Why I still love Imran Khan despite his flaws

In the last fifteen days that shook Pakistan, many of my PDM supporting or ‘neutral’ friends asked me why I still support Imran Khan, despite all his flaws? Well, it’s partly because of them actually. My love affair with Imran Khan, like all love affairs, isn’t linear or constant. It ebbs and flows. And boy does it flow when everyone gangs up against him. And it reaches fever pitch when someone like Bilawal Bhutto welcomes me back to Purana Pakistan with a straight face in parliament.

First, Imran’s critics used to say he doesn’t know how to play politics and can never win an election. When he won an election, they called him selected. When he stood up against the selectors, they said he was under the influence of a witch, who happens to be his wife. When he was thrown out of power in a hybrid coup and I came out on the streets to support him, they said I was part of a cult.

Critics of Imran Khan often make the mistake of projecting a satirical version of a PTI voter and building their analysis on flawed assumptions. Many critics today are arguing Imran Khan is some kind of piped piper like figure who casts a magic spell on his followers, and they can no longer see his flaws. But the truth is the exact opposite. It’s not that Imran’s supporters can’t see his flaws but that they see his flaws and still choose to support him. The real question is: why do his followers support him despite so many flaws? Never for a moment do his critics consider the possibility that Imran Khan’s dream of a Naya Pakistan has a genuine constituency, without delegitimising him and electrifying his base as an outcome.

Imran Khan is a half empty vessel for hope itself. And hope is a powerful currency. Especially in a country where the overwhelming majority of the population is dangerously young and deeply dissatisfied with coming of age in Purana Pakistan. It’s not that PTI voters can’t see the problematic parts of Naya Pakistan or are blind to the compromises made to keep their hope alive. This is why, despite three and a half years of sub-optimal performance and governance, voters are still organically showing up in the streets to support Imran Khan. They’re here to prove to the selectors that Imran Khan isn’t a manifestation of their dreams but the aspirations of the Pakistani youth bulge.

No, we don’t believe the over-hyped charges of an American conspiracy are to blame for Imran Khan being booted out. This conspiracy was very much cooked at home versus Washington DC. This is why you don’t see much anti-American rhetoric at the rallies to support Imran Khan these days. Instead, you see an anti-someone sentiment but I can’t take any names because we live in a dictatorship cloaked within the burqa of democracy. Imran Khan is also not naming any names because he does genuinely care about the country but his message is clear.

Meanwhile, those who opposed Imran Khan in the name of civilian supremacy should be horrified that their political leaders cut a deal with the very boys they demonised for the last three years to come back into power. It’s clear now that we’re watching the same bad Lollywood movie on repeat. Nothing has changed. This was never a war against selection, it was only a fight to get selected.

So now that we’re all naked in this civilian supremacy hammam, let’s get real about our choices. It’s two feudal, dynastic political parties or a flawed Imran Khan who is giving an urban, middle class voter the chance to become a real constituency in this country’s political system. Who do you think I’m going to vote for? A flawed past or a flawed future?

My favorite Imran Khan critic is the one who says just because I hate Imran Khan doesn’t mean I support PML-N or PPP. Frankly, I admire a PPP or PML-N voter more than someone who has the privilege not to support anyone. Neutrality, in this country, means supporting the status quo and no one wants that more than the establishment.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 17^th, 2022.

Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.