Pakistan’s history has clear lessons about the benefits of reconciliation through sensible political management. Parties that come into power with a slim majority are particularly reliant on smaller groups to run their governments. Prime Minister Imran Khan has failed to grasp this lesson as he disengaged from political management throughout his tenure, plunging the country into political instability.

His sole attempt to manage the allied parties has come too late, as he is fast running out of allies with the no-confidence motion hanging over his head.

After Zia-ul-Haq’s dictatorship, Mian Nawaz Sharif was the only prime minister who came to power thrice with an absolute majority, requiring little support and political management.

The Pakistan Peoples Party has also had three tenures after 1988. However, their governance was established with a slim majority and required political management to run state affairs.

Shaheed Benazir Bhutto came to power in 1988 and had Dr Mehboobul Haq for her finance minister. Dr Haq had earlier been a part of Zia’s cabinet. She also survived a no-confidence motion through political management and cooperation, although she was later ousted through Article 58 (2) b (abrogated now) by Ghulam Ishaq Khan.

She won the 1993 election with a slim majority, and made alliances with Pakistan Muslim League Junejo and Awami National Party. She gave chief ministership of the Punjab to PML-J, as the result of which Mian Manzoor Wattoo and Sardar Arif Nakai became chief ministers of the province, despite demands within her party to install one of their own.

Pakistan Peoples Party returned to power in 2008 with a tiny majority after Bhutto’s martyrdom at Liaqat Bagh, Rawalpindi. With Asif Zardari, her husband, now calling the shots, the slogan of reconciliation was raised. He engaged the Sharifs in the federal government the longstanding rivalry with them. His close associates still believe that the PPP could have formed a government in the Punjab in 2008, when they joined the ruling coalition with the PML-N, who had Shahbaz Sharif as the Chief Minister of Punjab. When PML-N quit the federal government and went to the opposition benches, Zardari cobbled an alliance with the PML-Q and gave Pervaiz Elahi the status of a deputy prime minister. There were several attempts made to topple the PPP government, however, Zardari and Gillani thwarted every attempt through keen political management. Although Gillani was removed on a contempt of court charge, the PPP completed its tenure with Raja Pervaiz Ashraf as the premier.

Khan’s rigid attitude towards political forces, especially the three largest components of parliament; PML-N, PPP and the JUI-F, has cost him valuable alliances. He told the people of Pakistan that he would not compromise on corruption, while the public bore witness to corruption in his own cabinet. He attempted some damage control by accepting the MQM-P (whom he had once called a terrorist party) and the PML-Q (whom he considered a foe).

Khan should have extended gestures of goodwill to the PML-N, the PPP and the JUI-F too, but he kept getting harsher with them.

He lost a golden opportunity when Shahbaz Sharif offered to sit together with the government for a Charter of Economy for the welfare of the people and the state. Khan and his close aides treated the offer as a bid to get concessions in the cases against Sharif’s family.

There was another chance for Khan to mend relations with the PPP, when Bilawal Bhutto had urged Khan to work together against Covid-19. His statement was also taken as a request to close cases against former president Asif Ali Zardari and other PPP leaders.

Looking beyond Khan’s rigid attitude towards the PML-N, the PPP and the JUI-F, his own party members have defected to greener pastures due to his hardliner stance. Whenever PTI parliamentarians from the Punjab complained about Chief Minister Usman Buzdar, he would say, “He is the best. Don’t try to blackmail me.”

According to the dissidents, Khan would not confer with the party’s parliamentarians, instead he diverted them to Buzdar. This led to dissatisfaction amongst senior parliamentarians.

Balochistan National Party (Mengal), a former PTI ally, parted ways with him after seeing his disinterest in Balochistan. The MQM wanted Khan to release its activists and allow their offices to re-open; he refused to help.

Once the opposition was able to put together a majority in the parliament to oust Khan from his office through a no-confidence motion, he showed willingness to replace Buzdar with Chaudhry Parvez Elahi, but this was seen as too little, too late. Had he taken this action sooner, the political landscape would have been quite different. His ministers are now contacting the MQM and the Balochistan Awami Party (BAP), attempting to offer last-minute assurances. If Imran had developed an amicable relationship with other parties and engaged in power sharing, he could have had a more successful tenure.

The writer is a senior journalist, teacher of journalism, and analyst. He tweets at @BukhariMubasher