Heartbroken Over Imran Khan

No, I am not Zoya Ali. I am not any of those crazy girls who have been standing all dolled up at Imran Khan’s dharnas hoping to catch Imran Khan’s attention, or perhaps the media’s? I am not even a girl from the 80’s who has seen the prime youth of Imran Khan and held a secret crush for him into this age. Nah, none of that. I am simply a politically conscious citizen of Pakistan who does not shrug her shoulders at the mention of politics and say ‘I couldn’t care less’. No, but I care a lot, because, ‘politics’ although a maligned and murky water right now, is a pond right outside my door step which moisturizes the wind coming into my windows and channels the water pipes into my house. If I say that I am indifferent to politics, I am saying that I am indifferent to what is happening to me.

I became a PTI supporter for the simple reason that I saw in Imran Khan a visionary, potential and daring leader. It was a mathematical choice, not an emotional choice, or an inherited choice like choosing the PPP, nor a self-interest choice like choosing the PML-N. Most of PTI supporters are either ex-PPP voters or ex-PML-N voters, like myself. We being ex-voters of someone else proves our cry of desire for ‘Change’. When we ask for change, we first of all change what is within us, and that includes our voting direction.

“The fact is that Allah never changes the condition of a people until they intend to change it themselves ...” [The Holy Quran, Surah Ar-Ra’ad, Excerpt from Verse 11]

The will and potential to change is the most powerful and dangerous potential within a human being. It means that if once upon a time I was strong enough to quit voting for PML-N, today, I would be having the strength to quit voting for PTI as well.

The news of Imran – Reham divorce has been nothing short of a shock of a lifetime. How could Imran Khan do this? There are many conspiracy theories running around his divorce. So is Imran Khan, 63-year-old, so naïve that he could not figure out that he was marrying an agent planted by the West who would ultimately poison him? Or is Imran Khan, a leader, so shaky that he got overpowered by the political resistance against Reham Khan from within his own political party, possibly the female cluster? Or is Imran Khan, a man, so typically chauvinistic and insecure that he could not tolerate the spread of the wings of his wife, Reham Khan?

In the past, voting was a kind of mundane activity. With Imran Khan, it became a passion, a rage, an elation. The passion of Imran Khan for a change and rise as a nation infused within us a revolution. But not blindness. We will not turn a blind eye to the blunders of our leader like the N-leaguers and PPPians do. We stand for truth and change. We will follow the Sunnah of the Muslim pioneers where a common man had the guts to question Syedna Umar RA as to why he was wearing two chaddars instead of one as everybody else had gotten in fairness? And a common woman had the guts to object to the opinion-formation of the same intimidating Khalifah, who was considering to limit the amount of dowry a man gifts to his bride at the time of marriage. This questioning and possible objection is not disrespect, nor lack of loyalty, but commitment to ethics and principles of leadership and followership.

It has been three days since the fallow news of Imran-Reham divorce. And my heart is still in sorrow. As I said, supporting Imran Khan was not a mundane activity, but a passion, a joy … I think, my first political love. And as it goes, first loves are hard to forget. Ever since the divorce, I have been waking up in the morning with a heavy heart, a mournful heart, a betrayed heart. My heart skips a beat when I see the PTI flag somewhere. I feel melancholies when fragments of his taranas play themsleves in my ears…

I want to know what happened.

In the old Pakistan, if a man beats up his wife and the neighbors hear the commotion of it, they hush up each other saying ‘It is their personal matter…’ In Naya Pakistan, it does not happen so. We voted for you. We expect the Naya Pakistan from you as far as you are concerned. Neither you nor Reham have given any public statement as to the reasons of this divorce. So it is a dilemma for us. Should we quit supporting you or continue? Women, sensitive women, sensitive to the respect and rights of women shall not be able to continue supporting you. While, the opportunist, the jealous and the selfish women would not care less. I have seen various reactions by women and men regarding this divorce on media. Some are blaming Imran Khan. Some are blaming Reham Khan. But the worst reaction is that of indifference. As if they are dead people.

Imran Khan, you must tell us why you divorced Reham Khan. I greatly respect the fact that you have never spoken ill of Jemima even after your divorce with her, like a true gentleman, and I am not asking you to do so with Reham. However, you need to state fair facts in this precarious situation. And so should Reham Khan tell. And that information will act as the third umpire for us in this messy match !