-Syed Haider Raza Mehdi
Those who spend their time spouting invective against Imran, a person who wants to change a terrible system and equating his occasional inconsistencies or an intemperate comment or a questionable political position and action to someone like this master mafia crook, looter and plunderer Nawaz, is to say the least, grossly unfair!
The recent calumny is about PTI nominating Sammy Sandwich for a Senatorial slot. This is untrue. The Sandwich has not been nominated. But such is the venom against Imran, even reasonable people fall into the trap of beating the drums without ascertaining the facts.
The spineles slavish sheep, I don’t blame, but those who know better, do themselves great injustice and disservice and to their credibility by forwarding other people’s Shahid Masood type dhabardhoos claims, conveniently absolving themselves of all responsibility of such acts.
And many amongst this terrible tribe of so called liberatti twits are at the forefront of comparing Imran and Nawaz and attempting to tarnish Imran!
Don’t they understand that in their pettiness they’re putting obstacles in our attempts to change our rotten system and darkening their own futures and of our future generations!
I think we’re all missing a huge point and the big picture completely, while wallowing in the superficiality of snowflake analysis and narratives.
There’s absolute no comparison between the massive loot and plunder of the Sharifs and the Zardaris and Imran Khan’s challenges of trucking with questionable people or some ill thought through political actions.
Imran has singlehandedly changed the politics of Pakistan.
In his 22 years he has created a third force in an entrenched and corrupt two party system.
He has donated his entire wealth towards his hospitals and university.
He has worked with whatever is available to try and bring change in Pakistan.
And yes he has had to compromise. He has had to work with what’s available. And yes he has fallen prey to expediency and yes he has made errors of judgement.
But if he hadn’t done some of this, he would still be in the political wilderness, such is the terrible corruption of this landscape. And tragically Nawaz would have been even more deeply entrenched.
Let’s not forget, that it was his 2nd November 2016 Dharna call on his Panamagate petition, which forced the Supreme Court to take up the petition. Had this not happened, Nawaz would still be PM and Ishaq Dar still Finance Minister. But by this one act, he and his supporters changed Pakistan’s history.
But to us? it’s his marriage which dominates! Or the helicopter hours. Or Aleem Khan. Or Sammy Sandwich! Or Taliban Khan! Etc.
I’m uncomfortable with his cosying to the rightists. His dependence on a few advisers, some seriously questionable. Aleem Khan clearly one. His inability to politically disengage from Jehangir Tareen, despite the guilty Supreme Court verdict. The award of the Lodhran ticket to Jehangir’s son, Ali Tareen left a very bad taste. The apparent lack of party organization at the grass roots. And the fact that he’s lost many good people and disillusioned thousands. And if he would only listen more!
His biggest assets were and hopefully still are his own personal credibility and corruption free good governance. Anything that impacts these two such as the several Achilles heels mentioned above will significantly impact his chances to succeed!
But I still think he stands between us and anarchy! I still think he holds hope for a better, brighter Pakistan offering education, health care, opportunities for our youth. A Pakistan where our national interests will dominate and not the personal interests of a crooked merchant selling our interests to foreign governments.
And above all, I think he’s an institution and nation builder, which will lead to sustainable progress!
He is a patriot. He is honest. He is committed. He is relentless in his pursuit of a better Pakistan! He has done what he could in the KPK, despite the challenges of working with wily traditional politicians and novice newcomers and not having direct oversight!
But what shames me is that good people, thinking people, educated people, will continue to hammer away at him, in ways that are so petty and demeaning that they don’t even warrant a response.
While we should be shouting at the top of our voices and praising this guy for singlehandedly bringing that looter and plunderer, Nawaz, to justice, we want to trip him up. We want to cut him down. We want to destroy him simply because we are members of the gravy train, eating and benefiting from the massacre and savagery the Sharifs and Zardaris have wreaked on Pakistan. We join the other looters and plunderers who want to destroy his credibility because they want to save this terribly corrupt and dysfunctional system!
Or we are prejudiced and petty, devoid of a good sense and above all ignorant, wallowing in “What aboutism”!
We’ve lost our sense of right and wrong. Our sense of proportion and judgement. Our inability to differentiate from what is totally evil to what are not existential errors.
In simple terms. We have completely lost our ability to differentiate good from evil.
Consequently, forgetting his tremendous achievements and sacrifices, we equate Imran’s inconsistencies, which in my opinion, are not existential in the larger scheme of things, with the criminality, corruption, loot and plunder of Nawaz and Zardari and the system they represent!
Nawaz the criminal, now goes up and down the land shrieking himself hoarse attempting to plead his case and foist that piece of absurdity, his daughter, on us.
But perhaps the most serious charge against Nawaz is his suspect loyalty to Pakistan.
What say you of a person who has till date not uttered a single word on the Kulbashan Yadav case or taken his name in public and taken India to task? A criminal silence!
What say you of a person who allegedly, personally handed over a letter to Jindal in Murree, allegedly written by Kulbashan, requesting the Indian government to fight his case in the Hague? A necessary legal requirement for the Indian government to fight Kulbashan’s case!
What say you of a person who will use the services of a known traitor, Husain Haqqani, as determined by the Supreme Court of Pakistan, to get a USA lobbying firm for himself?
What say you of a person who lied in Parliament, in public, in court, committed forgery, betrayed the people’s trust?
What say you of a person who has allegedly money launderer and siphoned away $3 Billion dollars of public money?
What say you of a person who has not improved the workings of a single state institution on his three tenures as PM? Not one!
What say you of a person who has recently been named by Transparency International in the UK to have bought his Avenfield apartments with ill gotten funds?
And yet we compare this man to Imran.
This to me is our biggest tragedy. And all we have in response is “But what about…..?
It is time to reflect and ask yourself. Who and what is really good for Pakistan, our childen and our future?
– Haider Mehdi
Dear Sir,
Being quite fond of you, still, I must protest your choice of words such as “spineless slavish sheep, liberatti twits, prejudiced and petty, devoid of a good sense and above all ignorant, wallowing in “What aboutism, members of the gravy train, eating and benefiting from the…., join the other looters and plunderers.”
One or two extreme statements are more than enough, more constitute a diatribe. Please do not get carried away! I am totally opposed to IK but am at a loss to understand where you would rate me in the above descriptions.
Perhaps you are missing the point that this kind of language is one of the prime reasons of abhorring his style of Politics. I feel it is a result of our flawed education system and curricula that produces the shallow; foul-mouthed; knee-jerk reactions of semi-literate individuals who know not their own Culture and elevated state of humanity engendered by our most wonderful religion (present company excluded). Did not Allama Iqbal state so eloquently that when we are in company with our co-religionists we are as smooth as silk? Differences of opinion are to be celebrated and a dispassionate approach is more suited to communication. Does not our religion enjoin us to answer the arguments of the Kuffars “With something better,” and if they are not convinced to “walk away”? Having stayed in the West when I resigned from the Army, I soon learned that the in-thing was your manner of expression but I do not believe that we should emulate the West in negativity. I know that our own common expression in our vernacular is much worse but that does not mean that we should denigrate those with conflicting views and use Allah Subhanahoo wa Ta’ala’s Gift of expression by demeaning them. Enough said, I know that I have many more flaws in character and do not wish to knock you down, please do not be offended, rather, kindly consider sticking to logic and proven on-ground facts.
Personally, I rate MNS Governance at 3/10 but ALL the rest, including Dictators, fall in 1/10. I know that we require at least 5/10 to attain sustainability, and the damage done to the body-fabric of our Nation’s socio-economic structure requires a minimum 8/10 to overcome.
I also wish to differ with your choice of “His biggest assets were and hopefully still are his own personal credibility and corruption free good governance”. Which Governance are you alluding to? The one where you apologize for “wily traditional politicians and novice newcomers and not having direct oversight!” You are not aware of the tremendous harm done to Hazara during this stint of hopeless Governance (-2/10). Having the doubtful privilege of seeing this at first hand, I beg to state that we have experienced continuing damage to the environment; absolute lack of sustainability and total absence of poverty eradication and ushering in prosperity; household nutritional security or generating the economy at the grass-roots level.
To say that IK “has singlehandedly changed the politics of Pakistan,” and that “In his 22 years, he has created a third force in an entrenched and corrupt two-party system,” is too far-fetched to be believed. Generals Hamid Gul and Pasha and sundry retired Military Officers who fell from the pinnacles of power with the removal of Gen Musharraf; Sheikh Rashid and Tahir (PAT) as well
many of the “progressive elite,” are not to be swept under the carpet so easily.
When you state that he has donated his entire wealth towards his hospitals and university,” may I ask if Bani Gala is a part of NUML or Shaukat Khanum? As far as I can recollect both were built by fundraising from countless individuals and institutions (including MNS). Perhaps I am wrong.
If you “still think he stands between us and anarchy!” I would humbly point out that he created anarchy, but that is my personal point of view.
I know that hope springs eternal from the human breast but as you “still think he holds hope for a better, brighter Pakistan, offering education, health care, opportunities for our youth,” to call in a person who has successfully raised Shaukat Khanum from scratch and set the task of reforming the Health sector in KP is naive at best. I have observed the erosion of authority at the top level in various Health Institutions and chaos engendered within them. Unrealistic reform taken from US standards and outlook just do not work. An evolutionary approach that considers ground-realities, resulting in improved service delivery is what is called for. Merely increasing the pay of Doctors and resolving their long overdue promotions will not serve!
I assure you, Sir, that I am not one “who want to destroy his credibility because they want to save this terribly corrupt and dysfunctional system!” I know that IK lacks the vision or ability to build up a functional system, I have the bitter experience of realizing that he would rather do without vision or brilliance, merely in order to enhance his own stature! Much as a beautiful woman keeps plain looking females around herself in order to appear even better by contrast.
However, not to be overly verbose, I believe that the Best of Leaders is one who after He/ She has gone, people say “We did It.” We need to find the Messiah within ourselves and not look towards people with feet of clay for our salvation. We need to release and tap the enormous potential of the people in order to truly develop and prosper with sustainability and in complete harmony with Nature and Al Islam.
Pray, do not think harshly of me for these words penned in positivity (hopefully).
Haider Sahib please stay within the limits of decency. NS was a thief, a robber but please use decent words to describe him. When I read your writings I get a feeling you are standing on a container. Say all you want to but be polite.