elections in Lahore and Rawalpindi is an eye-opener for the Jamaat-e-Islami and Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaaf (PTI) and provides an opportunity to them to do an intense soul-searching about their actual political worth and the efficacy of their unending public campaigns. The results of the by-polls in NA-55 Rawalpindi and NA-123 Lahore are not only certainly demoralizing but also frightening because their candidates even got their security deposits confiscated. No one, not even the Jamaat and PTI, even slightly expected that their candidates would win. But everyone had anticipated just a respectable electoral showing that was missing. More dreaded for the Jamaat is the fact that its candidate in Lahore even trailed far behind the PTI nominee while its representative was just four votes ahead of the PTI in Rawalpindi. Obviously, the PTI, compared to the Jamaat, is a totally new party having just a few years' life on the political horizon. And unlike the Jamaat, the PTI hardly has any organizational structure to fall back on or funds to finance its campaign. Its entire show is being run by Imran Khan single-handed. There is no other leader, except Imran Khan, worth mentioning in its lineup. If one looks at political sixers and bouncers fired by Imran Khan being lavishly played up in the print and electronic medias ad nauseam, the performance of his candidates in Lahore and Rawalpindi did not match his tall claims of having made a sprawling niche in the political landscape. His man in Rawalpindi, Ijaz Khan Jazi, had got four times more votes in an earlier by-election for NA-55 Rawalpindi when he had contested it as an independent candidate against Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N)'s Haji Pervez Khan. But when he ran as PTI candidate, he got just some 3,105 plus votes. This means that individually he was much better off and even his supporters and voters did not back him when he was sponsored by the PTI. Dr. Kamal, a highly respected and noble personality of Rawalpindi, who was fielded by the Jamaat in NA-55 and got 3109 votes, was himself bewildered by his poor performance so much so that he said after his defeat that it was incomprehensible as to why the electorate supported the United States and the pro-anti terror war candidates. Not only he but his entire party has been speechless over the massive routs. Hafiz Salman Butt, a former leader of Islami Jamiat Tulaba, was left with nothing to show in the result of NA-123 by bagging just 3000 plus votes, where he was much behind even the PTI's Hamid Mehraj, who secured 9,000 plus votes. These by-elections exploded certain myths if their results are considered some kind of indicators. One perception was that Imran Khan has made a good place among the young voters by fascinating them with his charm and charisma. It stands shattered. There was also a general feeling that the stands taken by the Jamaat and PTI on the anti-terror war have popularized them because people in general despise the campaign. It also stands smashed. The results have proved that bigger parties hold the sway and will eat the small fish in any general elections. Despite having too many big leaders with minimal support among the masses, a better option for the Jamaat and PTI to get reasonable share in the future parliamentary polls is to make alliance with the PML-N because it is the only way out left for them. For natural reasons, they are unacceptable to the PPP and the vice versa. So, the PML-N is their natural ally. If they choose to go for a solo fight, they will remain without a parliamentary seat and continue to meet the same fate that befell them in the recent by-elections. For quite some time, the Jamaat faces a major dilemma, and it has not been able to find a solution. Most of its voters have been traditionally slipping to the PML-N. It is a general belief that most Jamaat voters favored the PML-N candidates in even these by-polls. The PPP sponsored no candidate in NA-55 and NA-123 because of its agreement with the PML-N, but the PPP candidate in Bahawalnagar lost to Ijazul Haq's nominee. It is not known when Ijaz revived the Zia League. However, the PPP got a Balochistan Assembly seat from Jaffarabad for the first time after 1970.
