Like many Pakistanis, I admire Imran Khan and his sincerity. But supporting him politically is a different matter. He and his party – Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaaf (PTI) – have some serious soul searching to do before people give it their political support.
Imran Khan is one of the few principled politicians we have. There is no doubt that he truly cares about the country. His bold stance on May 12 and his consistent support for the restoration of the judiciary was unmatched by any other prominent politician. His cancer hospital and the projects he has started in the field of education have been praised even by many of his critics.
Someone like myself, who is dissatisfied with the politics and corruption of the leading parties, is naturally attracted to Imran Khan who talks about principles and accountability. However, as much as I like Imran for his honesty and devotion to the country, I have some concerns about him and can not help agreeing with Shafqat Mahmood’s statement that Imran never misses an opportunity to miss an opportunity.
Being politically inclined, I have even considered joining PTI at times, but reservations about his politics prevent me from doing so.
Imran Khan has been in politics for 13 years, and this is a long enough period to develop the party into a vibrant, democratic entity. Unfortunately, PTI still comes across more like an Imran Khan fan club rather than a democratic political party. For the most part, there is an absence of grass roots forums that meet regularly where any party member can raise issues and be heard, and the party line almost completely comes from the top.
Secondly, Imran does not realize that politics requires an appropriate mix of idealism and pragmatism and confuses this balancing act with opportunism. If he wants to serve the people of Pakistan by coming into power, then his decisions should be geared towards that goal. He had an excellent opportunity to launch himself when Nawaz Sharif offered him 20 odd seats in 1997 and again when Musharraf was willing to help him become the prime minister. Instead of spurning these offers, he should have taken a few ministries and worked hard on demonstrating through performance that he was someone who could truly deliver if given a chance. This could have provided him with the impetus needed to launch PTI into a force capable of getting elected into power on its own and then implement its reform agenda.
This unwillingness to balance idealism and pragmatism also creates doubts about his ability to deliver even if he came into power some day. It makes one wonder whether he would really take a practical approach towards addressing the country’s problems.
On top of all this, Imran Khan has a very confused stance on the Taliban where he still falls well short of fully condemning them.
He has been very consistently and forcefully bashing the Americans in recent years but the same kind of condemnation for the Taliban has not been forthcoming. This sharp contrast, when the Taliban have killed many more Pakistanis than the American drones, and when they are directly trying to destroy the state structure to establish their own rule, is hard to understand. It has taken some strong criticism for Imran Khan to finally make a few “too little too late” statements criticizing the Taliban, whereas what one expects from a good leader is the ability to clearly identify and point out a problem well ahead of time.
His stance on the current situation in Swat has again left a lot to be desired. He first vehemently opposed the military operation but did not explain what the government should do when the Taliban break a peace agreement and keep on expanding into neighbouring districts as they blatantly did after the Swat deal. Only after coming under regular fire has he finally accepted that a military operation can also be an option. He rightly says that bombings should be avoided and the operation should be carefully targeted, but the national debate could have been more focused on discussing how military action can be carried out in a way that minimizes civilian suffering if he and others had not been creating confusion by insisting that there should never be an operation.
In yet another example of muddled thinking, he now argues that before sending the army, a group of politicians should have been allowed to go and try to convince the Taliban to abide by the Swat peace deal. This makes one wonder why he did not publically propose this in the days leading up to the operation and what he is trying to accomplish by undermining the military’s efforts now that the time for this idea has clearly passed.
I really admire Imran Khan for his sincerity, but these are some of the serious issues that he and his party have to come to grips with, before PTI can make serious headway in realizing its full potential.
A few of the (30 till now) comments posted on this on the ATP Facebook Page:
– “Imran Khan should stick best to what he knows, Cricket and Cancer Treatment. He is neither a politician nor a leader. His recent pro-Taliban comments may have very well been the last nail in his political coffin”
– “Given the fact, that instead of condemning the talibaan, the old excuse of “Americans” holds strong for him to date! The whole nation supports a war, Imran thinks otherwise, i wonder why :|”
– “i sort of agree wth wt the writerz analysis bt still i lyk supporting him…he will be bttr if given a propr chnc mayb…”
– “I am a member of Imran’s fan club.. lol :D But the writer does make sense.. Imran has been there in the political field for a good period now.. and “he does not miss the opportunity of missing an opportunity.””
– “he is definitely a good speaker and an honest person but does that make him a leader, he definitely needs a brush on dat side !”
– “He cannot be a great Pakistani leader. In order to be a great Pakistani leader one must have an art of lying, which he lacks.”
– “i have been a member of tehrik insaf for two years now but these are the reasons why i have almost left the party”
– “He juz knows how to critisize others,, he juz noes h0w to spread schismism…”
– “but i always thought its the best party, but now what option do i have? is there are a party better than PTI?”
– “he used to be good with philanthropy only. Since he entered politics, i think his inconsistent, confused, unoriginal and mullah-loving true self has come to light. I frankly don’t think the guy deserves any admiration, especially because of his (and quite stupid) statements in recent days.”
– “bt the main prob with him or i have with him that what is his motto ? , is it similar to Jamat e Islami or sum where near to it?”
– “well yaar its not 0ur leaders are bed its v are bad….. if the roo00oot is not healthy or go0d how cud b the tree so healthy an go00ood .. think abt it.. what v guys do wid 0ur country….”
– “My mind wants 2 support him but my heart says NO”
– “Yet another confused democratically appearing authoritarian who could be best defined as “critic” of his political rivals, yet without any political success, Pakistan in his hands will not be a lesser disaster than what is it now. In the end, he will be speaking, “Har cheez ka zimmay dar USA hai”.”
– “bt PAKI really wnts sm1 lyk him….!!…v need 2 admit dat!!”
– “He has a serious lack of knowledge about situation in FATA and Swat. And has a lot of misconception about Taliban.”
– “^ Sir, I think he probably knows who’s who but is ideologically more aligned with the Taliban than Pakistan. Like is Jamaat-e-Islami and ‘defence analyst’ aides.”
Excellent post. You’ve summarized my thoughts on Imran Khan almost exactly.
Aqil you cannot support Imran’s politics it
Imran Khan is not Pro Taliban.. But he is rather against the killing of innocent people, making them immigrants, Destroying there houses by using the name of so-called War Against Taliban.
The reality is that where ever Army has Conducted Operations, in Waziristan, Bajuarh, Momand, Swat the strength and power of Talibans rather increased in those areas.
and today Taliban are controlling 12 percent areas of our country. In most of these areas army conducted a Full Fledge operations but to no avail. We cant win a war by making 3 million countrymen immigrants in there own country. Who are living under open skies and are in Tremendous humiliation.
So Imran Khan knows the reality of these kinda operation and there outcomes, based on past experiences. And is going in right direction. May not be that popular Stance. As the brainwashing of our corporate media is on a highest level.
I stopped following any thing he had to say after seeing him gel with Jamaat Islami and its Qazi Hussain Ahmed a couple of years ago. Yes the naive in me did think at one point that he could be the right person for the job. About him colluding with Jamaat Islami and the like, I remeber, when he was considering entering politics and was being pursued by every party in the country, of all people, sheikh rasheed said that “agar doobna hee hai to kisi bari kashti mein doobo.”