"I now
present you the man who will save Pakistan."
That's how
cricket star-turned politician Imran Khan was introduced to a crowd of more
than 100,000 of his supporters on Sunday.
A test of
his popularity, the rally was meant to gauge the vitality of Khan’s recent
surge. And what a test it was, citizens turning out for the leader they believe
might be able to change their lives. Just like
one of President Obama’s oft-repeated slogans, “Change we can believe in”,
Pakistanis, disillusioned by successive apathetic
governments, and by current Prime Minister Asif Ali Zardari, (in)famously referred
to as “ Mr. 10-per cent”, have come out in support for the one leader they
think will be able to make a genuine change in their lives.
Naturally
he has detractors who claim his stand on policy matters is vague and repetitive,
but no one denies that he has revitalized the political scene in Pakistan.
Analysts postulate that if he is able to maintain current levels of support,
his Tehreek-e-Insaf party might make a major political impact.
The growing
popularity of Khan, combined with the government mulling removal of the influential
Army and ISI chiefs Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani and Lt Gen Ahmed Shuja Pasha, respectively,
highlights a Pakistan that is moving inexorably towards change. Prime Minister Yousuf
Raza Gilani has warned the army that it is not to meddle in politics; that
there is “no place for a state within a state”. Challenging the Pakistani army’s
traditional status quo may prove to have several outcomes.
Will the army take its time-honoured, repeatedly-tested and exemplarily selfless [read treasonous] step, a coup d'état?
Let's wait and watch.
"America went hunting for Bin Laden in Afghanistan and a decade later found him leading a retired life outside a Pakistan military cantonment. When US leaders scratch their heads and ask whether Pakistan's army was complicit or just incompetent, all they need to do is to ask Pakistani people and they will get their answer: both."
- Mohammed Hanif
“We are not a failed state yet but we may become one in ten years if we don’t receive international support to combat the Taliban threat.”
ReplyDeletePresident of Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari
(June 2009)
I believe there will be a coup. It is possible that the only reason there hasn't been one yet is that the army can do basically whatever they want anyway right now.
However, it is clear that Pakistan is in a very dangerous state right now - which is even more worrying knowing that Pakistan has nuclear arms. I hope the government is able to take control again and civilians will not suffer.