Over the past nearly four months, PTI has built a mass movement that is rooted squarely in the middle, and, increasingly in the lower middle class of the country. While, PTI’s economic and political ideology is centrist, and in some ways they still have not shaken of the vestiges of colonialism (Imran Khan continues to look to western “democracies” as a model – including, at times, references to supposed low levels of corruption, and a professional police force etc. – much of which are myths projected on the “third world” by a variety of propaganda media outlets). But still, PTI – Imran Khan – the movement – is very much rooted in Pakistani culture in the widest inclusive sense.
So, no, they are not quite Islamic, and they are not left – probably not even social democrats, and they are bringing about not so much of a cultural change, but providing a political space for a Pakistani culture – that, for too long, has either been belittled by the liberal elites, or slammed by the so-called fake “Islamists” whose agenda was/is more in line with the imperialists.
Therein lies the success of PTI – Imran Khan – in being able to harness what is quintessentially Pakistani.