The Imran Khan I know is his own man
“Do you remember how I made my political party and do you remember the days of my struggle?” Imran Khan posed this question to me at the start of a recent meeting which took place days after his victory in the general elections 2018 of Pakistan.
It was not a formal interview. It was just a coffee meeting in his Bani Gala office where a big change was visible a few days before Imran Khan takes oath as Prime Minister. I was asked to deposit my mobile phone at the entrance of his office. This had never happened in the last two decades. I suddenly realised — Ohh, I am going to meet the new Prime Minister of Pakistan.
Before meeting Imran Khan, I saw the former CM of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK), Pervez Khattak, his old comrades Dr Arif Alvi and Muneeza Hasan, sitting in a nicely decorated waiting room, next to the office of Imran Khan. This will become the camp office of the new Prime Minister on weekends because Imran Khan will not spend his weekends in the official residence of the Prime Minister.
Imran Khan met me with a tension-free face now.
He was mentioning the big challenges waiting for him, with a smile on his face. This time, he was not talking against Nawaz Sharif or Asif Zardari. He was talking about the energy crisis, water shortage and debt problem. When I said, problems are big and opposition in Parliament is also very big, he said, “Many people used to say Imran Khan cannot become Prime Minister. Now the same people are saying Imran Khan cannot resolve our problems – but wait and see. I will defeat these problems.”
Imran Khan was very much aware that he may face some difficulties in the upcoming elections of Speaker and Deputy of the National Assembly. The election of Prime Minister will be open but the election of the Speaker and Deputy Speaker will be held through secret ballot.
He was confident that he will easily win the Speaker election.
He then surprised me by saying that he is ready to meet Baloch leader Akhtar Mengal and he will support his six demands.
The first demand of the Balochistan National Party (BNP) head is about missing persons. Mengal is demanding that all missing persons be produced in a court of law. He has only three seats in the National Assembly but Imran Khan was not supporting his six demands just for three votes.
He said, “I supported six points of Akhtar Mengal in 2012 and I will try to address his six demands in 2018 as Prime Minister because I see nothing wrong in his demands.”
Akhtar Mengal is one of those openly talking about pre-poll and after-poll rigging in the 2018 election. He is an old critic of the powerful military establishment. Imran Khan can become Prime Minister without his three votes – but his engagement with the BNP is a message for all those who think that he is a puppet of powerful forces who never wanted to see people like Akhtar Mengal in Parliament.
Imran Khan is committed to resolving the issue of missing persons with the help of the Army and all the concerned state institutions. It was Imran Khan who first broke the disappearance story of Dr Afia Siddiqui from Karachi in my TV show Capital Talk on Geo News in 2003. Then-Interior Minister Faisal Saleh Hayat was present on the show. Dr Afia is now spending her life in a US prison and Imran Khan cannot afford to remain silent about her.
The issue of missing persons was directly linked with the war against terrorism.
A large number of people were picked up by security agencies for their alleged links with militants — Imran Khan was one of those who were loudly saying then, “It is not our war, it is America’s war, we should not fight with our own people, and we should produce all disappeared persons in the courts of law”.
Many critics declared him 'Taliban Khan'.
On one of my shows in 2005, the Information Minister of Pervez Musharraf's regime, Sheikh Rashid Ahmad, declared Imran, “Do takey ka kaptan” (two-penny captain) to his face — today, the same Sheikh is an ally of Imran Khan, along with many others who used to make fun of a cricketer who was trying to become Prime Minister of Pakistan, in the presence of many feudals and industrialists.
Nobody can deny the fact that Imran Khan struggled hard and never opted for short cuts.
He was offered a ministry by the late General Zia ul Haq in 1988 after the dismissal of Muhammad Khan Juneju’s government. Imran refused. He was again offered a ministry in the caretaker government of Moeen Qureshi in 1993, but he refused.
He established his political party in 1996.
I was one of those who never endorsed his idea of joining politics at that time. I was more concerned about his cancer hospital which was inaugurated in 1994 and needed much attention from Imran.
Nawaz Sharif offered him an alliance in the 1997 election with 20 National Assembly seats, but he refused. He contested his first election in 1997 and lost badly everywhere. Just a few days before the 2002 election, General Pervez Musharraf forced him towards making an alliance with PML-Q – but Imran refused. Then-ISI DG Gen Ehsan failed to convince Imran to join a government led by the PML-Q. In the end, the PTI got only one seat in the 2002 election.
In the next seven years, Imran Khan was one of those who resisted the policies of General Musharraf inside and outside Parliament, with full force and courage. Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif were in exile and Imran Khan was the one who appeared on my shows again and again to criticise Musharraf.
Geo faced problems many times due to the “bad mouthing" of Imran Khan against Musharraf in Capital Talk. Musharraf used the MQM many times to teach us a lesson by shutting down Geo on cable in Karachi. Many times, Imran Khan was humiliated by MQM ministers in talk shows — but he never gave up.
He made an alliance with Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif after the 2007 emergency imposed by Musharraf. Imran Khan played a major role in the lawyers' movement and opposed restrictions imposed on media. He participated in my road shows many times when I was banned by Musharraf on TV.
He was arrested and thrown in jail – but he never made a deal with Musharraf.
He refused to contest elections under Musharraf's regime after the assassination of Benazir Bhutto in 2007.
On the other side, the PPP made a deal with Musharraf. The PML-N decided to contest elections under the Musharraf regime while Imran Khan was shouting on the roads that boycott the election under a military dictator.
I remember I met him one cold January night in his party office and told him, don’t boycott the elections because the PML-N will finally decide to contest polls. Imran Khan never believed me. He mentioned the commitment given to him by Nawaz Sharif publicly. He told me, “I don’t trust Zardari, he can betray me — but Nawaz Sharif gave his word not only to me, he also gave his word to JI Chief Qazi Hussain Ahmad and PKMAP Chief Mahmood Khan Achakzai. He will not betray us”.
Unfortunately, I was proved right.
First, the PPP and then the PML-N decided to contest the election under Musharraf. Imran Khan felt betrayed by PPP and PML-N. The PPP made a coalition government with the PML-N and both parties became a target of Imran Khan.
That was the time when PPP voters in Punjab and KPK started moving towards the PTI.
Those were also the days when drone attacks by America in Pakistani tribal areas were on the rise. Imran Khan was the only national leader who organised a long march against drone attacks. His ex-wife Jemima helped him by making a documentary on drone attacks; she also appeared on my TV show to criticize drone attacks.
Imran Khan attacked the ruling elite from Sindh to Punjab and also took a tough position against American policies in the region.
His anti-Americanism made him a hero of an angry youth — that youth became his biggest strength. He emerged as a third political force in the 2013 election. He wiped out the PPP from Punjab and ANP from KPK. He became a proponent of change in Pakistan but slowly and gradually, his own party became a den of many famous turncoats. Imran Khan tried to defend them by declaring they were “electable”, but the people of Pakistan rejected most “electables” in the 2018 elections.
The PTI led by Imran Khan became the largest party in the National Assembly — but all other big parties are making noises about rigging. Once again, the PPP and PML-N have made an alliance but top PPP leaders Asif Zardari and Bilawal Bhutto Zardari have many reservations. They know that their reconciliation policy with the PML-N in the past only benefited Imran Khan and if they will shake hands with PML-N again, they may lose more support in Sindh. The PPP is reluctant to openly support the PML-N in the Punjab Assembly. The PPP and PML-N leadership failed to cultivate the support of parties like MQM and BNP, which were the first on the night of July 25 to make noises against rigging.
Meanwhile, Imran Khan successfully managed to get the support of former Musharraf allies like the MQM and PML-Q and an anti-establishment Baloch party, the BNP. It will be very difficult to maintain the support of all these small parties without fulfilling their demands – this is one of the big challenges Imran may face in the coming days. Before touching big foreign policy challenges, he needs to establish his credibility by inducting credible people in the government.
Despite many apprehensions from his well-wishers, Imran will try his best to avoid confrontation with state institutions. We may not see the weekly National Security Committee (NSC) meetings in the beginning. Imran Khan will move forward with taking all stake-holders on board – but we may not see him taking dictation from anyone.
Imran asked me about his speech after the election. I said, your humility was a positive gesture. We also discussed why the Indian movie star Aamir Khan was not coming to his oath-taking. I guessed Aamir is not that busy – maybe he is under pressure.
Imran never made any comments and just smiled.
We discussed Indian PM Modi’s telephone call to him. He told me, Modi never mentioned Kashmir, but I am committed to the Kashmir cause.
Imran Khan must set examples now to establish that the law of the land is equal for everyone. The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) summoned him in the helicopter case on August 7. He may not appear in front of the NAB in person on August 7 — but he must appear in front of the NAB after taking oath as Prime Minister.
By appearing in front of the NAB, a sitting Prime Minister can give a message to the whole world that it is the beginning of a 'New Pakistan' (Naya Pakistan).
He should also respect criticism and critics. I have criticised him many times in the past, but he never ever complained. He must introduce a tolerant policy for media and win support through good governance – not unseen pressures. Imran Khan must realise that he became a majority leader not due to his manifesto. He became a majority leader due to the blunders and mistakes of his political opponents. Now, his opponents are waiting for his mistakes.
He cannot afford any mistakes because once this opposition gets united and starts marching towards Islamabad, Imran Khan will not be able to defend his government without public support.
He needs more public support with pro-public policies.