Is Imran Khan our Jon Snow?

Khan has the grit, courage of a leader but does he have the smarts, innovative spirit to outflank his grizzly bear?

What’s common between Game of Thrones, The Revenant, The Martian and our own PTI? As it turns out, quite a bit.

Jon Snow, the popular character played by Kit Harrington in the HBO blockbuster Game of Thrones, was stabbed and left for dead in the climactic scene of the last season. He now seems to be back from the dead in the sixth season starting this April. Or so it seems since he’s featured on the promotional poster. After all, the Ironborn Greyjoys in the series do believe “What is dead can never die!”

Mark Watney, the astronaut played by Matt Damon in the Oscar-nominated movie The Martian is left for dead on Mars. But he belies death and all odds to claw back to life on the red planet as proof of the sheer resilience of the human spirit (no more spoilers).



Hugh Glass, the mountain man played by Leonardo DiCaprio in the Oscar-favourite The Revenant is left for dead by his team after he is savagely mauled by a grizzly bear. But he crawls back to life against all odds through sheer will and grit, demonstrating yet again the resilience of the human spirit.

The common theme: never give up; never give in; take control of the uncontrollable. Life finds a way.

Does Imran Khan relate to the mauling of DiCaprio’s character by the grizzly in The Revenant? Does he relate to Damon’s struggle to survive in an alien planet? Can Khan relate to the resurrection of Jon Snow after multiple stabbings and an apparent death? Does Khan today resemble these three characters in his struggle to survive repeated attacks, and his refusal to give up against all electoral odds?

After the local government polls, Punjab is to Khan what Mars was to Damon — a lonely, brutal, unforgiving land proving barren for the PTI’s electoral victories. Sindh is for Khan what the grizzly was for DiCaprio — savage, punishing and utterly merciless in rejecting the PTI again and again. And the post-dharna, post-Judicial Commission report Khan is seen to be like Jon Snow — a fallen commander left for dead by his treacherous brothers of the Night’s Watch.

But like these three, Khan is a tenacious fighter who refuses to be defeated. In the movies, and in fables, the tough, uncompromising, resilient heroes who persevere against the harshest of challenges ultimately win. That’s the message we hear again and again: persevere, refuse to stay down, get up and fight — and life will find a way.



But always?

If his struggle were a movie, Khan today is at the low point where the hero is taking a battering. He is at a point where everything seems to fall apart for the leading man. But then comes that defining moment when Rocky gets up from the mat and finds his mojo; when the background score ratchets up and the fightback starts. That’s when we know our Man (or Woman) is on the road to redemption and ultimate vindication.

Khan’s struggle is not a movie, and that’s a problem.

This last week, all PTI office-holders left office to prepare for party elections. Last time these polls were fractious, bitter, divisive and in many cases rigged. They ruptured the party from the inside, and the wounds cut deep. Justice Wajih waged a lonely battle against the PTI Establishment to right the wrongs of these elections, but the end was how the end usually is — the party Establishment won.

Any regular person would have shied away from initiating such an exercise again. But then a regular person on Mars would have given up in face of the awesome adversity and died a lonely death; a regular person would have not had the will to survive the savage mauling by a monstrous animal and will himself back to life.

Khan is clearly no ordinary person.

But leading a life less ordinary is no guarantee of political success. Khan has the grit to fight on, but does he have the foresight to win in a complex game? He can struggle; he can persevere; he can motivate. But can he innovate?

Nothing less than innovation will get him out of the Martian crater he finds himself in right now. The PML-N is the lord commander of Punjab; it is the grizzly bear in the Centre — massive, powerful, authoritative and in control. And to top it all, it’s delivering.

Yes, these may not be good times, but they are certainly better times. We are winning the war against the terrorists and law and order is under control. The economy is on the mend, helped by low oil prices and prudent fiscal policies. The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor is gradually unfolding like a magic carpet and promises to be a game changer in terms of $46 billion dollars of Chinese investment. If all goes according to plan, Pakistan should be on the road to relative prosperity in the next five years or more (possibly less). Another peaceful civilian-to-civilian transfer of power in 2018 would set a groundbreaking precedent in a country not envied for political stability.



All this is good. But for Khan and the PTI too? We know Khan stands against the Sharifs. But what does he stand for? What is his message for 2018? Performance delivery in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa? Sorry, performance message has already been trademarked by Shahbaz Sharif. Justice for all? Post-Iftikhar Chaudhry, justice doesn’t have the same pull anymore? Rigging? The Judicial Commission blasted that one out of the stadium. Law and order? Nope, the army’s got ownership already. Economy? Nawaz Sharif has a handle on it. National appeal? The PPP and the MQM reign supreme in rural and urban Sindh and the PML-N retains Punjab. Fresh faces? One look at the PTI high command and freshness dies a violent death.

So what does the PTI stand for that no other party already stands for? What is the PTI’s message?

DiCaprio and Damon are fighters, but they are innovators too. They think and adjust according to the enormity of the challenge. Jon Snow takes on Mance Rayder more through brain than brawn. Our heroes win not just because they’re strong, but because they’re smart.

Khan has the grit and courage of a leader, but does he have the smarts and the innovative spirit to outflank his grizzly bear? The answer will lie in what he and his party stand for today and in 2018 that is original, authentic and simple to understand.

Think. What would Jon Snow do?

Published in The Express Tribune, January 17^th, 2016.

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