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.
Imran khan is right and i think its time we put an end to this injustice
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We are being told that we don’t have a choice in terms of the political leadership, thereby justifying the status quo and Musharraf’s position. The question is not what choice we have; the question is what choice he has. Nazir Naji (whom I once wrongly criticized on these pages as a front for the establishment) put it very aptly on Abdur-Rauf’s show (what is it called?) on Geo. According to Mr Naji, Musharraf should doff the uniform, should hold fair elections, and a presidential election only by the new elected assemblies. However he has created a constitutional crisis by going after the judiciary, and wants to create further rifts in the society by keeping everybody, including the Americans, guessing until the end. This clearly reeks of ill will on his part, and shows that he wants to set the rules of the game during the game. He is only interested in one outcome, no matter what. If there has to be only one outcome, then why create the farce of an election. Hence lets stop guessing if Imran is good for the country or not, because it does not matter at this juncture. Imran can only scream so much, but nobody is listening.
On another note, Speaker of the NA has forwarded Imran’s disqualification case to the election commission for review. As I said, things are only getting worse, as the players are making sure of the requisite outcome. I hope I am wrong, but barring a favorable decision from the SC, there does not seem to be any hope. Another news item of concern is the latest about the number of eligible voters in the country which has suddenly gone down by atleast 20 million from 2002, despite the fact that the age of a voter has been reduced. Are we ready for the sham of an election?
ayesha sajid
Back door deals, horse trading, switching political affiliations in order to black mail majority parties, etc..
Imran or any other politician is not the answer. The answer lies with a free judiciary/judicial system where effected parties/citizens/voters can approach the court and get judgment against these morons.
Any politician who changes political parties after being elected should be forced to resign and seek re-election. Simply switching parties or horse trading in the assembly after being elected should be deemed unconstitutional.
It is shameful when politicians like Shaikh Rasheed appear on Geo and justify abrogation of constitution and take over of legitimate governments by military. And justifying it by stating that it has always been the case, hence “so what”? Meaning these scumbags are not even ashamed of the past wrong doings, in fact coming on national TV and saying openly that this is how it’s done and will continue in the same manner. I guess this is big money business (horse trading)and people like Shaikh Rasheed do not want their power of political blackmail lost. The question is, how do you get rid of such people.
You and me can keep talking but how many of us actually stand in the burning sun and wait for our turn to vote? 1% ? Mostly we are all paper tigers!
Who in current political leaders can speak half the standard IMRAN does? ?
The feudal nawaz ?
The swiss wolf benazir ?
The bhatta khor ALTAF?
extremist religious leader qazi?
or the GHQ DOG mush ?
None
imran khan keep it up
Just watch movie “A mighty heart” and think where Pak and Karachi were standing in 2002 when jihadi terrorist were roaming street of Karachi.
The biggest threat to Pakistan is not Altaf but pro-Talian element. Imran due to his stupid anti-america stand seems to be on Taliban side. This is a war between who want to turn Pak into Iran and those who believe in separation of religion and state.
Before blaiming USA or London just see what is happening in Sudan and Iraq where muslims are butchering other muslims. We are 100 years behind rest of world. Contribution of whole muslim civilization toward science,art and world economy is not even equal to a city in US. We are making Rushdie again a story and giving chance to rest of world to laugh at us.