Imran Khan the Politician

Imran Khan -- the latter day Asghar Khan -- was described as a sight for the gods by the commentators in the sports arenas. Now, he looks more like Alice in Wonderland in the treacherous field of politics.

Envy of every testosterone-charged man, the debonair Mr. Khan cut a macho figure after whom comely maidens lusted. But that was yesterday.

Today, he looks lost and bewildered, like the proverbial ’babe in the woods’. The sportsman extraordinaire looks helpless in politics – a fish gasping for breath in the middle of a desert. He may also have realized that size does matter when it comes to the presence in the Parliament.

This straight shooter has been wandering in the wilderness of political ideologies in search of an identity not knowing that a politician’s best asset is his ’lie’ability. The philanthropist, who put up a charitable medical institution, perhaps does not know that to succeed in politics it is often necessary to climb down from noble principals.

Jemima was an asset that Imran squandered away like the goodwill earned as a sportsman and socialite of the international jet set. However, his succumbing to portraying her as a devout convert to Islam is akin to the disappearance of Musharraf’s dogs and ever lengthening of Yousuf Yohanna’s beard -- something contrived to appease the big mouthed mullahs. However, his dignified handling of the divorce did indeed help him regain respect all around.

Imran’s untarnished image is a unique phenomenon in our society that is mired in corruption. His entry into politics raised hopes among those seeking a change in the hopeless system run by the soulless feudal lords, despicable opportunists, two-faced mullahs and self-indulgent military. Then, where did he go wrong? How did the intellectually challenged mullahs with agendas larger than their vote banks woo him? Why did he, a man of distinct individuality, choose to look like the sidekick of Qazi Hussein Ahmed?

Here is something that you may find quite apt to the Khan-Qazi political romance: "There was this Mr. Khan who liked listening to chirping of the birds. One evening he saw an eagle sitting on a tree in the backyard. He whistled at the bird and heard the whistle back. Khan was fascinated with the response from the eagle. He started to play the fun game of communicating with the mighty bird every night. One day, Mrs. Qazi got to the dividing wall for a neighbourly chat with Mrs. Khan. The two ladies were amused to learn that both the husbands were getting out to the respective yards at night to whistle at the bird" -- obviously whistling at each other mistaking the other as being the mighty eagle.

No one expects Imran Khan to hitch a ride to the Parliament on a tank. Why then is he lining up in the queue of the halva group? Many like me get the urge to pull him away and point to the bus stop that will take him to where all of us want to go. "It is never too late to be what you might have been."

The rumour has it that the Khan is intolerant of dissent. The know-alls say that he is opinionated like BB, self-centered like the N, authoritarian like Mush, clueless like our retired generals commenting on the global happenings, and a typical Pathan in temperament like the video-shops burning mullahs. If one was to believe the nay sayers the above concoction would sound as a sure fire recipe for failure.

Mercifully, Imran is clean in the polluted atmosphere of Q League, Patriots and the other turncoats up for sale in the Sunday Bazaar of politics. He appears impatient and wants to change the loathsome political and bureaucratic culture of this country with a single seat in the Parliament. Realistically, his aspirations appear quixotic. The windmills are too high and the horse he rides is miniature in size, like the ones paraded in fairgrounds for children to ride on.

Imran Khan needs a team and a level playing field to repeat the feat similar to the World Cup that endeared him to us. I would like to think that he could do it if we join him rather than merely being spectators sitting behind the fence of our individual priorities. Anyway, a false hope is nicer than no hope at all.

I have never met the gentleman in person and only know of him whatever little I do through common friends and the press. He obviously has no idea where his constituency lies. Nor does he recognize the niche that seeks a leadership that he can so easily provide. All he needs to do is simply be himself. It pains me to see a good man rotting away with the passage of time and gradually turning into a yet another common mullah.

It is delightful to hear everyone speak well of Imran Khan, even his ex-comrades of too short a stamina to continue with the steep climb to the peak of shared objectives. If there is a man who needs to be rescued from his self for the good of the rest, then that is he.

The person of this Oxford-educated cricketer par excellence, the philanthropist, and the straightforward man with unblemished character makes one yearn that there were more of them representing us. Sadly, one is reminded of Mao’s oft quoted saying that rings so true when looking at our national history. "Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun."