POLITICS has a habit of confronting people with the culture they once helped create. Harsh rhetoric, ridicule and personal attacks used against opponents rarely remain confined to the other side. Sooner or later, the same habits can turn inward. Shaukat Yousafzai, PTI’s Provincial Information Secretary in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, wrote to the party leadership suggesting that its October 4 long march be postponed because of the security situation and increased terrorist activity.

In a democratic political party, such a proposal should not be controversial. Political organizations are expected to debate competing views before reaching decisions. A proposal may be accepted or rejected, but disagreement itself should not become a test of loyalty. Yet that is where the controversy shifted. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi said that if Yousafzai’s letter reached him, he would tear it up and throw it in the dustbin. A fierce social-media reaction followed. Yousafzai later said his loyalty had been questioned and that he had been branded a traitor and accused of having been “bought off”. During a television appearance, he became visibly emotional.

His distress appeared to reflect something deeper than the rejection of a political suggestion. After years with the party, he found himself having to........

© Pakistan Observer