Adil Najam
Flying in from London to Islamabad, I bumped into Imran Khan on the plane. There he was, sitting a couple of rows ahead of me, reading The News, with his own picture on its front page (meeting Nawaz Sharif in London). I had not yet seen the paper, nor followed that days events in London (I was flying in from Amsterdam where I had been in meetings all day). We exchanged a few pleasantries, said nice things about what we had been up to since we had last met in Chicago just about a year ago (I had reported in detail on that here).
I must say, I did not fully grasp everything he said until later after I landed in Islamabad and first saw his supporters and TV cameras lined up at the airport, and then every news channel covering his press conference in London, and its political implications. In our short conversation he pretty much covered the exact same points I saw him presenting on TV,with pretty much the same passion. I guess he had come fresh from the press conference. Since all of that is now in the news already, I will not repeat it. The one thing I did ask him about were rumors about his ‘patch up’ with the MQM leading to the lifting of the ban on his entry into Sindh. Readers would remember those rumors surfacing everywhere, including on ATP, a few days ago. He shrugged those away as nonsense and just rumors.
My own sense from this very brief discussion chat was that:
(a) he does seem very serious abut taking on MQM Chief Altaf Hussain,
(b) that he fully realizes the seriousness of what he is doing, and
(c) he seems to be doing this out of personal conviction much more than political opportunism.
I may turn out to be wrong, but my first impression was that the earnestness with which he spoke about what he was doing and why that cannot be easily faked. This, then, seems not to be a story that will fizzle away easily. Not if Imran can help it.
If this is, in fact, so then Pakistan politics will continue to become even more interesting than it already is. ‘Party’ politics may just come back into limelight, but not ways one had expected. If indeed there are to be elections in Pakistan soon then the impact of this tussle could go well beyond defining what happens to just Imran Khan and the MQM.
By the way, as it turned out it was an interesting PIA fight to be on. Interior Minister Aftab Sherpao boarded soon after me. As did Commerce Minister Humayun Akhtar Khan (returning, I believe from the WTO meeting in Geneva). They both greeted Imran graciously, and briefly, and then then nearly all of us made the best of the overnight flight by going off to sleep. Of course, I first watched the ‘Tribute to a Legend’ show on Pakistani filmstar Muhammad Ali on the PIA channel.
P.S. In case you wonder, no, I did not speak to either of the Ministers. I do not know either of them, and would not have known what to say anyhow, especially if either of them had seen my own most recent musings on the political happenings in Pakistan.
“Back door deals, odd political bed fellows, retracting statements, befriending verbally sworn enemies etc are an integral part of our political system.
Will Imran change that ?
For further developments , we must wait and watch. ”
Aqil this is what i said in my first post. I am certainly not lumping him with other politicians. My question “will Imran change that? ” leaves the door open for optimism as far as he is concerned.His cancer hospital has been a raving success, about that there is absolute no doubt.
I agree with you , why not give him a chance, we dont have much to lose anyway plus its not like we have much of a choice , right ??
like they say … ” aik gunah aur sahee” ;)
Ayesha:
Skepticism for the sake of skepticism is not healthy. I am not saying that we should have too many expectations from Imran Khan or anyone else, but just lumping him with every other politician and assuming that he is just like them without looking at his past record is not a very positive tendency.
Imran Khan certainly has his flaws. But he has also had opportunities to join the government and he missed those chances because of his principles. This is not something that you could say about the majority of the politicians.
Also, without even coming into power, he has established a cancer hospital and is involved in other projects as well. How many other politicians can make a similar or better claim?
I am not saying that we start expecting that Imran Khan is the answer to all our problems. Nor should we assume that he will necessarily turn out to be a good leader in power. To judge him on that, we will have to see him in government.
But lets also not ignore his track record, which despite his flaws is clearly better than most other politicians. So why not give someone like him at least a chance rather than persisting with those who have been repeatedly tried and tested? What is there to lose?
Actually for Shahbaz Sharif this was a missed oppertunity. He was appearing on the television infront of millions of people, most of us heard him speaking at such length for the first time, him being the quiet younger brother who was not allowed to talk by abba jee and Nawaz Sharif.
He could have been more eloquent and could have made more sense had he been calmer and more collected. Instead he let lose his wrath on the present regime and the world in general thus making people think , what did you do when you were in power ?
Did you not stop traffic when you went around Lahore ?
Was corruption not rampant when your government was in power ?
perhaps he should have not had that niccotine shot just before that interview !
From Shahbaz Shareef’s interview with Shahid Masood, it is clear that he needs to cut down on the caffeine for his own good. He is too fidgety.
logged on after a bit and realised that i am not the only skeptic here regarding Imran Khan, Aqil sahib !!
you see , how many times are we going to be taken for a ride as a nation ?? This plunder has gone on for such a long time that every rainbow is seen as the harbringer of a storm.
I think being a skeptic is our defence shield. It keeps us from getting un neccesarily hurt.
Saw Shahbaz Sharif on the Dr.Masood show last night. what a major disapointment !! I had this misplaced notion that he was the brainy/quiet one who was a good administrator and could get things done , unlike the phujja pie eating elder brother… WRONG . I guess blood is thicker then the pie soup and genes are stronger then mis placed notions.