Firework time is nigh for the PTI
Imran Khan’s first interview after the elections (Capital Talk, June 27, Geo). Or was it his first interview after his fall? In either case, it was a big deal. Fans and foes alike tuned in to see the man in his shining glory and whether he was still woozy after falling on his head.
He wasn’t. I mean he was as he was before the fall. The man elicits different reactions from different sections of the public. From his fans, who think the great Khan sweats Arq-e-Gulaab, to his detractors, who think he is that specific Mullah incarnate who will finally do the Republic in, there would be a vast difference in analyzing how the interview went, depending on whom you were to ask.
To segue into that: the problem of terror came up early, as it should, in any conversation with Imran Khan. This is not because terrorism is the greatest problem that the country is facing at the moment. It is but that is not the reason the issue is always discussed with Imran Khan. The reason is that it is the only issue, by and large, on which Imran Khan has taken a particular, specific stand. On all other issues, he has taken a “stance” which all parties have taken. There should be no corruption, check. There should be no injustice, check. There should be no unemployment, check. There should be merit in government appointments, check. It is only the terror problem where he has taken a tangible position, one that could be grappled with.
In the program, he repeated what many had thought was originally a faux pas: his views on the killing of TTP notable Wali-ur-Rehman. When Rehman had been killed, Khan had condemned the killing of a “pro-peace” militant. These are views that he repeated on the programme.
Has taking Imran Khan on regarding his stance on the Taliban become a lazy thing to do? I really don’t like it when so-called analysts ham-fistedly conflate him with the Taliban the way cartoonists do. Surely the issue, his stance, has more texture than that? But Imran Khan does not make his job any easier by giving out statements like the one above.
By painting the picture of Wali-ur-Rehman that the PTI has, they have lionized a notorious militant. A toughened Talib indoctrinated at a madrassa in Faisalabad, he went on to become a dreaded militant in the TTP, of which he was a member since the organisation’s formation. In the already myopic binary of good Taliban and bad Taliban, Wali-ur-Rehman does not come neatly in the good Taliban category. He was responsible for the deaths of scores of innocent Pakistanis (as opposed to innocent Afghans, who are the prey of the good Taliban.)
This reminds me of the cartoon of the American generals standing in front of a couple of Taliban who are beheading a woman while talking to the Americans. Weren’t we supposed to be talking to the moderates within them, asks one of the other. These are the moderates, comes the reply.
Imran Khan is surely going to be interviewed on the other channels now. He always was a media darling even when his was a tonga party (current best-friend Shaikh Rashid’s old assessment of the earlier PTI, not mine) but now he is an even hotter commodity, what with running a province in one provincial assembly and the opposition in another. He needs to be careful here. Would he want to steal CM Khattak’s thunder on KP issues as well? As it is, there is a feeling that Khattak got a dressing down by his leader on the whole issue of using the official helicopter on personal business. If there is a feeling that the province is being run, not from Peshawar but Bani Gala and Zamaan Park, our man Khattak is bound to feel belittled.
Khattak should know. Back when his mentor Aftab Sherpao was CM, there was a feeling that PM Bhutto’s word was the last when it came to the then Frontier Government. This resulted in the Pashto limerick,
Na bebay da, na Lala de,
Daa da Sarhad Wazir-e-Aala de
A little silly, as all political limericks are wont to be, so I won’t translate it. But think Lahori stage drama level emasculation. Once the idea is planted in Khattak’s mind and the stimulus (Imran Khan’s insistence on the centre stage) doesn’t ease up, expect some fireworks further down on the timeline.
Firstly, it is absolutely wrong to state that IK says all the things other parties say. Corruption, tax evasion, social justice… all these phrases made their way into the election vernacular only because PTI took a lead in them. Otherwise, parties were fairly silent on all these issues… not to mention the issues they raised with the health and education systems. The thaana culture, patwari culture etc. and the issues of distinction between the ruling and the ruled as vestiges of colonialism.
Regarding your point on holding discussions with moderates and who to talk to. Theres a very interesting article by Robert Fisk this week, in which he talks about the standard problems after each invasion. He says the problem of who to talk to plagues everyone after a conflict because so many of the opposition, including "moderates" have already been killed during it!
At least the writer should write in favour of Pakistan rather than in favour of Anti-Pakistan countries !
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