The Pakistani cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan, also known as Kaptaan Khan, is creating quite a stir in the country these days. He has been hogging the limelight recently by openly challenging the government on foreign policy, economic and other domestic matters. The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) leader gained political prominence after emerging as a potent threat to other major parties in the run up to May’s general elections. His party managed to stage an upset victory in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhawa province, and since then has been pushing the government on policy matters on all fronts.
Khan has repeatedly opposed Pakistan’s role in the Afghan war and called for a complete halt to US drone strikes in the country. He has favored negotiating with the Taleban, who have rebuked talk offers after drone attacks on its top leadership. In his fiery election speeches, he had warned that, if voted to power, his party would pull back support to coalition forces in Afghanistan. So far, Khan has stuck to his promise. The PTI-led provincial government’s most dramatic step has so far been the suspension of NATO supplies to Afghanistan from the routes of Khyber Pakhtunkhawa province. With the supplies suspended for several weeks now, the US war and post-2014 withdrawal efforts will certainly face a setback in terms of logistics costs and overall strategy. Critics of PTI chief believe that his uncompromising stance could jeopardize US and Pakistan ties.
Khan has been highly vocal in his criticism for the government’s announcement of an amnesty scheme for tax evaders. Under the proposed scheme, authorities would not question the source of funds an investor if he participates in projects related to certain sectors of the economy. While the scheme has been launched with a good intention of attracting investment and broadening the tax base, Imran has termed it as “fiscal-NRO” to benefit those culprits, who have been on the run from the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) officials. Dismissing it as a money laundering legislation, Khan says that the scheme will discourage honest taxpayers. It is important that the government restores confidence of taxpayers so that a greater rate of tax compliance can be achieved. By promoting fairness and transparency in the country’s taxation system and its expenditure, the government may not need to launch such programs to decriminalize tax evasion.
Khan’s threat of leading mass protests against alleged massive rigging in elections and rising inflation is also likely to give the government a headache. He has accused the government of hampering efforts to verify general election ballots as ordered by election tribunals. Slamming the government for failing to curb hike in prices of essential commodities, he intends to hold public rallies to denounce the growing gap between rich and poor. While Sharif’s government may currently seem to be on the back foot, it would be interesting to see how it bats out against the aggressive Kaptaan in the days to come.
