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.
Kruman, no pointer to Late Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan interview but I hope that once Mush is out of office, he should be tried in an open court for murder of 50 people in Karachi with full connivance of Altaf Hussain. This was a planned massacre that was committed with the complete knowledge of the Chief Executive of a country.
Mush was upset with the Chaudry’s for not supporting MQM on this episode or for not committing similar bloodshed in Punjab during CJ’s travel. As much as I dislike the Chaudry’s, I have to say that they acted like seasoned politicians and did not act in haste to their master’s call. Let’s give them credit for this.
My head is spining even after reading few of these comments.People, please use a simple english.You are not immpressing anyone by using hard phrases but complicating your somtimes very wise views.Anyway I have been untouched with Pakistan politics until I read CNN “unstability in Pakistan”.Its a shame that Musharaff is turned out to be like this.(I hope its untrue) I had so much confidence on him.And I am scared of Imran Khan ,He seems to me as an angry man. I hope he does nt come out as killing machine once he gets the power.On the otherhand Altaf hussain (Mister my way or the highway) lost my respect long time ago but poor pakistanis who are living inside the country like living in a bubble believe (like they have any other choice)their politicians “emotional” speeches and promises. I hope he (Mr Altaf Hussain) is getting educated while he is in London.Now who is left?Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto? Forget it.Poor Pakistan
God bless Pakistan
http://in.rediff.com/news/2007/jun/19hamid.htm
Interesting article by Hamid Mir. Says that Musharraf will be the last military dictator of Pakistan. All I can say after reading this is “Aameen, sum aameen”.
Late Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan said the same. He also stated that Musharraf will be first military dictator of Pakistan who’ll have to appear in court and will be put behind bars. I read this several years ago in SA Tribune. Does anyone have a pointer to this interview?
Imran Khan, for many of us, was and still remains the only hope in Pakistan’s politics. Most of the things that he says are correct and touch ones’ heart. However, having met him and heard him speak, it is still very difficult to assess how he is going to change–in any way possible–the politics of “personality cults” in Pakistan. Altaf, Musharraf, Benazir, Bhutto, Ayub, and even further down in the past, Pakistan has always been ruled by personality cults.
There is an interesting article currently on the Understanding Pakistan website http://www.UnderstandingPakistan.com website that looks at the Governor Generalship of Quaid-e-Azam, and it is hard to come out without the feeling that perhaps we started on the wrong foot right there.
Imran is no exception to that–both in Cricket and in Politics. Tehrik-e-Insaaf is basically limited to his personality. Does anyone, for instance, know any other leaders of Tehrik-e-Insaaf? Imran’s contention that he hasn’t killed anyone–unlike Altaf–might be correct, but he needs to go much farther than that if he is to provide a viable political alternative to Pakistanis.
-A.O.
Institutions not Individuals…..the question again in the current situation is which individuals/team from among the current players in the field are best suited to reform the institutions (assuming that we have a problem with the institutions!”?)
The issue here and now is not absolut : Imran – good or bad
The issue here and now is relative: Who is better suited – Imran or others…..
Till some new players enter the field and/or some new realignment takes place.
How about the following new party:
Aitzaz Ahsan(PPP), Amin Fahim (PPP), Imran Khan(PTI), Ahsan Iqbal(PML-N), (MMA)(add leadership names), (MQM)(add leadership names), and others (add names)….
bringing along their own followership to make a broad based (relatively clean!)party…
Any suggestions!