TO say that the PTI is in the news again for its infighting is a bit like saying a Hollywood actor is in the news for their nth divorce. It`s what the party does, in or out of power when Imran Khan is free and available to all his followers, or when he is locked up and his access is controlled by those who are wishing for an implosion. But this time around, the fight is less in the second tier, which appears to be stuck forever in the Mean Girls film, and has brought the party`s workers in direct confrontation with the bullies in the schoolyard.

The party workers include Irfan Saleem, who was nominated for a Senate ticket when the elections were to be held first. Back then, the PTI had clawed an election victory from what it assumed was the jaws of the establishment, and was in the mood to celebrate its workers and their spirit. But once the party won power in KP, it embarked upon a quick journey to cynical power politics.

A year later, with the party comfortably ensconced in Peshawar with cars, offices, homes and some modicum of safety no one wanted to rock the boat. This included ensuring that those who make it to the Senate were also in the mood for enjoying the boat ride. So began the effort to put together a less offensive list, with bland names and a few fat cats.

While the party kept telling the aam awam that Khan would make the final decision, Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur and those around him scrounged around for a few new names. The former may roar and dash across mountains in the pitch dark, but he is helming the boat everyone is cruising in. He isn`t going to risk the ire of those who matter. Khan can be handled.

Enter vanilla would-be senators such as Faisal Javed and Noor ul Haq Qadri and (drum roll) Mirza Afridi, who had quit the party after May 9 but has been accepted back with open arms ata time when Fawad Chaudhry`s return is not possible because `he quit when the party was in trouble` and Zubair Umer can`t be welcomed.

But for Afridi, anything is possible.

As an aside, none of the parties need any debate or discussion over the fat cats. Talha Mehmood switched sides from the JUI-F to PPP, with little clarity about why he left one and why the other embraced him. The likes of Dilawar Khan are loved universally like Shahrukh Khan parties, politicians and the ones whose advice he is rumoured to heed. And we have become so used to this phenomenon that no one wonders why it is terrible for individual parliamentarians to sell their votes but not for a party to shun people such as Farhatullah Babar or Irfan Saleem and award tickets to Richie Rich.

To prove this, Gandapur took the parliamentary party to a dinner at Afridi`s place in Lahore and the party followed him, apparently as clueless as the JUI-F MPAs who voted for the mines and minerals bill in the Balochistan Assembly.

Parliamentarians in Pakistan are generally so innocent and Peter Pan-like that they can be herded to dinners and convinced to vote for unread bills. No wonder the country is witnessing a governance mess.

The dinner didn`t go down that well with the workers, though, and the chief minister, who now enjoys as much credibility in the party as does Prince Andrew in the royal family, needed more than a free meal to make the new list more palatable to the party. As a result, Barrister Saif was sent to Adiala, where doors opened smoothly just as the cave opened for Ali Baba. The man, who will surely be minister for defence or interior when the PTI returns to power, was able to convince Khan of the importance of the new list and get his approval.

But then, Saif has even less credibility than the chief minister, and the workers who had theoriginal tickets refused to back down till most of them were pressured to do so on Sunday evening. This included Irfan Saleem, whose dedication to the party has made him a household name even outside KP.

The entire incident has once again highlighted the growing disconnect between parliament and the people. Neither the political parties nor the ones controlling from behind the scenes realise that a completely hostage parliament, which is not interested in even pretending to represent the people, will not help stablise matters but aggravate it. Every party and every party man or woman who has made it to parliament (and this includes the PTI) is now desperate to avoid being targeted and is willing to do the establishment`s bidding.

No one wants to face jail, cases or worse. This fear is what Gandapur has been using to suppress dissent in the PTI in the absence of Imran Khan; no one wants to get on the wrong side of the KP chief minister because the rest of the country is even more of a threat and in Peshawar, there are comfortable official residences one can shelter in.

In turn, this allows the powers that be to manage the country without as much suppression as they would have to use otherwise.

But on the flip side, it is also creating instability at a level where it may not be too obvious.

Fighting for their own survival, the politicians no longer care for easing the burden on the people be it in terms of better economic policies (rather than backbreaking taxes) or allowing genuine party representatives to make it to parliament. And if parliament or the political process will not allow any space to the people, the latter will be left with no choice but to turn to demonstrations, agitation or worse. • The writer is a joumalist.