I chose to vote for Imran Khan. In fact, I was severely confused between voting for PTI or JI, for to me, basically they are two sides of the same coin. Both are pro-Islamic, progressive, brave and want America to stop dictating us. I was once a PML-N voter but quit being so because despite the fact that PML-N is pro-Islamic, it is not brave and cannot stand-up to America. The deciding factor which made me vote for Imran Khan is that he seems to have more capability to face the challenges of the Muslim nation in the 21st century. He is highly qualified in education, has very good communication skills and has amazing international high profile public relations. He would have been able to handle our international causes and issues brilliantly.
The election results depict the vision and the priorities of the Pakistani voter. Some of us have a very local vision and not a global one. Some of us think short-term and not long term. Some of us think as an individual and not as a nation. Some of us become happy with promises of easy loans, electricity and gas issues and the building of roads only. In fact, some of us are so short-sighted that we would be more happy with some one-time cash payment made to us before the elections than the promise of free, quality education till high-school after the elections. Although the afore mentioned are the basics of life and a person is unable to focus well in life without these basic necessities of life being in place, however, the visionary knows that the real issues of life faced by the Muslim nation today are Drone Attacks, Missing Persons and the economic slavery to IMF. No? If you lived in a shabby home and your drive way was broken, then all of a sudden one of your daughters gets kidnapped. What would you focus on? Building your driveway or ransoming your daughter back? What is more important, building flyovers or repatriating Aafia Siddiqui? The Punjab PML-N government and Federal PPP government had a golden chance to repatriate Aafia Siddiqui when Raymond Davis was in custody, but Aafia Siddiqui was never a priority. I once asked Fowzia Siddiqui, sister of Aafia Siddiqui, after the successful Long March of 2009, why she did not approach the political parties to conduct a Long March for Aafia Siddiqui, especially PML-N? She said that she did approach, but all of them are scared to do so, except Imran Khan. Mind you, Imran Khan is the very leader who brought Yvonne Ridley to Pakistan and disclosed the notorious kidnapping and imprisonment of Aafia Siddiqui. Reader, wait a minute…do you know who Yvonne Ridley is? Who Aafia Siddiqui is? Do you care at all? Or are you a coward too? Or are you too engrossed with advertisements of Katrina Kaif?
So are the people of Khyber Pakhtunkhuwa more visionary than the rest of Pakistan? No, but they voted for him because they are facing the horrific war-of-terror there at its worst. The rest of Pakistan is also facing the percussions, but since we keep cracking jokes about Pathans, perhaps Allah Almighty penalized us by giving them and not giving us the intelligence to select the right leader. To add to it, as a nation, we are not bothered about an issue until it reaches right up to my doorstep. Globally, the Muslim nation’s life, property and self-respect is under siege today, but what do we care? ‘I am a Pakistani’. So at least care for the Pakistanis under siege?
Imran Khan is not a relative of mine and Nawaz Shareef is not an enemy. There is no doubt that Nawaz Shareef can take up excellent development projects, albeit the priority is somewhat confused, but Nawaz Shareef’s lifetime negative side is his past record with respect to America, starting from when he sold Emal Kansi to America, to his refusal to conduct a Long March for Aafia Siddiqui and other Missing Persons, to giving dual and contradictory statements about Drone Attacks, to go into hiding when Raymond Davis was to be whisked off by America, it becomes clear that Nawaz Shareef does not have the courage to stand up to American aggression and terrorism.
As the election day progressed, and I saw the PTI camps most crowded in Lahore, my hopes began to soar. Can it really be true? Will Imran Khan become our next Prime Minister? Oh my God! I excitedly began to look forward to the day when the next drone will come our way and the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Imran Khan, would order the Airforce of Pakistan to shoot it down, for this is what Imran Khan had promised. I excitedly began to look forward to the day when the next person would go missing and tough action will follow, for Imran Khan had said, ‘If a person goes ‘missing’ under our government, either the person is recovered or the Prime Minister goes home’. I excitedly began to look forward to the next day of the elections for Imran Khan had said they would start by putting the names of five hundred tax-evaders and corrupters names researched by PTI on the Exit Control List.
However, my hopes came crashing down as the election results began to surface, plunging me in deep despair and hopelessness. Another five years of Drone Attacks? Another five years of Missing Persons? Another five years of economic slavery to the IMF? Aafia Siddiqui stays in the prison of Carswell, Texas for another five years?
Perhaps the Pakistanis did not deserve a leader like Imran Khan, because they have yet not fathomed the real issues of life and Islam. Perhaps the Pakistanis are not yet ready to shoot down a drone and face its possible repercussions. Oh yes I recall the Hadith, ‘Like people, like rulers’. How can coward people get a brave leader? Is there a way to learn to be brave or is it god-gifted only? Perhaps the Pakistanis need five more years of burning in fire to become pure gold.
And perhaps PTI needs to increase its rural masses awareness program. Perhaps PTI supporters need to stop clapping and instead become PTI members to do some hard work instead of just cheering as supporters. Perhaps PTI members also need to learn humbleness, cordiality and decent language, for Allah Almighty does not like the proud, the boastful or the rude. Nawaz Shareef and his supporters get full marks for their honorable behavior in response to the PTI aggression towards them. Even the PTI leadership was behaving arrogantly when the media questioned them about Nawaz Shareef’s honorable response to Imran Khan’s fall and injury. They shrugged it off as ‘eastern values’ and no big deal. We have also been requesting Imran Khan not to degrade Nawaz Shareef in his public rallies. To point out professional mistakes and weaknesses is one thing, but to call someone a circus-lion is not acceptable.
Sir Imran Khan, all is not lost. You still have great things ahead of you, right after these elections. You are getting Khyber Pakhtunkhuwa, Insha Allah. Please do not refuse it. Khyber Pakhtunkhuwa is the hub of foreign interference right now. Although you will not have the complete power necessary to put it in order, because you will only be a provincial assembly, but there is still a lot you can do starting from hygiene and health, education and jobs, security and terrorism and most importantly, blocking NATO supply-lines and not allowing drones to cross into Khyber Pakhtunkhuwa my some local methodology. Think! Your team is educated, intellectual and revolutionary. Put your brains together and come up with something out-of-the-box. Make Khyber Pakhtunkhuwa a model province, so that the other provinces realize the mistake they have made and what they have lost. Be the ideal provincial chief minister, so that other leaders may learn from you.
InshAllah, your and our dream of Naya Pakistan will materialize, perhaps, a term late. Just like Prophet Muhammed Pbuh envisioned the Umrah, but he and his friends could not do it that year and the dream came true the next year. For the time being, everyone, welcome back to Purana Pakistan…
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