Lawyer Dr. Muhammad Ali Saif
In the shadow of an increasingly autocratic political landscape, the people of Pakistan witness a dangerous paradox. A political party which is silenced on the traditional media, tirelessly demonized, legally persecuted and cornered institutionally is still standing and perhaps even stronger than ever in the heart and mind of the Pakistanis. This party is Pakistan Tehreek-e-insaf (PTI). The more it is targeted, the more it grows. The more he is censored, the more his voice resonates in all the corners of this country and even abroad. And the question that is done under the skin of the political mafia and haunting its sponsors is why people don’t let go?
Over the past two years, the scale and intensity of repression against PTI have even exceeded the darkest chapters in our political history. From midnight raids and forced disappearances to mass disqualifications, defections of coercion parties, media breakdowns, limitation of social media and dozens of politically modified judicial cases, the message has been strong and clear, this party must be erased at all costs. However, the public’s response was also resolved, not without fighting, not without our vote.
If we examine this unique phenomenon of PTI’s political resilience from a sober and analytical lens, it becomes clear that you cannot convince people to start like the leaders they themselves rejected. In any functional democracy, the media play the role of a mirror. In Pakistan, this mirror was broken. In a desperate attempt to marginalize the PTI after overthrowing their elected government, a campaign was launched to erase PTI and Imran Khan. Traditional television networks have been invited to erase the name of Imran Khan, to blur his image or to pretend that there is no existence. The anchors have been removed from the air, columnists reduced to silence and publishers summoned for “advice”. The campaign continues to become viscous and ruthless with each passing day.
Communication experts believe that propaganda is as effective as the public’s will to believe it. People listen to what they want to listen to. This is the first defect in the state strategy, that is to say that you cannot convince a population to hate the very leader that they have chosen, defended and trusted, especially when the alternative is riddled with incompetence and corruption. Following the ouster of Imran Khan from the government, it was replaced by an alliance of nearly 12 opposition parties. While inflation increased, governance collapsed and the public has lost hope in the alliance, the story of the tailor -made media began to collapse under its own weight. Instead of tarnishing the PTI, censorship transformed the party into a symbol of resistance.
Another key variable that was radically underestimated was the internet. The architects of this repression did not provide for the rise in digital resistance. When a screen was dark, thousands of phones were on. YouTube, Tiktok, X (Twitter) and Instagram have become the new battlefields and people appeared in large numbers. No major studios, no funding, no instructions, just young men and women, volunteers at home, students, Pakistanis abroad, everyone adding their voices. Everyone tells the truth. Everyone refusing to accept silence.
Despite internet lawn attempts and arrest activists online, this digital resistance lives. And through, PTI has remained connected with people instantly, honestly and not filtered.
The most ill -understood aspect of PTI’s resilience is that his supporters do not simply consider him a political party. They see it as a moral cause. In their opinion, it is not a struggle for power, it is a struggle for dignity, justice and national independence.
The political account of Imran Khan, whether you agree or not, is the voice of many Pakistanis. The story that the Pakistani citizen is not a subject of dynastic or foreigners dictates, but a stakeholder in the future of this nation. This idea struck particularly deep in young people, the middle class and professionals. These segments have been historically disengaged from politics but are now fully activated.
This moral dimension, that is to say the belief that PTI is standing for the truth against tyranny, is what makes it unshakable, even in the face of a brutal repression. Purges, inquisitions, arrests, prohibitions and smear campaigns only validate their conviction that the system is corrupted and that the struggle is fair.
Nowhere is this political loyalty is only visible in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where PTI has reigned with consistency and transparency for more than a decade. The political relationship of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa with PTI is that of confidence. Even in the face of federal negligence, financial strangulation and security threats, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa under PTI has demonstrated better service, cleaner administration, stronger anti-corruption measures and more reactive leadership. In tribal districts, the FM radio network, public awareness programs and development efforts have built a bond of trust with communities that had long been ignored by the State.
When the inhabitants of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa re -elected PTI with a landslide during the provincial elections of 2024, despite all chances and with zero establishment support, it was a message to the rest of Pakistan, “it is not a question of propaganda.
Authoritarian strategies often fail not because they are weak, but because they are blind to human psychology. When the state uses a visible injustice, that is to say by moving handcuffed leaders, causing women in the courts, slapping the accusations of terrorism for tweets, it can silence some, but it radicalizes others.
The repression after 9 can only like the gap between the sovereign and reigned. Instead of crushing the PTI, he gave birth to questions that radicalized people’s thoughts and gave birth to a fundamental question: is it a repression against criminals or a punishment for having disputed the status quo? The answer for most Pakistanis has become clear. Attempts to mark an entire political party because anti-Pakistan turned against him. He revealed interest in control rather than constitutionality.
Currently, Pakistan is held at a critical time. Institutions that were supposed to protect democracy are used to handle it. The courts struggle between consciousness and coercion. The media are injured. The economy collapses. And the voice of the people is stifled.
But in this darkness, the continuous popularity of the PTI is not only a reality, it is a lighthouse of hope. This proves that the Pakistanis are neither ignorant nor indifferent. That despite censorship, economic pain, disillusionment and inquisitions, they pay attention and they remember the economic performance of Imran Khan. They remember the dignity of a leader who refused the ONR, who returned IMF’s money with Honor, who spoke for national sovereignty on global platforms. And above all, they remember what the betrayal looks like and which orchestrated it.
What PTI represents today is more than a party. It is an idea that time has come and ideas do not disappear with television prohibitions or legal affairs. You can imprison the leaders, you can confiscate the properties, you can censor the speeches, but you cannot imprison a conscience that has already awakened.
