In an uncivilized turn of events, the chief of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, Imran Khan was manhandled at the Punjab University Campus today. He was later arrested by the police. A group of students kept him detained on the campus and later turned him over to the police. According to Dawn’s Report:
Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaaf chairman Imran Khan was arrested from outside the Punjab University’s new campus on Wednesday after he had been manhandled and detained in the campus allegedly by activists of the Islami Jamiat Talaba. Imran Khan had gone to the university at the invitation of a joint action committee of students.
The visit had been approved by Qazi Hussain Ahmed, chief of Jamaat-i-Islami, to which the IJT is affiliated. On his arrival at the campus, the PTI chief was confronted reportedly by a group of IJT activists who kicked him around and punched him. They took him to a room in the Centre for High Energy Physics and detained him there for about 45 minutes.
This is an interesting (and sad) turn of events. Imran Khan‘s party and the mother party of IJT are both partners in APDM. Imran and Qazi have been seen together in many media photo shoots for the past year or so. Will today’s action by IJT guys will cause long term bad-blood between the two parties? It is left to be seen.
We strongly believe that inspite of political differences, no person deserves physical bashing and humiliation as was met out to Imran. Political differences should never be taken to such extreme where people use force to get their point across. It is wrong. Shame on those who manhandled him. I was recently reading an article on political bashing in the Wall Street Journal. It had a punch line which just kept resonating with me. It read:
Our politics suffer when passions overcome reason and vitriol becomes virtue.
Details on Imran‘s manhandling can be read here, here, here and here.
At last Imran Khan is getting a true taste of politics. He is no more a drawing room politician. This event might just change his politics for over, and from being a drawing politician he might just become a politician like NS and BB, who can bring people on the streets.
Also it has exposed IJT and would also make their survival more difficult.
It has further increased IK’s popularity and might make him win a few more seats in a fair and free elections, and people with few seats generally become the king makers.
For God’s Sake, Keep the youth out of politics.
Students movments were started by Bhuto and now Imran is trying to do the same, after effects will be gangs, students stopping and beating bus drivers on the streets…..
Benazir is so much for Democracy and human rights and see the blood she has on her hands:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yBrpj1h11I&feature =related
Imran Khan’s treatment was deplorable but there are many lessons for him and his supporters –
It appears that this site and most of the commentors constitute the overseas Pakistani wing of Imran Khan’s ill-fated Tehreek -i -Insaaf party and his naive politics devoid of any meaningful agenda.
Why was Imran Khan an ally of JI in the first place – the JI that has been (and is) a toady of the establishment and CIA (look at their role in the so-called Afghan jihad). Go Musharraf go is not enough for a party to call an agenda. If he could not figure that out he needs to be re-admitted to a High school – hopefully this time he will learn something!
He has always been making mistakes because he lacks a sense of history and understanding of Pakistani politics. He was comfy with Mushie for the first three years of the coup.
He talks of dictatorship and independent judiciary: while he was campaigning for Gen Musharraf’s illegal referendum and was reported (pictures are in the newspapers) to have distributed mithai when the Supreme Court validated the first coup of Musharraf. And then he turned against him coz he did not ‘make’ him the PM.
His other antics have not gone unnoticed with the ‘uneducated’ awaam – he announced the curse of colonial culture and brown saheb mentality and then he married a society girl who was white, rich and Jewish.
He talked of Islam and then it became public knowledge that he REFUSED to acknowlegde his illegitimate daughter from another white woman. He made an out of court settlement to avoid the truth of DNA testing that late Sita White had insisted in a court of law. This was shameful and cruel to a child who now lives with his sons in London.
He was extolling the jirgas and Taliban courts and now he is at the forefront of judiciary campaign.
Such things are not unnoticed and the people of Pakistan are not silly to have rejected him in 1993, 1997, 2002 elections. And, there are no signs that he will do better. And I bet most of his supporters here do not bother to vote in any case –
God help this nation where its educated expats are extolling the naivete of a man not fit for politics. He was an exceptionally talented sportsman, captain of our team and a spirited philanthropist. Beyond that, he has not shown any political skills or vision.
Appearances on TV talk shows and hard hitting speeches against the DICTATOR he was most willing to play along with do not SUBSTITUE for leadership.
Give us a break, please – why is ATP exclusively focusing on him? What about Asma Jehangir who is under house arrest since Nov 3? How about the arrest of hundreds of other political workers and parties? Perhaps they do not fit the yuppie vision that the visitors here would like to impose on Pakistan.
We want leaders, not cricket heroes – we want a program for change and not silly rhetoric leading nowhere…
What a shallow bunch we have become! This is why God gives the people, leaders that it deserves (oops I did not say it – the religion says it)..
What happened with Imran Khan is not new in our Political Culture but do remember the Imrah Khan went to PU as a Political Leader NOT as a former cricketer. So lets see it from a political point of view. Jamiat proved that they have strong links with Government & they do whatever Govt. wants them to do. They are a ‘B’ party & so ‘JUI’ is. These guys aer elected in the name of Islam and never do any thng good for the religion but we should feel ashamed as we can’t bring a single genuine leadership from a population of 16 Carores.