An open letter to Imran Khan on PTI’s seat adjustment with Jamaat-e-Islami – by AZ
Dear Imran Khan,
That you are seeking a seat adjustment with Jamat e Islami, despite its questionable past, does not bother me, though Jamat still seems more interested in PMLN than your Tsunami. Our first problem is basic good and clean governance.
Ideological superfluity can wait. If you think you can ensure good governance with JI, so be it. There are both minuses and pluses for PTI in seeking an adjustment with JI but it is entirely legitimate. To be able to use strange bedfellows to one’s advantage is an important ingredient of universal political acumen and JI will surely offer you a stern test in that respect. By the way it reminds me that naiveté usually makes an easy bedfellow with extremism. But please don’t be too naive, as our hopes rest on you, and keep your eyes on the ball.
However, your flirting with Jamaat e Islami is not the reason why I am writing to you. Instead I write to you here because yesterday you said something that is unwise, when you declared that if you are elected Prime Minister you will not take oath from President Zardari. Whatever Zardari’s foibles, your statement is downright undemocratic and one does not need to write much to explain why.
Now please don’t think I have a soft corner for Zardari. No, I don’t because, regardless of the factors responsible for it, he has presided over an unprecedented mayhem in the history of Pakistan, including a mindfully ruthless slaughter of innocent Pakistanis, of various ilk, by the jihadists. (Between you and me, I have also been jealous of him for a very long time because he used my first and middle names and initials –A A Z- to lure Benazir into marrying him.) What miffs me here is twofold. One, it makes you characterize a paradox in that you are willing to contest elections under Zardari but yet proclaim that you will not take oath from him. Two, and more importantly, I feel slighted. You could have said that if you come into power you will try Zardari for corruption or whatever. But by saying that you will not take oath from a democratically elected president, you have insulted the constitution and all the people of Pakistan –notwithstanding who they voted for- who participated in the last elections leading to Zardari’s election as an authentic president of Pakistan, quite unlike a usurper like Musharraf who some people, who you might know, warmly welcomed in power and supported for varying numbers of years.
As someone who has always admired your personality, character, honesty, perseverance, and courage and who clearly thinks that you present the best choice (among a lot of poor ones) in this election, I desperately want to see you able to speak impromptu with some insight and intelligence. I support you because, to borrow Napoleon’s wisdom, in Pakistani politics stupidity has never been a handicap but in you we yearn to find someone who can give an account of his ability with opportunity, as you always have when tested. Finally, you must realize that your league as a leader has now changed and with that comes the responsibility of carrying the burden of a nation’s hopes and image rather than agitating.
Yours in desperation,
A Z
Asif,
The problem, or rather, the tragedy of this country is that our self-appointed saviours follow only one principle, “Do As I Say, Not As I Do”.
Imran Khan is no exception. He mainly talks about himself, not about the party. In his last public meeting, he made six pledges which mainly focused on what he would do personally, as opposed to what his party would do if it came to power. Most of them were pledges that should be taken for granted in any civilized country such as promising not to lie, not to keep his wealth abroad etc etc..Also, his naivety shines brightly when he confidently declares that once we quit the war on terror, the Taliban will have no reason to attack the armed forces and civilians and presumably they will go back to being the peace-loving farmers that they were 20 years ago. It does not occur to him that he advocates negotiations with elements that do not recognize the country’s constitution and rejects the democratic setup as un-Islamic. His willingness to negotiate with such elements is itself an affront to the country’s constitution and to the supremacy of parliament which, by virtue of the fact that he and his party are about to participate in parliamentary elections, he is committed to protect.
About 2-3 years ago, he made some idiotic statements regarding his policy on improvement in the country’s education standards. He bemoaned the dual system of education, Matriculation versus Cambridge system and advocated the closure of schools like Aitchison (his own Alma Mater), so that all school going children would get the same education i.e. the redundant Matriculation system with its Govt-controlled syllabus stuffed with half-baked facts and total lies. After a lot of hue and cry from society, he appears to have toned down that message.
Is it better to vote for the devil you know or to trust someone who doesn’t appear to know what he wants to do.?
For all those naive souls who continue to tie their hopes of salvation for Pakistan on this man against all reason, I have some news: This is the same man who continues to support the Taliban and has avoided to condemn their reign of terror for years. This is the same man who organized a dubious march to the tribal area with ambiguous objectives hidden behind emotional outbursts that resulted in utter embarrassment. This is the same man who has nurtured a delusional hope of winning elections without any real support, in the past. His predictions and expectations have been so far away from the reality for so many times that even the most gullible of the audiences would normally have discredited him by now. But heads off to the nostalgic, pseudo-nationalistic, wide-eyed naivete of his supporters, he carries on like Don Quixote, fighting imaginary battles in a parallel reality. HE IS NOT THE SAVIOR OF PAKISTAN! HE NEVER WAS. HE NEVER WILL BE. Even if through some strange combination of electoral alliances, he does come to power, he would be a puppet in the hands of those forces who would have arranged for his coronation for their ulterior motives. It is a real shame that the choice for the Pakistani electorate is between the corrupt incumbent, the discredited Mian Saheb and the clueless cricketer (not to mention, the returning general).
I can say so many things about the above written irrationale and unjustified so called analysis. But I will not waste my time. Only thing I want to say is that this kind of writers are the same people who opposed our great Leader Quaid e Azam but did they succeed. No. Will this kind of people succeed against Today’s Quaid e Azam Imran Khan. BIG NO.
Dear Shahid,
I think by “irrationale” you mean “irrational”. I never called my little outburst an “analysis”. And talking about analysis, if the Muslims of undivided India had done some rational analysis of the manifesto of Quaid e Azam, they would have refrained from committing the fatal error that Pakistan was doomed to become.
I could not possibly agree more with Rizwan on his analysis of Imran khan. Is anyone surprised on Imran’s seat adjustment with Jamatis? Really??
The man has always been a very vocal supporter of militant religious extremists. Before he became mainstream and popular in the last year or so, his one man party was allied with JI and the two made their decisions about elections jointly. He may claim to idolize Guevara or Chavez but in his ideological views he seems more inclined towards Khomeini or even Bin Laden.
I have no doubts that if he wins enough seats in the election to form government, things will get worse for liberals and progressives in the country. The only change he will bring to Pakistan is the kind Hitler brought to Germany after the Nazis won the election.
JI and PTI are both establishment organs so this is not surprising.
Jamaat-e-Islami is the only party against the status-co and will bring a peacefull change.
jamat-e-islami are taking part in election, i wondered to know that they have clear hand but ppp pml(n) pti candidates are involved some corruption due to their candidate involved in lota karacy like our NA 53 and pp-7 & PP-8 PTI leader Ghulam Sarwar Khan & Taimoor malik they are enjoying in PPP than PML-Q and now tramping to PTI, PLEASE THINK ABOUT THE SAME LEADER IN PTI WHAT CAN BE CHANGED BY THEM. DEAR IF YOU MAKE PAKISTAN WITH BEST WISHES THEN GIVE VOTE THOSE PERSONS AND PARTIES THEY HAVE COMMITTED AND STRONGE WITH THE PARRY.NOW YOU CAN SEE THE HISTORY OF MUSLIM LEAGE IN THE MUSHARAF GOVT. ALL THEY ADOPTED IN MUSHARAF TEAM NOW THEY CAME AGAIN WITH MUSLIM LEAGE (N), LIKE SAME THE PPP POSITION IS ALSO SAME. NOW THINK ABOUT THAT PLEASE SAVE YOUR CLOTHES TO THRONE BUSHES AND VOTE FOR PAKISTAN AND HONEST PEOPLES THEIR DIGNITY FOR PAKISTAN. THINK ABOUT INQALAB-E-ISLAMI ONLY PANNED BY JAMAT-E-ISLAMI