After months of prevarication, Imran Khan has finally taken the plunge. “Politics” was once a dirty word for him. Now it is his raison d’etre. Good. His confusion had bewildered friend and foe alike. Now we can examine his behaviour and pit his theories against his practise without feeling guilty of doing him any injustice.
Imran once said that he would marry a local, middle-class girl and keep her at home with the children. But he has chosen upper-crust Jemima Goldsmith as his wife and it is difficult to conceive her playing the role of a timid, dutiful housewife for ever and ever.
Imran used to say that “representative democracy” was not suited to our genius because it inevitably spawned a system of corruption and maladministration. The “jirga” system, he passionately believed, was the answer to all our problems. Now he is a staunch supporter of the same constitutional system which creates ill-gotten wealth and administrative anarchy.
Imran used to rave about a forgotten vision of Islam and rail against the “be-ghairat musalmaans” of this country. Fateh Kabul General Hameed Gul and Pasban Mohammad Ali Durrani were Imran’s mentors while Muslim ideologue Z A Suleri was desperately trying to steer him toward the true path. Imran’s unmitigated wrath was reserved for all those who aped the degenerate, imperialistic culture of the West. But since Sir James Goldsmith took him under his wing, Imran has quietly abandoned his former allies and stopped pontificating on these subjects.
Imran used to rant about the excesses of our Sardari-Jagirdari system. Now we hear that two leftovers from the same class — Sardar Taj Jamali and Mir Afzal Khan — have joined his Insaf Party. Worse, since rights of entry into Imran’s party are not yet reserved, many “brown-sahibs” can expect to be forgiven their cultural inclinations if they are prepared to sign on the dotted line.
Imran’s everyday lexicon was splashed with terms like “soft revolution” and “education reform”. Now he is sounding very much like another misguided symbol of the hated status quo.
In order to put such impressions at rest, Dr N K Burki, Imran’s right-hand man at the SKMTH, has recently taken up cudgels on his behalf. Dr Burki accuses the press of ignoring the import of Imran’s stinging “indictment” of the political establishment — billions in bad debts, appalling levels of illiteracy, soaring unemployment, etc etc. He also thinks that it is “perverse” to expect the Tehreek to explain how it proposes to achieve its grand objectives. Apparently, once a number of high-powered expert committees are in place, the answers will come gushing out.
This is a sorry response to genuine questions and apprehensions about Imran’s bonafide as a harbinger of radical change. For years, the press has indicted the political establishment of the very things that have suddenly been revealed to Imran in a flash of insight. The press is also justified in its deep rooted cynicism of high-sounding manifestos, objectives and promises. We have seen expert committees come and go. And we have been numbed by tall claims all too often before. No, Imran Khan and Dr Burki will simply have to do better than denounce the intelligence and integrity of the press. The facts about Imran Khan speak for themselves.
Imran was a great cricket captain because his background, personality and talent made him much more than simply one amongst equals in the team. After retirement, it was only fitting that he should exploit his goodwill to set up a charity hospital in memory of his beloved mother instead of becoming another expert media mogul like many famous cricketers before him. So far so good. But then the SKMTH project became controversial — by definition, the last thing any charity should aspire to be — when Imran began to keep the company of controversial politicos and applaud their even more controversial theories and objectives. Overwhelmed by the carefully orchestrated public response these people were able to whip up for him, he began to mouth their words, echo their ideas and exhort their deeds.
The backlash that followed derailed him completely. Torn by the battle between head and heart over personal and public matters, he has chosen to be led by his heart. When close “brown-sahib” friends cautioned him against getting too close to the Islamists, he couldn’t ignore their views. When others told him to stick to charity and forget about politics, he wouldn’t listen. Sycophants continue to dangle the prospect of prime ministership before him. Confused, inarticulate, misunderstood, angry, hurt, and too proud to admit error or accept his own political and intellectual limitations, the ambition to prove himself as some sort of revolutionary or saviour propels Imran like a lurching juggernaut.
Imran Khan says he is used to leading from the front and never looking back. That is all very well. But he should not bank on the current public cynicism attached to the leading politicians of today. The voter is notoriously fickle and this first-past-the-post system can be greatly unjust. Imran Khan should do some positive thinking. A bit of humility is also in order. We wish him good luck in his political endevours.