RISE OF POPULISM IN 21st CENTURY IN PAKISTAN part 4

39 populism in Pakistan, we can say that Imran khan should consider his opposition as adversary as mentioned in the above instead of considering them enemies. For instance, Pakistan Muslim league and the rest of the Political parties should not be sidelined from the decision making process. In Legislation particularly related with fundamental rights and about the national issue, opposition should be given their weightage. In the government of Imran khan we have seen that most of the time opposition was ignored from the process of legislation. In future this should be avoided. Secondly, he should use polite language during his speeches. Almost in every speech, he used inappropriate language against the leadership of opposition parties. This is not the essence and ethics of politics. By doing this he is drawing line between the citizens of the same state. Every leader has his followers. Using inappropriate language against any leader leads to hatred for oneself in the hearts of others. In this way society lose the tolerance which is the necessary factor for any democracy. In the government of Imran khan we have observed that the tolerance level of the society of Pakistan was disturbed. He should criticize his opponents but not declare them traitors. He has no authority to do it, because the job of a leader is to unite the people under single flag. If we analyze Imran khan’ speeches of post vote of no- confidence, so, he mentioned so many times that the three leaders have done conspiracy against his government. In this regard, he declares them Traitors of the nation. He used specific names for them like Mir Jafar, Mir Sadiq etc. This should immediately stop because it leads the people towards another debate. As most of the people in Pakistan are illiterate, so, these kinds of words will lead to anarchy. Thirdly, a populist leader like Imran khan should be inclusive in the framing of government as well as in government affairs. It means while framing government, he must have other political parties as well on his side. In this way his decision would be more legitimate as compare to his alone decision. The next point is every populist leader should work for the supremacy of Parliament. All the powers should rest with the parliament because it is the only body which actually represents the people. In the last government of Imran khan, we have experienced that the government policies were most of the time implemented through ordinances. Such kinds of acts weaken the parliament. In other words it weakens the democracy. The next point is Imran khan gave more space to the establishment, he should prefer opposition over establishment. In this way the democratic setup of the country will be strong and his support in people will remain increase. As in his tenure from 2018 to 2022, we observed that he provided open space for establishment and sidelined the opposition which resulted in higher level of mistrust on state institutions. Such kind of things leads to losing of trust of people on the state institutions. The same thing we.

40 observed in the government of Imran khan. Last but the most important in the list is that instead of unelected people, he must give the opportunity to people representatives. In this way, he will know the impacts of his decisions accurately. The philosophy behind it is, only people’s representatives knows that how much a policy can affect the lives of common people as they are in contact with their people every time. By applying pluralist model we can eliminate many evils from any Political system. Moreover, it is the best model through which we can maintain prosper Political system. However, in contradiction with the above mentioned suggestions, the society will become highly intolerant. People will stop trusting on their leadership. State institutions will be highly vulnerable for criticism. People will also stop to trust on state institution as well. The core issues of Pakistan will remain unresolved. For instance the country economy is one of the biggest challenges for the political leadership. In addition to this, climate change, water and national integration issue will be remaining unaddressed which will result the collapse of political system. If this issue is not addressed on time, Civil war is certain to wage. One can take the example of South Africa where once white people were enjoying only and the blacks were exploited. However, there was an issue of cultural pluralism but it should be kept in mind political pluralism is more important. Therefore, the political leadership of Pakistan will take serious note of it. Almost most of the academic scholars also agreed on it that this politics of divisiveness is dangerous for the national integration of the country. This political affiliation becomes more violent when there is lack of tolerance in masses. The main role is played by social media which has triggered hatred and intolerance within the people and now they are more violent and politicized. There is a clear cut divide among the people based on their party’s affiliation and it causes great disturbance in country leading to harm the integration of country and gives opportunity for foreign intervention. In a nutshell, one can say that the right and peaceful response to populism is pluralism. This is the only way through which we can save democracy and liberal principles in all over the populist regimes. The essence of politics is to engage all the interest groups with you not to sideline them. It is the responsibility of government on the behalf of a state to engage the people in government affairs for their satisfaction. If government fails, so, it is considered to be the failure of a particular government or State. Like in most of the countries, Pakistan had also passed through the populist government which failed in the said function. Currently, that particular government is not in power but still its leader is more popular among the people. Majority of the people are welcoming him and consider his removal through the vote of no- confidence injustice with him. Imran khan is now considered the hero of Pakistan. On one side,.

41 it is his charisma or what we call it populist narrative but at the same time, the people’s trust and support on him is a real test for him as well. Therefore, he must be very careful in upcoming time, if he got the opportunity of government. In case he fails and repeats the previous mistakes, so the consequences will be very harsh and unbearable. In this regard, he should bring the change now. He should contest the election in the form of political alliances. His recently political alliance with Jamiat-ul-Ulama Islam Pakistan Sherani group is a step towards pluralism. However, still he has to work on it. Lastly, military establishment should not take interest in him. In this way there is a chance that he will learn from his mistakes. However, if military is taking interest in him, then he will repeat his mistakes..

42 6. REFERENCES BALFOUR, R. (2020). Why Populism Can Survive the Pandemic. Carnegie Europe. https://carnegieeurope.eu/2020/07/15/why-populism-can-survive-pandemic-pub-82293 Bukhari, A. (2017). World History At A Glance PartI & II By Prof. Asim Bhukhari. Attique Malik. Fairclough, N. (2010). Critical Discourse Analysis: The Critical Study of Language. Routledge. https://www.routledge.com/Critical-Discourse-Analysis-The-Critical- Study-of-Language/Fairclough/p/book/9781405858229 Hagia Sophia | History, Architecture, Mosaics, Facts, & Significance | Britannica. (n.d.). Retrieved 3 July 2022, from https://www.britannica.com/topic/Hagia-Sophia Hussain, Z. (2020, January 22). Perils of populism. DAWN.COM. https://www.dawn.com/news/1529794 Javed, U. (2021). Populism and Pakistan. https://www.dawn.com/news/1629273/populism- and-pakistan Khalid, M. U. (2020). Vallance Popilism in Pakistan:Making sense of Imran Khan’s Ideological Cluelessness. [Centeral European University]. https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2020/khalid_muhammad.pdf. Longley, R. (2019). What Is Pluralism? Definition and Examples. ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/pluralism-definition-4692539 Molloy, D. (2018). What is populism, and what does the term actually mean? BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-43301423 Mouffe, C. (2020). For an Agonistic Pluralism. In Chantal Mouffe The Return of the Political. https://www.versobooks.com/blogs/4632-for-an-agonistic-pluralism.

43 Mudde, C., & Kaltwasser, C. R. (2017). Populism: A Very Short Introduction—Very Short Introductions. Oxford University Press. https://www.veryshortintroductions.com/view/10.1093/actrade/9780190234874.001.00 01/actrade-9780190234874 Müller, J.-W. (2016). what is populism? University of Pennsylvania Press. https://www.upenn.edu/pennpress/book/15615.html Rastogi, P. (2021). The Articulation of Discourse in Populism: Understanding 21st Century Pakistan. E-International Relations. https://www.e-ir.info/2021/01/05/the-articulation- of-discourse-in-populism-understanding-the-case-of-pakistan-in-the-21st-century/ Recep Tayyip Erdogan. (2021). Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Recep- Tayyip-Erdogan Shakil, K., & Yilmaz, I. (2021). Religion and Populism in the Global South: Islamist Civilisationism of Pakistan’s Imran Khan. Religions, 12(9), 777. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel12090777 Toynbee, A. J. (2022). Julius Caesar. Britannica Encyclopedia. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Julius-Caesar-Roman-ruler YOUNGS, R. (2020). How the Coronavirus Tests European Democracy. Carnegie Europe. https://carnegieeurope.eu/2020/06/23/how-coronavirus-tests-european-democracy-pub- 82109.

44 7. APPENDICES Appendix – I LIST OF INFORMANTS AND THEIR DETAILS S. No. Name Details Mode of Communi cation. Location Date 1 Mr. Shahzad Ali Visiting lecturer at the department of Political Science. MPhil Scholar. Interview University of Peshawar. Thursday 07/04/2022 2 Dr. Rahman Ullah Visiting lecturer in university of Peshawar and BBC Reporter. Interview University of Peshawar Wednesday 13/04/2022 3 Dr. Ahmad Ali Research officer in Higher Education Department. Interview University of Peshawar. Friday 22/04/2022 4 Mr. Amir Sohail Ph.D. Scholar at the department of International Relations. Interview University of Peshawar Friday 29/04/2022 5 Dr. Muhammad Ayub Jan Professor at the Department of Political Science. Interview University of Peshawar. Friday 27/05/2022 6 Dr. Aamer Raza Assistant Professor at the Department of Political Science Interview University of Peshawar Friday 03/06/2022 7 Muhammad Ilyas Khan Visiting lecturer at the Department of Political Science and Ph.D. scholar at the said Department. Interview University of Peshawar. Thursday 09/06/2022 8 Mr. Yaseen Ullah Ph.D. Scholar at the Department of Political Science Interview University of Peshawar Friday 10/06/2022 9 Mr. Waseem Murad MPhil scholar at the Department of Political Science Interview University of Peshawar. Thursday 23/06/2022 10 Mr. Abdul Wakeel CSS officer and Gold medalist from the Department of Political Science. Interview University of Peshawar Friday 24/06/2022.

45 Appendix – 2 LIST OF IMRAN KHAN’S SPEECHES IN DIFFERENT CITIES AFTER THE VOTE OF NO-CONFIDENCE S.No Youtube links City Date 1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8oNq5DZJWe0 Islamabad Sunday 27/03/2022 2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QoFZfYgKw_8 Peshawar Wednesday 13/04/2022 3 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prQ09I1FKKI&t=69s Karachi Saturday 16/04/2022 4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HPEJv_eLGQ Lahore Thursday 21/04/2022 5 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZowgVP00vNY Mianwali Friday 06/05/2022 6 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPn45Y_sfSk&t=27s Abbottabad Sunday 08/05/2022 7 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qg408tLAhtg&t=42s Jhelum Tuesday 10/05/2022 8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvCzFLxyeek Attock Thursday 12/05/2022 9 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Qk5pu361ag&t=28s Mardan Friday 13/05/2022 10 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqEJbEic4t4 Sialkot Saturday 14/05/2022 11 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cks8kac9psg Faisalabad Sunday 15/05/2022 12 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8YdELf0LH4&t=35s Swabi Monday 16/05/2022 13 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C36BZKq9zFc Kohat Tuesday 17/05/2022 14 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19FSvWLpsWk Gujranwala Wednesday 18/05/2022 15 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0d7n-miaOM&t=55s Multan Friday 20/05/2022 16 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KiJIN1KJOsc Islamabad Saturday 02/07/2022 View publication stats.