Cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan called for
widespread civil disobedience in Pakistan, urging supporters to stop paying
taxes and utility bills in a bid to oust the government of Prime Minister Nawaz
Sharif. The populist politician also
raised the stakes- in a speech following a third day of protests in Islamabad,
he warned that after two more days he would no longer be able to stop his
supporters from storming the prime minister's house.
Today, as I write this article, PTI and PAT supporters have entered the red zone and are staging a sit-in in front of the parliament in Islamabad, while supporters here in Karachi protest near my house. I can hear slogans such as “Naya Pakistan” and “Go Nawaz Go” which frankly speaking have become so over used and clichéd, that they've almost lost their meaning.
Imran Khan, in this situation, is a perfect example of an immature stubborn child with an extremely huge ego. What makes me laugh is the fact that he thinks he has over 1 lakh supporters in the ‘inquilab march’ with him, which is obviously ridiculously over estimated. He came into the political scene with such a boom, but he absolutely failed to deliver. I used to be an Imran Khan supporter but during the past few months, I feel let down and disappointed. He can’t even seem to deliver a decent speech at his rally, going on for about 2 hours when he announced his ‘civil disobedience’ campaign, as if purposefully trying to drown in the lack of purpose in jargon.
He talks about fairness and ‘true democracy’ in this country, demanding re-elections in every province except KPK where he won the most seats. That just goes to show the double standards of this country’s politicians, who manipulate people for their own personal gain, and hide between slogans of ‘revolution’ and ‘change’.
Tonight, as all of Pakistan sits glued to their television sets, watching what happens next, I pray that some sense is knocked into PTI and they decide to take up the government’s offer for dialogue; or else it’s highly possible that we’ll see a battle between the supporters and the 30,000 security forces deployed to protect the PM house.
By: Sana Ahmad
Today, as I write this article, PTI and PAT supporters have entered the red zone and are staging a sit-in in front of the parliament in Islamabad, while supporters here in Karachi protest near my house. I can hear slogans such as “Naya Pakistan” and “Go Nawaz Go” which frankly speaking have become so over used and clichéd, that they've almost lost their meaning.
Imran Khan, in this situation, is a perfect example of an immature stubborn child with an extremely huge ego. What makes me laugh is the fact that he thinks he has over 1 lakh supporters in the ‘inquilab march’ with him, which is obviously ridiculously over estimated. He came into the political scene with such a boom, but he absolutely failed to deliver. I used to be an Imran Khan supporter but during the past few months, I feel let down and disappointed. He can’t even seem to deliver a decent speech at his rally, going on for about 2 hours when he announced his ‘civil disobedience’ campaign, as if purposefully trying to drown in the lack of purpose in jargon.
He talks about fairness and ‘true democracy’ in this country, demanding re-elections in every province except KPK where he won the most seats. That just goes to show the double standards of this country’s politicians, who manipulate people for their own personal gain, and hide between slogans of ‘revolution’ and ‘change’.
Tonight, as all of Pakistan sits glued to their television sets, watching what happens next, I pray that some sense is knocked into PTI and they decide to take up the government’s offer for dialogue; or else it’s highly possible that we’ll see a battle between the supporters and the 30,000 security forces deployed to protect the PM house.
By: Sana Ahmad
Imran Khan has openly challenged to hold elections in KPK if ever challenged. ( Just correcting here. No hate intended.)
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ReplyDeleteI'd just like to point a few things out,
ReplyDeletea) inqulab march is being conducted by PAT, not PTI,
b) Muhammad Afzal, retired additional secretory of the election commition, is on ARY as I type this reply and he clearly stated that there has been false balloting in 100 ballot offices and over 800% present voters this year (the average is roughly 51%)
c) have you heard of Martin Luther King Jr, Mahatma Gandhi or even Bill McKibben? They called civil disobedience movements too, you wanna call them "immature, stubborn children" too? No, because they actually achieved something, so now they're visionaries, they're revotionlists. Isn't that a double standard in itself?
d) I totally agree with your point that the whole country should have reelections, not where he lost. But honestly, I feel your article would've been a lot more digestible if it was argumentative and didn't consistently rant about not wanting revolution, you may be comfortable in your house, listening to the "slogans" but others aren't.
P.S. no hard feelings, I'm just sharing some constructive criticism. :)
I'm sorry, but revolution in this country has become a joke when people compare him to leaders like Martin Luther King Jr or Bill McKibben. These guys had ten times the support IK had. Revolution doesn't come with a few thousand people standing outside the parliament.
DeleteAnd since we're talking about 'double standards', let's not forget that IK said that he would rather keep a chaprasi in his party than join hands with sheikh rasheed. Yet now we see him grinning next to IK as he announces he wants revolution quickly so he can get married. That's some real revolutionary right there.
ReplyDeleteHave you ever heard of the Montgomery Bus Boycott? Do you know how many people stood with Martin Luther King Jr for that? Nuff' said.
ReplyDeleteI'm not asking you to change your views, I'm just asking you to state both point of views before calling someone a "stubborn child" it's offensive to some.
Thanks, Sana. :)
Well I didn't write this article to please anyone. It's simply what my views are on the matter. Whether or not people like it is not really my problem :)
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