WHEN political principles apply only to ourselves, they cease to be principles. They become convenience and double standards. Does political awareness awaken only when state power is used against us? Is military interference objectionable only when it harms the party we support? Is our own leader’s arrest political victimisation, while an opponent’s arrest becomes accountability? If the answer changes with the party involved, this is not political awareness. It is blind political loyalty. This contradiction has shaped Pakistan’s politics. Parties often defend one set of principles in government and another in opposition. Institutions are praised when supportive and condemned when they turn against them.

No major party is free of this contradiction. But the question is especially relevant to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf because its identity rests on “awareness” and “change”. Ask many PTI supporters what they consider Imran Khan’s greatest contribution and one answer is repeated: “Imran Khan gave people political awareness.” This means electing representatives without interference from unelected institutions. Both principles are valid. But were they valid only after 2022? If military interference is wrong today, it was wrong yesterday. If the public mandate is sacred today, it was sacred in 2018 as well. PTI itself once........

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