EDITORIAL: Oozing confidence, rather over-confidence, in a typical fashion, PTI (Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf) chairman Imran Khan was very much expected to beat his opponents when they were down, after the drubbing in the by-elections and the subsequent drama about the Punjab chief minister. But he clearly crossed one line too many by overdosing on his holier-than-thou populist rhetoric when he categorically said that he was willing to talk to TTP (Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan) and Baloch separatists, declared terrorists and enemies of the state, but not “thieves [a euphemism for PTI’s opponents]”.
But since his legions of followers greeted this travesty with loud cheers and social media memes, perhaps some of them, if not Imran Khan himself, will care to clarify two very important points for the people of Pakistan, especially families who have lost limbs as well as loved ones to TTP’s, as well as Baloch militants’, quest for separation.
One, it’s an utter insult to our martyrs and their families. Why do you think these militants were labelled terrorists by the state and the actions of many of them handed the death penalty? Most people of Pakistan have been against these talks, the latest round of which was announced by Imran Khan when he was PM to a Turkish interviewer, since the beginning. Nobody was consulted and the people, who buried more than 80,000 of their friends and family members, were kept in the dark by the government of the man who expects the people of Pakistan to believe that he is the one true deliverer of democracy while all others are mere interlopers.
And “thieves”.
Why and how, then, would the people equate these controversial talks with magnanimity on the part of Imran Khan; especially when he is even not, and never was for that matter, the driving force behind them. He did, however, believe very strongly in them; and clearly continues to do so.
And two, the principles at the core of the kind of democracy Imran Khan has always preached also dictate the concept of “innocent until proven guilty”. Therefore, he and his followers are very welcome to cry and chant “thief”, even paste it on their internet profiles and shout it in people’s faces in restaurants, but only and only if the law says so first. And only and only conspiracy theories do not suffice to answer questions about why most of those “thieves” were never sanctioned by the courts; including, let’s not forget, the near-four years of Imran’s own rule when a very compromised NAB (National Accountability Bureau) chairman enabled investigations and detentions of almost all prominent opposition leaders of the time.
The last thing that so many people of Pakistan should have done, including fanatic followers of PTI, is cheer this statement. Khan is by far the most popular leader of the country at the moment. That also means that he is burdened with more responsibility than the rest of us. And if we can see that this country is dividing to the point of tearing apart when it desperately needs to unite, then surely he can too. The test of true leadership in our case, then, is the ability to bring the people together, not drive them apart even further. Yet this is the one point where all our elite, including Imran and the people he loves to demean and denounce, are lacking very severely.
All things considered, Imran’s statement was out of line and unbecoming of a leader of his stature and a former prime minister of Pakistan. He should retract it without any further loss of time.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022