Overseas Pakistanis’ support for Imran Khan

Several people have commented on the issue of how Pakistanis living in the United States favour and cheer for a liberal government in America but when it comes to Pakistan, they prefer the conservative leaning government of PTI and adore the cricket star turned politician and former playboy born again religious conservative Imran Khan. These seemingly contrasting beliefs are labeled as double standards of Pakistanis in America. It is about time this issue is hit head-on. There is no double standard here. Absolutely Not. The noise about double standards is nothing more than a matter of spin.

I cannot speak for all of the Pakistani people living in America but having lived here for over a decade and being active with several communities, I can speak for a good majority of the Pakistani diaspora here. Let us look at the government in the United States in the last decade or so. I have my own criticism regarding President Obama’s foreign policy but the fact remains that he voiced respect for and tolerance towards immigrant and Muslim communities. He talked about and actually did create a path toward citizenship for immigrants. He was the man with a drone but he was also a man with respect for minorities inside America.

The current US President Joe Biden being the Vice President with Obama doesn’t think differently when it comes to immigrants. He is even more gung-ho about the minorities and immigrants. His running mate and now Vice President was born to an immigrant family. Biden’s entire election campaign was all about uniting the people of America as one nation where all people would be treated with respect and dignity. Pakistanis living in America find such rhetoric therapeutic because the nationalist racist ideology on the opposite side wants to expel or hurt them, let alone have any respect for them. In a nutshell, Biden and his supporters were all about the people. Trump and his supporters were all about the white people.

For the very same reason, Pakistani Americans support Imran Khan. The desire is for some sort of leadership that stands up and fights for people. One of the reasons why people try to acquire American citizenship is because they know that the American government will be there for them should they end up in any trouble in a foreign country. There is this belief that the American government has their backs. And they would absolutely love it knowing that the Pakistani government has it too. They would even settle for the realisation that the Pakistani government is at least looking out for the poor and weak in the society. This is not about double standards, this is rather about the people. Wondering who stood for the people?

When drone strikes were an everyday reality of Pakistani lives, the Pakistani prime minister at the time, Yousaf Raza Gillani, said: “We’ll protest in the National Assembly and then ignore it.” His boss and the party chairman at the time and the current de facto chief of the PPP, Asif Zardari, said: “Collateral damage worries you Americans. It does not worry me.” And then there was Imran Khan protesting against the drone strikes and talking about the lives of those innocent victims of drone strikes that were written off by the western press as ‘suspected militants’.

Imran Khan talked about talking to the Taliban in Afghanistan as the only solution to ending the longest American war. He was labeled as Taliban Khan for that. He shifted from being a playboy walking shirtless on beaches with his British girlfriends to one where he wore the traditional Pakistani clothes and was seen offering prayers. He talked about faith and God. Supporting that is not supporting conservative mindset per se. It is rather supporting his desire and struggle to give equality and dignity to the people of Pakistan, which is exactly why Pakistanis in America support the liberals for. Let us put this spin to rest.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 1^st, 2022.

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