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.
And, Imran Khan really turned off many people when recently, on a talk show, he accused Pervez Hoodbhoy of being “in the pay of Americans” just because Hoodbhoy had forcefully refuted IK’s views. And, according to Hoodbhoy (this needs to be ascertained, though) during the break, IK even got up to hit him.
I think Imran Khan is the the Ralph Nader of Pakistan – they’ve both done philanthropic work, standing up to power to help ordinary people – to actually help ppl. and not just to say that they did. But no chance at getting elected as leaders of their countries.
It’s ironic that I write this today – the day that General Motors filed for bankruptcy. It was Ralph Nader who in the hay day of the American auto industry had brougth them down to their knees working with his group which the Washington post dubbed “Nader’s Raiders”.
Imran’s ineptitude with politics may stem from his not being a normal politician – he’s not the crook that you’ve got to be to be a successful politician in Pak. (Sorry to the few who might not be crooks). His association with the JI (and don’t get me wrong – I’m no fan of JI) could be a desperate attempt to lean on any shoulder that would offer support when there was no support among the saner mainstream. This is typical of fringe groups – they have some oddity about them to begin with, and by the associations they make, they withdraw themselves even further out of the mainstream.
Regarding the Taliban, bad as they are now, they wernen’t as bad looking earlier to Pak (ISI) or to US (CIA), who called them Mujahids, – flip-flops happen. We have myopic visions. Our memories are short and the haze over our eyes, thanks to our nictitating membranes, can’t help us “Daddoos of the Khooh” to see far beyond the confines of Pakistan. I believe that Imran is more aware of the Western psyche than many pseudo-mods in Pakistan. He’s lived both cultures.
You don’t become democratic or modern just by wearing jeans instead of Shalwaar Qameez, or by speaking Gulaabee Urdu contaminated with english dirt instead of pure Urdu; or by eating at McDonalds rather than the Aaloo Cholay from the Khokha nearby. You do, however, become a Pitthoo of the west if you “miss no opportunity” to praise the west . Imran is no Pitthoo of the west and that alone might bother today’s young pro-western Paki with the cell phone stuck glued to his head.
As to Imran’s future, it’s sad that he’s blown it – with the personal scandals, true or false, they’re going to haunt him till he dies. I think unlike many politicians, he never in his younger years dreamed of being a politician.
So while Tehrik Insaaf might never win seats, bigger parties would do well to adopt the good parts of its agenda and keep offering seats (or better, coalition partnerships) to TI.
I do wish Imran well, though, and hope that one of these days, he and enlightened minds like Aitzaaz would have gupp shapp over Aaloo Cholay!
@ Umair Khan
Just one question you wrote that “today Taliban are controlling 12 percent areas of our country” where are you getting your stat from. And for Talibans enough is enough, initially i was also 100% supporting peaceful solution but it look like ka “Laton ka boot baton sa nahe manta”
When did opposing on principle the use of force against ones own people make one a taliban apologist? Did opposing the East Pakistan army action make one a supporter of seccession?
IK is an imperfect polictician..i agree he is an idealist not a pragmstist..but why is that a bad thing for pakistan? I’d prefer him to be a ralph nader or a liberal democrat equivalent a man who speaks his mind and believes in something, compared to our presnet lot who believe in nothing
The comparison of Asghar Khan’s politics with Imran is interesting. I can see the parallels.