For shame Imran Khan, for shame

Just when we think you’ve gained some much needed sense, you prove us all wrong.

Imran Khan, you perpetually misguided political novice. You inherently misinformed self-proclaimed leader of the youth. You have done it again. First the fiasco with shutting down Islamabad, and now the reaction to Erdogan’s visit.

Just when we think you’ve gained some much needed sense, you prove us all wrong. And you don’t do that in your average every day way. No, sir. You do in the most spectacular of manners, debunking every delusion we may have had of you finally mending your ways.

Over 80,000 people dead, more than 48,000 of which are civilians. Blood splattered across the streets of Pakistan, Karachi in tatters, your own Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) ripped apart to shreds and the sanctity of life tucked away where the sun doesn’t shine. Yet somehow you find it within yourself to blurt out nonsense after nonsense. The bacterium of terrorism enters the country’s skin deeper and deeper every passing day, yet your focus only deviates to Raiwind and Nawaz Sharif. The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and its various factions shake the very foundations of the country, yet your focus remains on conjuring accusations of dollar hogging to rigging in the 2013 general elections.

The time for self-reflection, the time to ponder, and the time for correction – it is all but gone. This is not a test drive Mr Khan. This is the real deal. The promises you made before the elections, the wave of euphoria you rode on, the chest beating support base you gathered, it is shrinking and before you know it, the only people supporting the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) will be over-enthusiastic teenagers going through their first exposure of naïve populist politics. But maybe it is pointless to bring this up. You have been at the receiving end of so much slack that you have become immune to any criticism tossed at your conspiracy theory loving ways.

History is the most brutal of avengers, and you Mr Khan, will feel its wrath eventually. You may find everything dished out your way to be above and beyond you, but that is not the way history will land its knockout punch. History will break you down, inch by inch, scrutinise you till no end, and then come up with a conclusion that we are all too familiar with. The books they will write, the essays they will compose, anything and everything will rip you apart in shreds. It will paint a picture that people will remember for ages to come. Your legacy will be answerable to your legion of supporters when they throw away their PTI blinded shades and face the cold hard truth, and then there will be nowhere to hide.


No military man will protect you. No religious faction will take your side. You will be out in the open, at the mercy of the vultures that have already started circling over your fast decaying political career. And when that happens, you won’t be able to point fingers at imaginary third forces. Not the media you claim has sold out to dollars, not the government you claim licks the boots of the Americans and not the drones you claimed only take innocent lives. No, Mr Khan. You will be exposed in a manner not imagined before. Not because you are a violent criminal. But because you’re an ideological criminal sinking the state of Pakistan down the pool of its own blood every passing day.

You single-handed, gave a whole generation hope. You single handed, made promises that a whole generation was naive enough to believe. You singe handed, exposed them to political hard-lining. You single handed, made them treat your word as law, and you single handed, incorporated your twisted political ideology in them, polluting their minds.

While you reside in peace at Banni Gala, your shrinking support base breathes its last on the ventilator of childish agitational politics. While you roam around in your air conditioned Prado, every non-Muslim goes to sleep at night not sure if he will wake up alive the next morning. While you pass horrendously foolish statements, every Muslim who is not a Sunni walks the streets of Pakistan not sure if he will go back home in one piece.

And then you have the nerve to claim that the Pakistan Muslim League - Nawaz (PML-N) is root cause of all problems in Pakistan.

Shame on you.
WRITTEN BY: Salman Zafar

The writer works in the Education Sector and tweets as https://twitter.com/salmanzafar1985">@salmanzafar1985

The views expressed by the writer and the reader comments do not necassarily reflect the views and policies of the Express Tribune.

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