Interview: Imran Khan on Elections and Boycott

Re: # 16 viqar is 200 % right .

Re: # 14 lets hope that this occupation army is booted out.

Re: # 11 o kaddu , tu bara sincere hai.

Imran Khan comes across as an honest and sincere man who feels for the people. It is a pity that he has not been able to make a real dent in Pakistani politics. It is no wonder, because only scoundrels can thrive in politics.

#20 muqaddam: it not so simple as that. what imran khan lacks is organizing ability. thus - there are plenty of people who know the right answer and are perfectly well-meaning (everyone on chowk, e.g.). but there are very few people who have the organizing ability and the drive to build up a grass-roots movement.

does that mean imran khan is irrelevant to pakistan politics (like everyone on chowk, e.g.)? of course not. he has served as a rallying point for students, e.g. and students, once they take to the streets, can serve to bring dictators down (as in 1969). so, imran khan plays a useful niche role in Pakistan politics. He may not be the solution, but he is part of the solution.

Re: # 16
"They might come from "among us" but the institution that molds and shapes them is externally imposed, it is genuinely "alien": it is an indigeneously staffed US occupation force".

Externally imposed? And who allowed it to be "imposed" on us? After independence in 1947, we had the opportunity to determine how we would shape our society, what type of institutions and social behavior we would accept or reject as free people. But we rejected freedom after God(SWT) gave it to us preferring, instead, to remain slaves to whatever oppressive authority that tried to assert itself.

If I grabbed you by the collar and tried to forcibly push you over the edge of a cliff, would you, at least, resist?

"Externally imposed" indeed! hum ne azadi ke mafhoom ko samjha hi nahiN.

"Struggle will get you nowhere unless you understand how the game is played, just as it gets those busting their a$$ 15 hours a day day in and day out nowhere out of poverty".

By all means let us understand the game; but no one said that we have to then accept it and remain forever a prisoner to its rules. Nations which prospered did not remain shackled by the chains of outdated systems; they developed new ones more suited to their socio-psychological needs. But no matter how much someone screamed to us ke,

"kaifiat baaQi puraane koh-o sahera maeN nahiN
hae junooN tera naya, paeda nayaa veerana kar",

his wails fell only on deaf ears.

"You need to think at the social/institutional level rather than pass indiviudual moralistic judgments".

Nothing in what I wrote restrains one from thinking at the social/institutional level. Before anything else, though, we needed - and, after 60 years, still need - to establish what we want to be? Where we want to go? We have not even done that. We have no consensus on anything. The result is the unappetizing soup of secularist, socialist, capitalist, obscurantist, militant/extremist visions whose forces keep pulling us every which way.

aur hum itne sada loh haen ke:

"chalte haen thoRi dur har ek rehguzar ke saath
pehchaante nahiN haen abhi raahbar ko hum"

"Regarding your quote at the end, I doubt Allah had given Abu Bakr or anyone else the authority to pass such broad generalizations in his name......"

It did not occur to me that he was trying to be God's spokesman. He was only stating his perceptive understaning of God's Sunnah; and itsounds quite plausible. If your vanity must rebut it, go find us some examples of nations that sat on their butt, steeped in corruption and outdated oppressive customs, and whom God Rewarded with rivers of milk and honey.

But talk is cheap. Why don't you stick to what you are good at; namely blowing your own trumpet and trying to put down others in vain.
Abu Bakr(RA) and his faith is not your cup of tea.

Re: # 21

tahmed mian,

.... imran khan is as relevant to pakistan politics as maulana bhashani, nawabzada nasrullah khan and air marshall asghar khan ....... you can argue about maulana bhashani, but the other two were definitely well meaning men with a habit of pissing in the wind and getting themselves wet along with their handful of followers ...... he is their present day gadhi nasheen ....

.... on the other hand aitizaz ahsan might be on to something ..... if you are looking for a dark horse, you might want to put some money on him .......

Re: # 23

"on the other hand aitizaz ahsan might be on to something ..... if you are looking for a dark horse, you might want to put some money on him ....... "

I will put my money on him -- the future prime minister of a secular Pakistan.

Re: # 24

nasah mian,

.... like you and the proverbial cat, i too dream of scraps from the butcher shop ! ..... eid mubarak

#24 Posted by nasah on December 21, 2007 7:28:47 am


I will put my money on him -- the future prime minister of a secular Pakistan.


My money is on the flying pig..

Re: # 26

arjun,

... can you change that to a flying horse named buraq ? ...... and please don't mention the word 'pig' on this forum unless you want your mouth washed out with soap .....

Eid Mubarak -- hamidm, tahmed and Arjun miaN on his flying pig.

tahmed, peon of the West writes "does that mean imran khan is irrelevant to pakistan politics (like everyone on chowk, e.g.)? of course not. he has served as a rallying point for students"

Hypocrisy thy name is tahmed. Here is a person who was preaching to us as well as to IK that he should stay out of politics and concentrate on his charity work like Eidi, and now he does a turnaround, why? because the desire of the US elite coincided with using Imran as a "niche". That is the only principle he abides by this tahmed fellow, that of unconditional worship of the Western elite.

The IK needs to understand the rules of the game, as an outsider shouting against the powers that be, based on his celebrity value (the apathy factor which doesn't work in politics)he will achieve nothing except for being a "niche" in attaining the desires of the powers that be at various times. He will be used and discarded as a whore (pardon my expression but I am sincere to him unlike tahmed). He needs to figure out how to become a part of the establishment using whatever means necessary and then play the role that he is playing on the outside at this moment...

watch tahmed and his chaprasee redflag my post because they are mortally afraid of anyone busting the mythology of white supremacy and Western overlordship. They stand exposed...

In addition to #29, and finally IK should give up his "romance" with his ex-wife who spat him out like used chewing gum and quit acting like a "peon of the West" in that field. Politics is about the life and death of the Pakistani people, it is not about sending impression making emails to the love of your life who has discarded you and at the time thought of you and your kids as horse shit....

...there are three politicians whose name i have always highlighted as good prospects for the future - imran and aitezaz - both are out of the race.....the third was omer asghar khan, who passd away a few years ago....

...imran khan will always be the voice of conscious of pakistan........however, he needs a constituency.......he will never be able to compete against ppp and pml as long as pakistan's politics is based on feudalism and piri-faqiri - nearly all of whom are in ppp and pml......

.......aitezaz has a constituency......the lawyers.....he has clearly indicated his loyalties are with the lawyers over the ppp......

.....a few interesting developments.....pml's feudals and pirs are now, almost totally out of the pml(n) and are all in pml(q)......so pml(n) is now an urban upper class party...none of its top leaders - nawaz, shahbaz, javed hashmi, raja zafar, chaudhry nisar, khwaja saad, etc. are feudals or pirs.......

ppp is all filled with feudals and pirs at its top end - benazir, amin fahim, gilani, shah mehmood etc........the one top guy, who was no a pir - aitezaz - has parted ways.....(jehangir badr and raza are two others, but insignificant)...

...since 62% or so of pakistani politics is still based on piri and feudalism/tribalism, one would have to conclude that ppp and pml(q) will win the most seats, as this part of politics is relatively unaffected by other factors.......

mqm has the largest non-feudal votebase, however, it is totally with musharraf......jui(f) has the second highest, and it is with musharraf.......

much will depend on what ppp does......does it roll over towards musharraf or does it roll towards the non-feudal/non-pir group.......it doesn't belong with either......

aitezaz ahsan should start his own political party and separate out from the ppp......he has nothing in common with benazir etc.....

.....imran khan might defeat everyone in a 1-1 race, but he needs to develop a constituency for his party, which is unique........

musharraf has things well organized......he rigs elections to get pml(q) around a third of the seats.....this combined with mqm and jui and ppp (sherpao) gives him almost enough for a majority....then he offers benazir some carrots to join in or threatens her party members, and gets a majority.......

back to square one - though he will need 2/3rd majority to get indemnity for his actions.......that he cannot do even with rigging........for that he will need all of ppp's vote.....he was able to do it last time, with mma vote......what will he do this time........