ON Feb 8, a significant number of Pakistan’s people, mostly the young, threw out the selectors’ script and cast their vote for the PTI. Most knew that their mandate would not be respected, but chose to rebel against the establishment and its hangers-on anyway.

The vote-as-rebellion not only targeted our self-proclaimed holy guardians but also put paid to a large number of seasoned politicians known as ‘electables’. These historically powerful influentials may possess large amounts of agricultural land, real estate, industry or other economic capital. Their repeated appearances as MNAs and MPAs reflect deep entrenchment in daily life, especially as mediators between working people and everyday state institutions like the thana, katcheri and patwari.

By voting against these entrenched patrons, many young people demonstrated that politics can transcend the drudgery of life, and can, instead, be informed by ideological commitments. One need not agree with the premise that Imran Khan is a saviour or that the PTI is a genuinely anti-establishment force to recognise that those who made this choice on Feb 8 voted for an idea over entrenched forms of patronage.

One election does not signify an overhaul of our patronage-based order, nor........

© Dawn