What is the truth behind Imran Khan's alleged U-turns?
In most countries there are two major political parties that individually or in alliance with other parties form a government or work as the opposition. In Pakistan there are the two major parties and their fair-weather allies. And then there is Imran Khan. Things would have continued in their linear monotony if Khan had been content to remain a former cricketer and a philanthropist, had not stirred things up a little here, some more there, challenged the status quo, and made them all squirm a bit. Squirm, mind you, nothing more. O the folly of never taking him seriously!
Push the fast-forward on the film reel, and there he is. The inconsequential character actor now in the main frame as the hero, his inimitable crinkle-eyed smile wide, striding into the bright light, and saying: I told you so.
Imran Khan the dispensable actor in the film of politics of Pakistan is today the prime minister of Pakistan. And while that fact is a matter of great consternation and untold melancholy to many Pakistanis who never thought - like Bollywood and Hollywood never saw it coming how an Irfaan Khan or a Hillary Swank or a Viola Davis would be suddenly propelled into superstardom with their award-winning performances - Khan would ever be more than that. He kinda is today, and what he faces as the prime minister is not your run-of-the-mill ordinary opposition. Nope.
This is a whole new game of pettiness and gratuitous attacks packaged as political opposition of Khan's government, and sold domestically, regionally and internationally as the "real, hard-hitting, unbiased" critique of a new government. If only.
There's a deluge of misleading newspaper reports, partisan op-ed articles, blogs that mostly go unread, and TV debates that focus on who's the shrillest and loudest panelist, and less on the variables of economy, the massive international debt, acuteness of water shortage, the scimitar of religious extremism held to Pakistan's delicate neck, internal security instability, tension on the borders, the issue of the imperativeness of raising of gas and electricity tariffs, and rising prices affecting everyday lives of millions of Pakistanis.
What becomes breaking news is a new statement of Khan, and how it can be broken into salacious bits to write more inane op-eds, blogs, and have more TV discussions about that "incoherent, comedian of a leader, who lacks articulation, and has no control over his words." Khan is no Cicero, never claimed to be, and never will be. What is lost in the mindless criticism is the essence of his message, the main point of his statement or speech, and what does become a sensational, easily sold hashtag in a tweet, a TV ticker, and a headline in domestic and international media (through Pakistani media or correspondents who are mostly Pakistani): Imran Khan doesn't know what he is talking about.
Prime Minister Khan in a statement to the press said: “Hitler and Napoleon suffered huge defeats and caused losses as they did not take U-turns.” Without going into intricacies of European history, and whether the allusion was to the U-turns both Napoleon and Hitler made, and/or did not make marauding and killing and destroying nations on their mission of regional and world domination, what I know is that as the result of one-sided journalism, commentary and mockery, Khan’s sincerity as the leader of a country in dire straits has been questioned again.
Imran Khan as prime minister has been given a Pakistan that is full of promise and potential but is presently a huge mess in a number of ways. How Khan, one step at a time, and at the end of his five-year tenure, performs will be the test of his mettle as a leader who matters.
Pakistan — still in shock and anger at the recent kidnapping, torture and gruesome murder in Afghanistan of Pakistan’s valiant and heroic police officer, Tahir Khan Dawar, and a tad pacified at Khan’s promise of a thorough investigation and immediate dispensation of justice to Dawar — needs an honest and non-partisan assessment of its issues and their short- and long-term solutions. There is no denying that there has been a multi-institutional failure on multiple levels vis-à-vis Dawar’s horrific case, but what is imperative to note: Imran Khan did not create the system in which a police officer is kidnapped and taken across the border and murdered.
What Khan can do and must do is review of the system, and ensure and establish a security mechanism that leaves little room for human failure to prevent loss of life in a manner that is stuff of nightmares. Doing that would not be a U-turn of Khan’s confidence in Pakistan’s law enforcement agencies; it is a reiteration of his agenda that all institutions of Pakistan must work with an effectiveness that is new and with a transparency that leaves little room for fatal errors.
Pained to see Pakistan perched on the precipice of an economic disaster, and watching most monetary indexes ready to go into a free fall, Khan, going against his decades-old stance of never seeking outside help for Pakistan’s domestic mess, decided to get financial aid from old friends, Saudi Arabia and China, and approach IMF for a bailout package. To ask or not to ask was the multi-billion dollar question in the mind of a leader who had to push his self-respect and principles aside, and do what was best for Pakistan at that particular juncture. Unless it becomes a permanent feature of his governing policies, it is just what it is: Khan trying to do what is best for Pakistan. Thank you, Prime Minister Khan for that U-turn.
Contrary to the perception pushed through a narrative aimed at painting a picture of a right-wing leader taking the reins of an extremist Pakistan, Khan supported the Supreme Court decision to release Aasia bibi, fully aware of a violent backlash from the organisations that exist to wreak havoc in Pakistan through their distorted interpretation of religion. Thank you, Prime Minister Khan, for that U-turn.
Not many thought they would see the day when an elected prime minister of a Muslim Pakistan would appear on television in a special address to the nation following protests of TLP’s Khadim Hussain Rizvi and his like-minded parties, to say in no uncertain terms, to the rioters to stop, to not oppose the Supreme Court verdict of freeing the Christian Aasia bibi, to not challenge the state writ, and to not cause anarchy. Thank you, Prime Minister Khan, for that U-turn.
Khan, not known to make many statements that might trigger a vicious reaction from extremist elements of Pakistan — a tiny section but very dangerous — said without mincing words, during his phone call with President Antonio Tajani, President of European Parliament: “As citizens of Pakistan, Aasia bibi and her family are entitled to all rights as guaranteed by the Constitution of Pakistan.” Thank you, Prime Minister Khan for that U-turn.
U-turns are made for myriad reasons en route to your destination: you forgot to turn off the gas in your kitchen; you left your backdoor open; you remembered you left your important papers on the nightstand; you did not realise your youngest child was home alone. U-turns of a leader, an elected prime minister, even when they give him the appearance of being fickle, are only detrimental when the self is bigger than the country. When the ego is bigger than the good of the country. When the narcissism is working in collusion with the inflexibility to not acknowledge the faux pas of judgment or action.
U-turns are bad when your polices are not aimed at making the country the best version of itself. When the moral vacancy of state is filled with hyperbole and big promises. When your work as a leader is harmful to the nation. When your self-serving agenda pushes to the ground, like a goon in a street fight hit an unarmed person, the blueprint for the betterment of your country. When you are too egoistical to make the confession that your naiveté as a politician wishing for change and aiming for the position of prime minster was somewhat misplaced, as some of your assessment of the issues debilitating the country was based on myopic and idealistic ideas and solutions.
Thank you, Imran Khan, for being that prime minister of Pakistan who unlike the ego and self-love of most of the previous leaders allows his humanness to make a U-turn where necessary instead of driving headlong, without a care for consequences, without giving a damn who you have hit and harmed, and without application of brakes to see who crashed into the fender of your vehicle.
Thank you, Prime Minister Imran Khan, for not doing a Thelma and Louise on Pakistan.
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