough time in coming future. Besides this, establishment is considering to be the defacto sovereign in the political system of Pakistan. Here, it should be kept in mind that in Pakistan, political party without the support of establishment cannot form and run his own government. No matter how much the party is bigger. Keeping all these things, Imran khan should start the politics of inclusiveness. By doing this, he would not feel any threat from any factor and political system of Pakistan would be in stable position. Pluralism is the tranquil remedy for populism. In order to understand the philosophy of pluralism, it may be define as the political philosophy holding that people of different beliefs,.

38 backgrounds, and lifestyles can coexist in the same society and participate equally in the political process. sometimes it is defined as “respect for the otherness of others,”(Longley, 2019).36 As we know that the core lesson/theme of populism is I, which means that no acceptance of others but on the other hand pluralism taught us acceptance of others as well as to respect others. In politics, it means that to include the opposition in decision making process. Pluralism is not only related to politics rather it is related to culture37 and religion38 as well. The importance of pluralism is that if we will apply it in political process, so it will lead the political actors to talk about on particular issue and to contribute for the better decision of a particular society. The key element of any pure democracy is pluralism. Pluralism believes that power should be shared among the competing political parties or interest groups. As populism leads to authoritarianism but pluralism leads to a peaceful co-existing society. The concept of pluralism was for the first time seen in the ancient Greek democracy where all the people were allowed to vote on any law. However, at that time slaves and women were not given the rights of vote. This was one of the critiques on ancient Greek democratic system. The concept of modern pluralism can be traced in the philosophy of French philosopher J. J. Rousseau. The social contract of J.J Rousseau is the foundation of modern Pluralism. The famous social contract of Rousseau and the general will give us the lesson about the pluralism. A society which fails to promote pluralism becomes most vulnerable to civil wars. Therefore, the need of hour is to exchange populism with pluralism. Like most of the country, Pakistan is also passing through the intense wave of populism. On one side, a group of political parties removed Imran khan from the prime minister office but on the other hand Imran khan became the most popular leader among his people. It seems that he will come to the parliament with more majorities. Therefore, there is dire need to prevail the concept of pluralism in the country. 5.1 SUGGESTIONS TO PROMOTE PLURALISM In order to promote pluralism in the politics of Pakistan, we have to understand the pluralist model of democracy of Chantal Mouffe. She said that within Political we can create or maintain the Pluralist democracy. Such an order can be maintained on a distinction between “enemy” and “adversary”. It is needed that within the context of the political community, the opponent should be considered not as an enemy to be destroyed, but as an adversary whose existence is legitimate and must be tolerated (Mouffe, 2020). By applying this concept on the 36 Longley, R. (2019). What Is Pluralism? Definition and Examples. Thought Co. https://www.thoughtco.com/pluralism-definition-4692539 37 Cultural pluralism: It describes a condition in which minority groups participate fully in all areas of the dominant society, while maintaining their unique cultural identities.(Longley, 2019) 38 Religious pluralism: It exists when individuals of all religious belief systems or denominations co-exist harmoniously and peacefully in the same society (Longley, 2019)..