Rallying for change

I don’t think Imran Khan has a clear policy on anything. I want to know where he wants to take the country and how.

It’s been over a week since a rally in Lahore marked the formal arrival of Imran Khan into the political arena, at least according to most of the media and analysts. One newspaper went to the extent of portraying Imran in ‘Obama colours’.

But Imran was no Obama; neither in character nor speech. He was missing the eloquence. He did not rise above petty politics and slapstick one-liners.

It was my first ever political rally and I had imagined that it would be chaotic and mismanaged; that people would not be very gracious. I was wrong. Everyone seemed to be in a good mood. All they did after hours of waiting was to shout “Speaker, speaker” — but that too good-naturedly.

There were two big TV screens in the venue. I had thought Khan’s address would be telecast on them but for some strange reason that did not happen. The sound system, too, could have been better. Maybe the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf did not anticipate such a huge turnout and thought that there would be no need.

But the crowd did not seem to mind. I overheard a lot of conversations, the gist of which was that Khan was the only hope; PPP and PML-N voters saying that they had had enough. And then there were the people who, like me, had never been to a political rally. Then, of course, there were the theories about how the establishment had supported Khan.

The media went gaga over his speech. It might have been better than the ones that we are usually accustomed to hearing but it still left a lot to be desired. He touched upon a lot of things but that is exactly it. He barely scratched the surface of most issues. It seemed Khan threw in a lot of stuff in his ‘bullet points’ speech as tarka — like protecting the minorities and ensuring education — but what he failed to do was to elaborate. And he lost me completely at “Thanedars will be elected”.

Despite all my reservations, I admit that the number of people who turned up for the rally was very impressive. People were there because they wanted to be. Whether they will actually step up, by demanding more from Khan, joining his civil disobedience movement if things come to that and voting for him, remains to be seen.

There were some signs of maturity, or shrewdness, in Khan. He seemed to realise that he would have to ‘accept’ America as a friend. Another thing that might score him some points and also make the US take notice of him is the group of people who came from Fata and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.

Where it was good to see the people come out and cheer, they need to realise that they should have, and deserve much more than, blind faith. They need to demand much more than the one line and one paragraph versions of what Khan says his mandate is.

I don’t think he has a clear policy on anything and I want to know where he wants to take the country and how. If he is just going to impose his own will on the people without taking us into confidence, what is the difference between him, Musharraf and the current government? I am worried about him being a closet mullah. I want him to explain his point of view on women’s issues, rights and religion. He said he will ensure that minorities are protected. How does he plan on doing that? Will he repeal the blasphemy law? And I want to hear why he’s inducting people from the PML’s different factions and the PPP into his party when he has criticised them to no end. Why should he get the people’s votes if he’s no different than the others?

We need to hold him accountable, when there is still time. Accountability should no longer be put off until after the damage has been done because nothing hurts more than being given hope and having it snatched away.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 10^th, 2011.