This is with reference to the scepticism often expressed by the critics of Imran Khan, about bringing about real change in Pakistan if Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf is voted into power.
Those who know the nature of Imran Khan also know the fact that he is a man of sheer determination and achieves whatever he sets his heart on. Just to corroborate the point, it is worth mentioning here two instances that aptly describe the character of a person who succeeded against heavy odds.
In his autobiography "Imran" he writes about his first tour of England in 1971 when he was a young boy of eighteen years old only. "The turning point came at Selkirk, Scotland. Asif Iqbal and Aftab Gul sat talking about me, aware that I could hear them. Their verdict was that I would be lucky to get into the second eleven of an English club side, let alone a county team. They made no attempt to hide their scorn of my abilities. The remarks were made to hurt me. I was so angry and humiliated that I vowed to prove them wrong; I would go back to the drawing-board and sort out my bowling action. I'd make myself indispensable to the side as an all-rounder even if it meant working myself into the ground. I decided that I wouldn't make myself available for Test cricket again until I was sure I'd no longer be humiliated by my own inabilities and my team-mates' scorn" p. 17. The rest is history!
Second, when he set out to build the Shaukat Khanam Cancer Hospital in Lahore in 1987, he had the feasibility reports of the gigantic project from the twenty-two best available professionals of the field. Twenty-one of them summarily rejected the idea stating that a state-of-the-art-hospital can not be built through donations collected from the ordinary man. However, one professional noted in his report that it is possible that you may complete a huge project of international standards with the help of the general public but it will not be possible to run it by offering free of cost treatment to the cancer patients. Still, Imran went on to build the first cancer hospital in Pakistan, with the support of Pakistanis living here and abroad. Now every year the hospital offers free of cost treatment to its 75% poor cancer patients who can not bear the heavy expenses of cancer treatment. The remaining 25% pay the cost of treatment on the basis of their affordability.
These two examples are an ample proof of the fact that Imran Khan is not just a man of rhetoric alone. In his life he has accomplished difficult tasks by dint of an iron will and determination and he will prove his critics wrong in the future too.