News
Sunday, January 15, 2012
Imran Khan says he is not anti-West* Says he has vision for Islamic society based on Scandinavian model
* Warns tsunami march if govt defiance continued
WASHINGTON: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chief Imran Khan on Friday rebutted charges he is anti-West and said his vision for an Islamic society looked like Scandinavia.
Imran, who has drawn hundreds of thousands of followers in recent months after years in the political wilderness, reiterated his staunch criticism of the US campaign against extremists as he addressed a forum in Washington.
But he rejected perceptions that his views are anti-Western. Imran, an Oxford graduate who was formerly married to writer Jemima Khan, said he was one of the few Pakistani politicians to have spent substantial time in the West. “To be anti-Western makes absolutely no sense at all. The West is geography. How can you be anti-geography?” Imran told the Atlantic Council, a think-tank, via Internet video provider Skype.
“And to be anti-American... how can you be anti-a whole country, where there are so many different views?” he said.
“I have always been anti-the American war on terror. I have always thought that this was an insane war,” Imran said.
A decade after Pakistan reluctantly supported the US-led campaign against al Qaeda and Taliban in Afghanistan, Imran said that his country was far more radicalised and that billions of dollars had been wasted.
“I have never understood what they were trying to achieve. I still don’t know what is victory in the war on terror,” Imran said.
Pakistani forces in 2009 launched an offensive in lawless South Waziristan. The United States regularly carries out deadly drone strikes in areas bordering Afghanistan and has feared that Pakistan maintains ties to some militants.
“In my opinion, the only solution is to have dialogue, a political solution, the same as is the case across the border” in Afghanistan, Imran said.
But Imran - whom former military ruler Pervez Musharraf once called a “Taliban without the beard” - said that he had to “demystify” to Western audiences his idea of an Islamic society.
“If you ask me today what is closest to that ideal, I would say the Scandinavian countries,” Imran said, praising them for their “humane society, where there is rule of law, a society that looks after its weak, its handicapped.”
Such a society is the opposite of Pakistan “where literally the poor people are subsidising the rich, while all the jails are full of poor people.”
Imran, who for years enjoyed little support despite his sporting stardrom, has recently drawn crowds of more than 100,000 people at rallies in which he promised a “good tsunami” against injustice and corruption.
Imran ‘s popularity comes as Pakistan wades through a slew of problems including attacks, power and gas shortages, a feeble economy, flood damage, friction between civilian and military leaders and tensions with Washington.
Some allege that Imran is being quietly nurtured by Pakistan’s military, which has long been the nation’s chief arbiter of power and whose poor ties with the civilian leadership have recently spilled into the open.
Imran has denied such charges. In the Washington appearance, he insisted that his party enjoyed across-the-board support and would triumph in free elections.
Imran also harshly criticised Musharraf, who has vowed to return to Pakistan this month to launch a political comeback. He said Musharraf faced threats from forces stretching from Balochistan to the tribal belt.
“No longer being the president and having the protection which he has, I would not be the insurance company to give him life insurance,” Imran said.
Separately, addressing a press conference after chairing PTI’s Central Executive Committee (CEC), Imran warned if the government continued to defy Supreme Court’s judgements, his party will take out a tsunami that will swept away the corrupt system.
He said that his party had resolved not to allow the government to destroy Pakistan for the sake of hiding their corruption.
“The government that came to power through pre-poll rigging and having corruption cases scraped, is now hell bent on destroying the independent judiciary that has come for the first time in Pakistan’s history with the help of people’s power,” he said.
Regarding Balochistan, Imran said his party would hold talks with Baloch nationalist leaders inside and outside Pakistan. “We will ask them as to what kind of development they would want in Balochistan to abandon their movement for separation.”
The PTI chairman on the occasion conveyed a message to Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz President Nawaz Sharif, saying if PML-N was really serious about getting ride of this government it should resign from the national and Punjab assemblies.
“Resigning from Punjab Assembly for PML-N will have more significant impact than quitting the National Assembly,” he added. On formation of new provinces, he said his party would form a committee to evaluate as to how many administrative unites would be feasible for the country.
Imran Khan termed the last general elections as fraudulent, as they were held on the basis of electoral rolls containing 45 percent fake voters.
He said the PML-N should opt for playing role of real opposition in the country. He said that the PTI would play an active role on major national issues. agencies
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk