From my blog:
Nation’s spokesman or devil’s advocate?
Imran Khan has been so quixotically persistent about peace talks with the militants that it seems as if he wanted to engage the TTP even before it was actually formed. The bestial body of barbarians did not take away from us a hope we all knew as Naya Pakistan, but they seem to have pulped it fatally. TTP is subjected to regular bashing for anti-state activities and Imran’s unstoppable mantra of talking to them is equal to having a joint account with them to receive a fair share of this criticism.
From a strong beam of hope to a crumbling flash of light and a political paladin to devil’s advocate, the followers of a fantasy might have already started to feel misled. The way forward Imran Khan charted before elections now seems to be swirling around FATA ad infinitum.
Imran’s parley paradox is dubbed as an oversimplified panacea for the entire gambit of terrorism in the country. And while he argues in favour of his position, he puts his party and his adherents in an awkward situation.
Taliban have created a smokescreen of religion that has an emotional value for Muslims, but it is incompatible both with the spirit of the religion and the coherence of the nation. The state cannot amend itself according to Shariah exegesis of a group which considers itself the final authority on the affairs of religion, morality, politics, science, medicine, society, sports and international relations. It should not be a difficult decision to make whether the state and its citizens would be governed by the Constitution of the country or by the whims of a group powered by suicide bombers.
What Imran generally appears to be overlooking is the fact that he has made himself a hostage to a single issue — however vital it maybe — and has confined himself to just one problem. While Sindh appears to be a distant relative to him, Balochistan simply does not register on his radar. The fact of Punjab still being in the pocket of the ruling party does not seem to be giving Imran sleepless nights. The issues of rigging, inflation, re-accumulated circular debt, privatization, Karachi operation and sectarianism are some problems that have been grossly neglected by the PTI chairman.
Imran mostly appears immersed in his over-obsession with drones and TTP talks and tends to overlook the fact that he is being cornered systematically. The reaction of the media and his opponents on his refusal to be a part of TTP’s negotiation panel should serve as an eye-opener to him that he is being pushed from the mainstream bloc to the religiopolitical camp.
Positions taken by the media, intelligentsia and other political parties make an interesting reading. Not a single leader or intellectual demand to bulldoze the terror camp without first going for a peaceful solution. It is almost the same stance boosted by Imran. But the portrayals of both positions are strikingly different. While the civil society and political fraternity are shown in favour of talks with strings attached, Imran’s position is widely interpreted as unconditional support to the TTP. Imran must understand how detrimental it could be to take a resolute position on an initiative that is doomed to fail. While the rest of the country seems to be fence sitting comfortably, Imran’s unwavering stance in favour of unconditional talks may set him back to an irretrievable position of isolation.
Imran needs to repackage its narrative on the issue of dialogue with the TTP. Given the fact that the media has created a hostile atmosphere, Imran needs to understand that it runs the risk of being ghettoized by its dialogue demarche. He must put in place a solid firewall to protect himself and his party from the debris of a collapsed peace initiative. The epithet of ‘Taliban Khan’ will not be easy to remove and Imran must refrain from strengthening this tag. PTI must not let the bigger picture of a prosperous Pakistan through a clean government recede into oblivion by getting hijacked to a single issue.
Imran had taken a position in favour of Musharraf which had to be revisited and is still used against him. Imran had to apologize for his stance on welcoming Musharraf. He needs to see carefully if his stand on the TTP and dialogue process does not turn out to be a repeat of Musharraf gaffe.
The PTI chairman has already become a media bête noire while his media team appears to be astonishingly incapable of coming up with a proper plan to repulse the media blitz. From Haroon-ur-Rashid to Hasan Nisar, the party has lost almost all of its sympathizers in the media.
The omniscient media personnel — capable of giving expert opinion on solar system to actually running PCB — have deep-sixed PTI’s position on the insurgency issue. Imran should be able to navigate out of this mess and salvage his image to nullify the impact which is harming him like never before.
The religious cluster of the country has been sustaining on the sole agenda of anti-Americanism for eons. It is a fact that anti-Americanism runs fast and deep in the society. So is the fact that electoral verdicts delivered even till last elections have been mind-bogglingly against the anti-US elements. While the anti-US stratagem attracts a lot of attention, it simply does not result in votes. PTI does not need to walk the beaten-to-death track of anti-Americanism for vote appeal as it already has a solid vote bank based on liberal ethos. In other words, PTI does not need to become another Jamaat-e-Islami.
Imran should know that he cannot change the psyche of his nation that yawns on Iqbal’s verses and give standing ovation to Sultan Rahi’s dialogues.
Pakistanis have worldwide rights of protection of the Muslim cause. If they come to know that the Muslim community on planet Mars is suffering atrocities at the hand of a non-Muslim government, Pakistanis will observe a protest across the country the very next day. Some American flags along with some hoardings, public vehicles and petrol stations would be religiously set on fire in solidary with their Muslim brethren living on Mars. Such is our sense of responsibility and commitment towards the cause of the ummah.
And last but not least, even Pakistani talk shows would be discussing the latest development on Mars and the most pertinent question would be why Imran Khan does not openly condemn government on Mars?
At the height of a funding misappropriation scam, allegedly involving the PTI chairman as well, an intellectual remarked that: “Only Imran can destroy Imran.” The moment of truth has perhaps arrived for him.