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.
Nawaz Sharif has already declared support for Imran in his legal battle against Altaf. Benazir should take a similar position.
BB’s support will not make the case any stronger but it will be a strong political statement to MQM and the rest of he world.
Sidhas,
It was JI and JIT whose terror in the sindh cities and university campuses gave MQM the momentum they needed to have ultimate supremacy in urban sindh. Yes agencies were there to help but the popular support actually came as a revulsion to JI’s tacit terror. Even today JIT is involved in those activities. Just four years ago a sindhi student, an only child of his parents, was beaten to death by JIT at sindh medical college in karachi because his group ignored JIT’s warning to not to celebrate their graduation from the med school as they considered it unislamic. [Liaqat Baloch is a king of ethos these days but just ask anyone from lahore what he was doing in the 70s and 80s on PU campus. Both him and “Hafiz” Salman Butt]. This happened at a massive scale in the 70s and 80s until people saw MQM as their savior. Of course MQM itself turned into a frankenstein with no one to stop them. I think in Imran they met have a 5000 pound gorilla who is effective where, in MQM’s context, it matters the most; in London, where altaf resides and where there are no secotr incharge or unit incharge men with gunmen to proetct him. British media and courts would be less than kind to Altaf with even a fraction of the atrcities he has commited as evidence against him. I am a karachite and I say enough is enough. Enough of Jamat Islami’s unique brand of terror and enough of MQM’s ruthless terror.
Well I dont think that Imran is taking this step on moral grounds alone. For him it is a big opportunity to court voters as Musharraf is seemed to firmly support MQM and he want to cash Anti Musharraf masses.
No doubt that Altaf and its millitant wings are menece but what about about those police officers who killed hundreds of MQM activist in fake encounter. If he is doing all that on moral ground only then he should also file a case against a “government of benazir”. What about incocent ppl killed in Baluchistan during army opeartion. I think it is more of politics.
Ayesha:
I think Imran Khan’s record so far suggests that he deserves a bit less skepticism than that. He has already spurned two opportunities for becoming part of a government. The first was when NS offered him a seat adjustment. The second one came with Mush. Imran could have become PM then. If he were just like any other opportunistic politician, he would have availed these chances, especially the second one. Yes, we haven’t seen him in power, and he does have many flaws, but how many people have let go of a chance to become PM for their principles?
nashus:
We need to come out of the “don’t get your hands dirty in politics and stick to philanthropy if you want to contribute” mode of thinking. If better people don’t come into politics, how will things improve?
Though, I whole heartedly support what Imran is doing it is a small step and Altaf is a symptom of a larger problem but I guess we must start the journey and if we can not then at the least offer support to anyone who does take bold actions.
Pakistani political parties, leadership, and state instituions are guilty of naked abuse of power. People of Pakistan (WE) have tolerance of injustice that borders criminal behavior.
I was beginning to think and give benefit of doubt that Altaf and MQM have gone past the era of violence but their propensity of violence has not decreased a bit as violence of May 12th demonstrated.
Having said this let us not be bias towards MQM, this tendency for violence is present in each and every political party (another good example of PV is JI and their student wing IJT)
I sincerely hope that Imran can make a dent. He has so far demonstrated that he has the political integrity and vision.