What is the minus-one formula?

History tells us anyone who ever ventured to play the game of throne never experienced kindness from it. It is ruthless.

“Minus One Formula” is not a term described in any political dictionary. If you ask a Harvard political science professor about the Formula and what it means, he might sound ignorant. However, things are different in Pakistan. Even the average citizen in this country is familiar with the “Minus One Formula” because it frequently appears in our political discourse and has become somewhat of a local illness.

The political history of Pakistan has been turbulent. The country found it nearly impossible to settle with established political traditions as a result of the country’s infrequent democratic attempts and extended periods of military control. Expediencies, political scheming, and personality-focused strategies are just a few of the festering wounds in Pakistan’s political structures that prevent the ailing systems from recovering.

The Minus One Formula can be summed up as follows: “The leader and the soul of a political party is no longer acceptable to the people who wield real power in the country and be replaced by someone from within the party, possibly,” No matter how absurd it may appear, this is the formula: the body is okay but the soul is not; Pakistan is acceptable but the Quaid is not, so to speak.

The “minus-1 formula” has played a significant role in our political history in one way or another from Liaquat Ali Khan, Pakistan’s first prime minister to three-time Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

Democracy has been repeatedly derailed and never truly enforced. Politicians have also failed to draw lessons from the past, as evidenced by the many instances in which they either supported undemocratic actions or attempted to profit from them.

Will the former Prime Minister Imran Khan be the next victim of the Formula? That is the question being asked by many today. Even Khan himself mentioned the sleazy Formula in his recent interviews. The question is how would Imran Khan respond if the formula applied on him?

The term Minus One Formula was first used in print during Benazir Bhutto’s first term (1988–1990), while the idea had been there as far back as 1947. We won’t get into the specifics of Jinnah’s disastrous trip in the outdated ambulance that broke down on the way on September 11, 1948.

To trace the origins of the minus one idea, Nawabzada Liaqut Ali Khan, the first Prime Minister of Pakistan, could be a good place to start. Mr. Khan was a close associate of the Quaid, the most admired and well-liked politician after the country’s founding father. He met all the requirements to be classified as minus one. As a result, he was assassinated on September 16, 1951, in Company (Bagh) Garden in Rawalpindi, while he was giving a speech to the general public.

Fatima Jinnah endured numerous slanderous campaigns against her when she ran against Field Marshal President Ayub Khan in the presidential elections. She did so because she was a strong political opponent of the tyrant. She lost in what many people consider to be heavily rigged elections. She then decided to ‘minus’ herself from conventional politics for she was concerned about the nation’s future political structure.

Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and Shiekh Mujeebur Rehman were the next candidates for the Formula. The results of Pakistan’s first general elections proved that both of them were the most well-liked political figures in the nation.

Mujeeb had become the most adored leader in the nation following his resounding victory in the elections. His “minus-one” carried the risk of the nation’s collapse. The gamble was made. Mujeeb was eliminated because he was a little too well-liked by the populace to be spared. The dismemberment of Pakistan was the hefty price of this minus-one.

Next was Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto. Given that he was the most well-liked political figure in the new, condensed Pakistan, he deserved the minus-one. The Supreme Court of Pakistan ordered that Bhutto should be put to death; the legal community afterwards referred to this as “judicial murder. The minus-one, however, was achieved. He was used against Mujeeb and finally discarded.

Although, during the 90s the people sitting in the shadows ousted Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif from power four times, but they didn’t completely take the minus-one route.

Benazir remained popular despite her awful record of governance, therefore, unacceptable to the power center. Finally, in December 2007, she was assassinated. The Formula devoured another popular politician.

It was unthinkable that Nawaz Sharif, the establishment made and groomed politician, would be the victim of minus-one but many believe it was the case.

So, is Imran Khan the next target of minus-one formula? Imran Khan is undoubtedly the most popular leader and head of the largest and only federal party of the country. And the result of slapping minus-one on Imran Khan could be as grave as the Sheikh Mujeeb’s experiment.