For the people, by the people

In Pakistan’s over-crowded political arena, a new party is being launched with the lofty slogan of empowering the common man and bringing him in the corridors of power.

The Pakistan Aam Admi Movement (PAAM) is the brainchild of former military officer, major general (retired), Muhammad Saad Khattak, who served on a number of senior positions in the Pakistan Army. After retirement, he also headed an Islamabad-based think-tank, following which he was appointed as Pakistan’s high commissioner to Sri Lanka where he served till September 2021.

“The aim of our party is to bring the common people in the corridors of power,” he said while visiting Bol News Headquarters in Karachi. “We are launching our party from Karachi because this is a cosmopolitan city which is like a melting pot of people from across Pakistan,” he said in a brief interview. “I live in Islamabad, and hail from KP, but we chose Karachi because it is the city of every Pakistani. It is the city of the common people.”

PAAM will be officially launched in Karachi on Sunday, January 16.

“Karachi is a city which has put up with a lot of trouble and turmoil. The natives of this city are obviously discontented, robbed, maltreated, and neglected for decades on end… I am here to share their pain. I will do everything possible and give this city and its people what they deserve,” Khattak said.

Kattak said that the three mainstream parties – the ruling PTI, the PML-N and the PPP – serve only in the interest of the elite. “We want to change all this… once the people had great hopes from the PTI but it too disappointed them,” he said, criticizing the performance of Prime Minister Imran Khan and his team.

For Khattak Aam Admi is an educated, sensible and patriotic person, who has struggled to achieve something in life. “In PAAM there will be democracy and there won’t be any dynastic politics. Our chairman will be elected for a particular term and not for a lifetime,” he said.

Introducing the members of his party visiting the Bol News headquarters, Khattak said, “Abdul Rehman, Abdul Sattar and Shafi Khan would never think of becoming an MPA or MNA in any of the parties of the elite. “But PAAM will provide them an opportunity to stand in elections.”

Khattal maintained that he would have joined any big political party, taken a ticket and bagged a seat in the parliament. “But I would have made no difference at all to the prevalent system.”

“The problems of the working class or aam admi are never understood by the ruling elite, simply because they don’t want to understand them,” he said. “PAAM, therefore, aims to bring common man to the position of power.”

Khattak observed that people are disappointed by the current trend of politics and they have reconciled to the idea that nothing will ever improve in the country.

While criticising the strategies and affairs of the mainstream political parties, the PAAM leader said they all have betrayed the masses.

While speaking about the failures of the incumbent prime minister, Khattak said, “Imran Khan compromised on his fundamental views. He could have not won this seat had he not compromised. Imran should not have gotten into a government in which he could not do anything. He simply became a hostage.”

Brushing aside the question of how his party would make an impact in an overcrowded political arena, he said that PAAM has a future. “Although we have adopted the long route, we know this route will bear fruit. Perhaps me and my colleagues here might not get to taste the fruit of our struggle, but the future generations surely will.”

Khattak said he will ensure accountability, merit and the rule of law.

Moreover, he said that PAAM will improve the economic condition of the country through industrialisation and simultaneously applying austerity measures. “Austerity and simplicity will start at the top and it shall then flow down.”

“Similarly, if the concept of reward and punishment will not be implemented by the system, you cannot make any difference,” he said.