Exclusive: Imran Khan, me and democracy

Adil Najam

This is not a personal blog, so I am generally hesitant to write about what I am upto myself. However, given the great response to Fawad Zakariya’s insightful ATP Guest Post (6 July, 2006) on Imran Khan’s recent interview to the Sunday Observer, maybe this is the time to make an exception.

This Friday and Saturday I was in Chicago to speak at two different events that were part of the Annual APPNA Convention (APPNA is the Association of Physicians of Pakistani Descent in North America). On Friday my talk was about the future challenges related to the 2005 earthquake.

On Saturday, however, I was part of a 2-person panel on ‘Building Democratic Institutions in Pakistan,’ organized by the Pak-American Democracy Dialogue (PADD). The other featured speaker on the panel was former cricketer and now head of Tehrik-e-Insaaf, Imran Khan. I guess, to be honest, I (and not Imran) was the ‘other’ person.

What I had to say during my presentation and the hour-long Q&A session was of little significance (and not very different from what I have published elsewhere or written on ATP). But what Imran said should be of interest to many; and since you won’t find a report on this anywhere else, I guess we can say that this is an ATP Exclusive!

But before reporting on what he said, let me just say a few words about my impression of him based on this two-and-a-half hour interaction. As always, he came across as extremely passionate, clearly sincere, and quite principled. He also came across as rather angry but also determined. The first time I had met him was in the late 1980s; he was then a cricketing god, and I a sports reporter for the now defunct Daily Muslim. At that point, and in some subsequent meetings, he did come across as rather arrogant. I must confess that this time he did not seem arrogant. The characteristic self-confidence, charisma and an uncompromising posture was still there. But there was also an odd Imran-like humility. Maybe age combined with accumulated political experience of failure can do that people. Over all, I must confess, I came out being more impressed than I had thought I would be. I also surprised myself by agreeing with him more often (though not always) than I thought I would.

So, here are a few things he had to say–you will note that a number of these are interesting predictions and things we have not heard him saying before (these are based on the notes I took, and may not always be exact quotations)…

On his relationship with Gen. Musharraf. I now realize that our good relationship in the beginning was based on two wrong assumptions. He assumed, wrongly, that I wanted to be Prime Minister. And I assumed, wrongly, that he was a genuine reformer.

On politics in Pakistan. You have to realize that what we have in Pakistan is not just feudal politics, but ‘political terrorism.’ People are not forced but coerced into voting a particular way, through the most violent means.

On the ‘English Medium’ class: It is sad and ironic that the very people on whom we spend the largest amount of the nation’s educational resources–the ‘English Medium Class’–are the most deculturalized from the essence of Pakistan and the most depoliticized from the politics of Pakistan. They are the first to pontificate on what is wrong with politics and democracy, but the very last to vote. In fact, they usually do not vote at all.

On the next elections. We are approaching one of the most exciting phase of our country’s political history. You will see mass movements starting in September. And the next elections–if they are held–will either be like the 1970 elections or like the 1977 elections. Either, they will witness a total change of faces and everyone, including the authorities, will be surprised. Or, they will be so transparently manipulated that people will come to the streets to overturn the results.

Readers of this post may be interested on two subsequent posts on this subject:

• A survey of recent political stirrings in Pakistan that suggests that the way Pakistanis are talking about democracy may be changing and that there may be a rise in the ‘democratic sentiment.’
• An ATP Poll on what Gen. Musharraf should do about his uniform. Do vote.