Ultimate test awaits Khan

ISLAMABAD - In perhaps the most dramatic outcome of Pakistan’s elections, Imran Khan’s party has won power in the northwest, putting to the ultimate test the former cricket star’s anti-US rhetoric and calls for peace talks with the Taliban.

After years of war, displacement and broken promises from religious parties and the secular Awami National Party (ANP), voters on the frontline of the Taliban insurgency rewarded Khan’s untested party with the highest number of seats.

For Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI), which previously only held one seat, it was a staggering victory in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) – one of the most troubled parts of the country – and hands Khan an al- most poisoned chalice of responsibility. Early results indicate PTI has secured at least 33 seats in the 99-member KPK provincial assembly, with nearest rival Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam on 15 seats.

Bitterly opposed to US drone strikes and Pakistani offensives against Taliban fighters blamed for killing thousands of people, victory in the northwest propels PTI from the lofty ideals of opposition to the comfortable realities of government.

Many analysts believe Khan will have a rude awakening and will realise very quickly that his policies of appeasement are naive, that it is not just “America’s war” and that the Taliban are not people he can do business with. –