Hello everyone, this is something I wrote in relation to the present protest rallies in the capital, feel free to comment:

The past two years, we have been treated to different avatars of the man some passionately call Kaptaan. The audacious Khan promising a tsunami, the accusing Khan blaming the lower judiciary for electoral fraud, the backtracking Khan, the Khan who appeases the Taliban, the Khan who threatens to launch a massive protest movement against the incumbent government. So, where does this leave us? Does Imran know what he stands for, in the larger scheme of things? Does Kaptaan know who he really is? The man admitted on national television his desire to be the Prime Minister. It could have been a lament, an outcry at how unjust the universe can be. Would 'Naya Pakistan' materialize if Imran is to become the Prime Minister tomorrow; would the fractured relationship between state and society resolve itself magically overnight?

I did not want to write this. Imran Khan has forced my hand, he really has. His antics, the doggedness, the mindless rhetoric, the personality cult; all of this and more has pulled me to this. There was a time that I was awed by the man, his struggle, his slogans of change. I would even say that in my admiration, there was a small token of genuine respect. I told myself, here is a man, who has no grand ambitions of power, an individual who is wholly sincere to his cause, to his political struggle. And then we had the elections. And the results flowed in, one by one. Imran, however, stayed put with the rigging allegations. Little by little, episode by episode, I lost my respect for the man. He sided with the Taliban in what was a matter of national security, to the degree that the Taliban nominated Kaptaan as their negotiator. PTI's performance in KPK leaves much to be desired, but because Punjab is the electoral prize, he has turned to the province with a string of protest rallies. Once his primary demands of electoral reform had been accepted by a recalcitrant PMLN, he still refused to go back. And now, seeing Roedad Khan and the likes of Sheikh Rashid standing by him, flashing wide smiles, I realize how scripted all of this revolution business is. One almost feels sorry for him, repeating the same accusations, time and again, only with different songs beating around in the background. His party members hand him statistics of stunted children in Pakistan, children out of school, stories of corrupt officials and the man boisterously uses the evidence to attack the incumbent government. Why is he so horribly obsessed with his demand for the resignation of Nawaz Sharif? Why not wait for another three years and in the meanwhile, provide good governance in KPK; why threaten to tear down the very edifice of the system he aspires to lead?

Alright, he went to Oxford, hobbled around with the party crowd, mixed with the British elite, returned to his country, won the World Cup, built a hospital, a university, and then the third largest political party in the country, from scratch. But does that make him a statesman, a visionary who can steer the country forward, a political genius who can combat the mighty establishment? Pakistan does not need leaders like Imran Khan, who are political parties unto themselves. Imran, with his singular hold on the party, is not establishing a healthy democratic culture. Imran is part of the problem, a manifestation of the plague; the severe leadership crisis has allowed an ex-cricketer the political space to enter the system and cement his place with grand rhetoric and slogans of Tabdeeli. Strong leaders, I had read, translate into weak institutions. Where does PTI stand, minus Imran Khan?

But you would say here, are you a Nawaz supporter or a PPP jiyala and even if you are not, can you possibly, in your right mind, support either Nawaz or Zardari? One cannot, and herein lies the irony. The Pakistani voter, the educated, politically conscious citizen, does not have much in the way of viable alternatives. Cyril Almeida, the Dawn columnist, had brilliantly noted in a recent article that Nawaz is unfit to rule Pakistan. I cannot help but agree. The solution is to reform political parties so that a new crop of leaders emerges from the post-Zia era. The present lot has been tried and tested. I have no lost love for any of the other political parties, most of whom operate as deliverers of patronage to a select few. Sometimes, people ask me, 'so, who do you support in Pakistan?" And every time this happens, I am dumbfounded by how I do not have an answer. The silence is haunting. But this I know, I cannot support a man who sells false dreams and promises a fake revolution. Not my revolution, Khan sahab.

add me too i was also great supporter of IK BUT now i am silent upon all his actions
any how ...recently IK POLITICS IS just EXAMPLE OF PRESSURE GROUP ..and NAWAZ IS LIKE CHARISMA ......
no more to say

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There lies a difference in my opinion. I was a supporter of IK as i believed this man may not be pious but definitely a better option over other parties.
Secondly, i have seen this stance of people saying he should have waited till next elections and performed their. He did bring change in KPK, as the police is non.political, online FIR registration, maximum budget to education. These are the basic things to start over with. If you have a strong base your structure will be strong too. But if you have done make-up to show the outer but doesn't focus on inner part it will eventually destroy the whole system.
Moreover, we as a Pakistan national have this concept of bearing whatever isn't right, bearing the unjust, bearing the rigging so we find it hard if someone stands against it. The 'koi baat nai, next time sahi' stance has killed us. So why not support a person who at least wants to make you better from inside, makes you strong enough to look and talk to the outer world right in their eye.
Agreed to the stubbornness of IK is not quite healthy for his political career and his party but i guess he has to be stubborn to bring this change in the ancestral politics we always had in Pakistan.
At least choose the one who may not be the best but a better one for this nation.

Just one thing that really bothers me is, why hasn't Nawaz stepped down. We only asked an individual to step down not the whole party to leave its seats. NS even had the option for stepping down for a limited amount of time which he did not. Recently in the news the First Minister of Scotland resigned because his party lost the campaign for an Independent Scotland and the French government resigned over a financial crisis in its country. These are dignified politicians where democracy is more than just a term to hide under, it is something to uphold. A true democracy creates dignified politicians because they understand they are accountable to the people who voted for them. But NS does not have a dignified bone in his body. He did not step down when the Model Town issue happened. He did not step down or step in for that matter when the police attacked the protesters. He did not step down when he could not solve the energy crisis and worst of all he did not step down or admit responsibility for the floods in Punjab, where his party has ruled for more than 7 years.

Furthermore, I do not believe we should wait 3 years and let him complete his term, I believe we should do everything possible to make him leave early. You do not fester wound, you treat it as soon as possible. Nawaz Sharif is the festering wound that needs to be treated as soon as possible.

You too seem like one of inspired guys by IK, the very thing is we can not compare ourselves with either of France, Scotland or any other democracy. Reasons for which are simple, Since independence we merely have had 10 years of Democratically elected governments. You are justified to compare ourselves in next 15 years or so, in my humble opinion we need to give this system time and it'll improve. Your very sentence that "you do not believe we should wait 3 years and let him complete his term" proves your desperation and impatience as well. There is given way for everything, prove that elections were rigged by his party and more parties will join you in cause of him stepping down but without any significant proof which could be used as a proof in eyes of law you just can not ask the PM to step down.

Good argument, so you are saying I need to burn my hands with fire to know that it burns, seeing that someone is burnt is not enough. Its called learning from others mistake, we do it in all parts of life. We do not have to repeat the mistake of our ancestors to be able to evolve as better people. When Pakistan implemented a democratic system, did so based on an existing model by appreciating how it worked. There are enough safeguards in place for the system to work in a newly found country as long as they are people who are willing to apply the safeguards. For example, driving on a road, we all know the rules, they are mostly the same in most countries, but some countries follow them better than others, it has nothing to do with a country being newly developed or a country which has had cars and roads for ages. Furthermore, the politicians we currently have do not uphold the safeguards given in a democratic system so that abuse of power does not happen etc, they all admit to rigging taking place but they do not wish to punish that said person, because it might be them next. Let me ask you say 95 percent of the people cheat in the CSS exam and get away it but 5 percent did not and worked really hard but just slightly missed to mark to make the merit to get the job. So by the majority analogy 95 percent would not want to look further into the matter as compare to the 5 percent who have actually been cheated by the system, to be honest they would have a re-exam as soon as possible and the people who cheated would have to removed from the job. Now why can't this be for the current government who has clearly cheated the way to the Parliament, but their cheating is two-fold, they cheated the system as well the people, they deserve the punishment. Oh and there is adequate proof of rigging.

Your above example of 95% people cheating in css exam does not apply for elections for two reasons.
1-Not even 50% people of Pakistan say they've been cheated on, the thing is if we act on like this then we would suffer a lot as nation, According to your argument 70k people should be able to throw out the elected PM, it means we'll set a trend and precedent. GOD forbid if ever IK wins majority (which i don't see happening) the likes of other parties could gather much more people then IK and what if they demand IK to resign ? Will he? Should he?
2- Rigging should be proved in court of law, once it is done and proven that the elections were rigged mainly and mostly NS should resign.

The only reason I gave the example of 95 percent because almost all parties admit there has been rigging in the election. They did not ask for proof. Even the election commission said that in Karachi they could not be sure on the transparency of the elections. As for other parties doing the same thing if IK comes to power, they are more than welcome if they have sound ground for doing so if IK does not listen to their fair demands in the first instances like NW did not listen to IK when he stated that he should look into the 4 constituencies. What IK did, was not sudden and unexpected, he tried other means which did not bear fruit, therefore, I do not see a problem in his method now. Furthermore, peaceful protest is a right under democracy. Honestly speaking, you know it and I know it the kind of service the court of law provide in Pakistan. If the court of law was indeed giving out justice as it should have lots of things in Pakistan that are currently the issue would not be an issue. If IK did go to court it will take him till the end of NS term to get his case heard no doubt about it, unless it gets thrown out, which is a possibility because NS is still in power. The same NS who once a sent his thugs into the Supreme court. Trust me, I would have agreed with your point of going to court first and foremost, but come on now, have you seen the history of the infamous NS.

A perfect demagogue but we Pakistanis should be thankful to him because due to his agitational politics our Parliament became a Parliament, to some extent. Revolutions occurs in the minds of people not on roads!

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