Imran Khan, perhaps, is the only leader in today’s Pakistan who, even though not in power, is
discussed almost everywhere, in political, social and media circles. His
followers regard him as an icon of change while his detractors find fault in
everything he says or does or intends to do or is even perceived to have
intended (refer TuQ dharna :D). The detractors, called IK-bashers by Khan’s
followers, include political opponents, media and intelligentsia.
Keeping aside criticism by political opponents, most bashing (yes
bashing) that Imran Khan receives from media and intellectuals (whatever that
term means) has a very strong shade of double standard, to be polite
(hypocrisy, to be harsh). How? Let me quote from TV anchor Moeed Pirzada’s Facebook
status update on his page few days ago:
“Do you sometimes feel that not only the politicians - who can be excused for being rivals- but even the key commentators in media keep on portraying Imran Khan and PTI very unfairly; as if there is one standard to judge intelligence, ability and wisdom of all Pakistani politicians and another 'higher' or 'western' standard to judge Imran Khan and PTI? for instance when Imran Khan is referred to as "inconsistent" or "flip-flop" then who in Pakistan is he being compared to? and so on on many similar issues....”.
Moeed Pirzada says it all about the thinking pattern – involuntary
or vested - of media and intellectuals when it comes to Imran Khan. It is for
this reason that we find Imran Khan and PTI being scrutinized even for such minor
issues as ‘mismanagement in PTI aftari’. Even though Imran Khan has never ruled
the land of the pure (so has technically no responsibility or part in the mess Pakistan finds itself in today), he is the
leader scrutinized (rather bashed) mostly over all issues; be it terrorism,
economy, energy or foreign relations etc.
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It is not uncommon for intellectuals to single out IK for bashing
over some particular issue. For example, Mr Feisal Naqvi wrote “Shame on you,
Mr Khan” just because he thought IK failed to condemn the attack on Malala
Yousafzai, even though IK was the 1st political leader to visit Malala
at CMH Peshawar a day after the incident. He condemned the
terrorists and offered to
bear all expenses of her treatment. Compared to IK no other mainstream
political leader visited her, even then Mr Naqvi had only IK to bash and not
Nawaz Sharif or Maulana Fazl or Zardari (all rulers). Different standards to
gauge?
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Take the example of Imran Khan’s stance on terrorism. Learned
Zahrah Nasir called IK ‘Thoughtless Khan’
over his anti-WOT views while Mr Saleem Safi and Mr Saroop Ijaz vehemently objected
to his Waziristan March, the latter calling it cowardly politics.
None of the learned intellectuals however, question Nawaz Sharif or Zardari
(the rulers responsible for controlling the mess) as to what is their plan, if
any, to end the bloodshed? Different gauges?
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Many intellectuals love to call IK Taliban Khan for having
proposed to hold talks for resolving the militancy problem, in FATA as well as
Balochistan. However, when the same demand has been copied
& relayed by Nawaz Sharif now, the silence of intellectuals is
deafening. No names like Taliban Sharif etc. Why? Different standards to gauge?
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A related issue is the killings of innocent Shias in Quetta, GB and elsewhere. Imran Khan was the
only political leader who went to express solidarity with Hazara Shia victims
of Quetta twice (April 2012 and January 2013)
and GB
Shia victims (September 2012). He has unequivocally
condemned LeJ for the killings and demanded action against them. Even then
liberals and intellectuals bash Imran Khan for not doing ‘enough’ on this front
(when he has nothing in hand actually). On the flip-side, PMLN has made electoral alliance
with ASWJ (front of LeJ) but no intellectual or media anchor has seriously
quizzed them over this fact. Why? Different gauges?
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Coming to policies; take Dr Pervez Hoodbhoy’s example who believes
Imran
Khan can’t save Pakistan because he thinks PTI’s stance is sheer rhetoric
and it has no concrete policy (incidentally Mr Hoodbhoy considers PMLN as the
answer to Pakistan’s economic problems :D). While writing this, the learned
professor conveniently ignores the fact that PTI is the only (safely only) party
to have presented comprehensive policies on all burning issues facing Pakistan;
from Energy
to Rural
Governance to Economy
to Health
to Youth
Empowerment to Curbing
Corruption. Again bashing IK without even questioning Nawaz or Zardari.
Different gauges?
.
Take the example of PTI’s intra-party elections. Questions were
raised by media and intellectuals about transparency of the membership
campaign, errors
in voter lists, delays in election schedule, grouping & lobbying in
UC-level elections, rifts
and infighting among workers. While pointing out flaws in PTI’s election
process, detractors conveniently forget to acknowledge that it is the only
party to take up such a huge task of multi-tier party elections down to UC
level. (The election
of lower middle class people is proof of transparency). The debate doesn’t
take the focus that it should i.e. asking Nawaz Sharif and Zardari and others
to follow suit and go for true party elections in their parties. Different
standards to gauge?
.
Thats not all. Come to asset declaration: PTI's leadership declared their assets in August 2012 and the same were posted on the party's website for public access. This was a huge step towards a corruption-free and financially transparent party - a phenomoneon not known to Pakistan. However, since the initiative was taken by PTI, it was taken for granted and the media & intellectuals failed to do the needful i.e. press PMLN, PPP and others to do the same. This step alone would have exposed the faces of the corrupt ruling Pakistan. It has been 6 months since August and one has yet to see the media or intellectuals raise this issue properly. Why? Different yardsticks?
.
Thats not all. Come to asset declaration: PTI's leadership declared their assets in August 2012 and the same were posted on the party's website for public access. This was a huge step towards a corruption-free and financially transparent party - a phenomoneon not known to Pakistan. However, since the initiative was taken by PTI, it was taken for granted and the media & intellectuals failed to do the needful i.e. press PMLN, PPP and others to do the same. This step alone would have exposed the faces of the corrupt ruling Pakistan. It has been 6 months since August and one has yet to see the media or intellectuals raise this issue properly. Why? Different yardsticks?
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Another example may merit a mention. All hell broke loose when
some electables from other parties joined PTI and everybody said Gen Pasha was
behind it. However, when dozens of Q-leaguer electables joined PMLN, nobody
said it was Gen Zaheer-ul-Islam pulling their strings. Different standards?
.
Similarly when TuQ (Dr Tahir Ul Qadri) landed on the political horizon in Dec 12, MQM sided with it and then flip-flopped a dozen times over joining or not joining TuQ’s 14-January dharna. PTI didn’t even join TuQ but the whole media scene was rife with conspiracy theories predicting that Imran Khan would join him & thus derail democracy. Nobody apologized when that didn’t happen and nobody has quizzed MQM since that day as to the reason of their flip-flops on Qadri? Why? Different standards?
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Similarly when TuQ (Dr Tahir Ul Qadri) landed on the political horizon in Dec 12, MQM sided with it and then flip-flopped a dozen times over joining or not joining TuQ’s 14-January dharna. PTI didn’t even join TuQ but the whole media scene was rife with conspiracy theories predicting that Imran Khan would join him & thus derail democracy. Nobody apologized when that didn’t happen and nobody has quizzed MQM since that day as to the reason of their flip-flops on Qadri? Why? Different standards?
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And who has missed the latest. PTI leaders meeting TuQ was sensationalized
with breaking headlines even though the same PTI leaders held similar meetings
with leadership of all parties outside the parliament like JI and MWM.
Intellectuals like Mr Kamran Shafi called it “nefarious plan
of Imran Khan”. However, when Nawaz Sharif sat together the other day with
Maulana Fazl (3 years PPP-ally), everybody praised his ‘political acumen’. Why
is PTI meeting TuQ bad but PMLN meeting JUI perfectly cool? Different standards
to gauge?
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While some of this
double-standard opinion-making may be condoned as error-of-judgement on
part of the media or intellectuals, there are some instances where the
opinions take the form of senseless rant,
mainly due to the hate (yes hate) that some so-called intellectuals and
media folks have for Imran Khan (call it Lifaafa or whatever). The
latest gems in this series came from Mr Kamran Shafi, the intellectual
with some personal vendetta, may be. Imran Khan expressed his views
about Asma Jehangir's candidature for caretaker PM politely and so did
Asma Jehangir but what justifies these disgusting remarks by a supposedly learned intellectual like Mr Shafi (calling IK an 'idiot', 'fool' and 'idiot of the highest order')?
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When some random
PTI supporter on Twitter or Facebook confronts such media folks and
intellectuals (some spell the word as Intellect-Chawal) over this double
standard, they are outrightly
dubbed ‘abusers’ or ‘trolls’. No Sires, they are not trolls. May be
their
choice of words for complaint needs refinement but their substance is
well-founded; the bias & double-standard is all too obvious.
In
the end, I would like to quote Abraham Lincoln:
“You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time”.
This is history's lesson my dear intellectuals & media
& IK’s political opponents.
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The writer is a tribesman from Bajaur Agency (FATA) and tweets at @PTI_FATA (Just a volunteer; no
official association with PTI)
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....................Disclaimer: This blog is not an official PTI webpage and is run by a group of volunteers having no official position in PTI. All posts are personal opinions of the bloggers and should, in no way, be taken as official PTI word.
With Regards,
"Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf FATA Volunteers" Team.
