Imran Khan: A Ray of Hope, a Force to Reckon with!
By Perwaiz Ahmad
Fullerton, CA
In the fish market of Pakistani politics, where up is down, right is wrong , wrong is right , yes is no and no is yes, inshallah for the most part means never again , a political party has finally emerged after 16 years of solitary struggle to get their message across all ages of Pakistan. This party, called Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf, the brain child of Imran Khan, a super star of the cricket world , has finally succeeded in having its name recognized all across Pakistan and the world at large. Young and old come in droves to listen to his message because he has proven time and again to all the nay sayers’ that once he sets his mind to do something he will not leave any stone unturned until the project or the goal is achieved.
As a young man, he took the task of rebuilding Pakistan cricket team, when the team was in shambles and hopelessly at the bottom of the list of Test cricket nations. With favoritism, nepotism, low morale of the players, influence peddling by people in high position at its peak, the team selection was flawed to the bone from the word get -go. Players had no self-esteem after a string of defeats because they saw massive corruption in team selection. Once he took the responsibility of becoming the captain, he turned things around and was able to successfully challenge cricket giants like Australia, West Indies, England and South Africa on their homegrounds. He also holds the credit of defeating India in India which was a far fetched thought, or like some in India used to say, in your dreams. Finally, with hard work and strong discipline he was able to win the Cricket World Cup in 1992, a feat unthinkable before Imran Khan was appointed captain of the team. His criteria for the selection of his team mates was simple: if you don’t perform, out you go and that is what he did to his own cousin Majid Khan, a world class majestic batsman.
At the peak of his cricket career, he retired from the cricket world leaving a legacy that is still void resulting in betting scandals and low performance at critical junctures. Due to a family tragedy, he envisioned a need to build a world class cancer hospital and against all odds, succeeded in making it a reality. The hospital called Shaukat Khanum Hospital after his late mother is now the pride of Pakistan. It has been functioning for the last ten years with 90% of the patients, ones who cannot afford it, getting free treatment. His current long term project, already functioning, is building a world class university where children from lower and middle class category will have access to free, affordable quality education. This is the first step in any nation building that the previous government failed to put it on their action list.
He has fought hard and relentlessly to challenge the status quo that has gone unabated and unchallenged for decades, that has done nothing in 40 years to benefit the masses, that has violated every Rule of Law when their near ones are about to be prosecuted. As a matter of fact, he has been the lonely voice for years to raise the corruption issue and soft implementation of Rule of Law when the rich and powerful are involved. They say that the fish rots from the head down and that is precisely what has happened in our country, the rich and powerful get away with murder under the watch of PPP, PML, and the Military while the poor and the downtrodden get the brunt of the ruling elite and their supporters.
What we are witnessing now is the result of decades of neglect and corruption in all walks of life because they don’t put any value on human beings unless they are in the short circle of friends and cohorts. All in all it has been either PPP, PML-N or the Military Junta that has either ruled from the driver’s seat or has done back seat driving when a civilian government is at the helm. No industrialized country in the world has the Military in power for over 35 out of 65 years of independence.
The bottom line is that the rulers in different garbs have kept their self-interest above the national interest and only implemented policies to benefit their party. In order for Pakistan to make its economy work for its own people rather than the IMF or the World Bank we have to reinvent the wheel that is self-reliance and invest heavily in the manufacturing of finish goods. For example, we have abundance of marbles and granite, if we sell it in a raw state, we get pennies to a dollar, however, if we make world class finished products we can get 10 times the foreign exchange for the same material . Our flawed policies of the past have dug a hole so deep that it will be very hard to fill unless the two-party system that has prevailed for the last 40 years after the election of Z A Bhutto political party PPP is challenged and defeated .
PTI under Imran Khan is a party that is built on just one principle, Rule of Law for all regardless of race, ethnicity, creed or regions affiliation and then everything will fall in place. Just like under the eyes of God all are equal, Imran Khan has shown great determination in his past endeavors, passing all of them with flying colors. His is the only party that gets its strength from the people and has no one to please but the people of Pakistan.
Enough is enough. It's time our leaders eat, drink, dress and live like the common man as shown by our Prophet ( PBUH) not like kings, whose extravagance shames the entire civilized world. A vast majority in our nation cannot afford a good square meal, and Imran Khan realizes this, which is why he dresses and lives like a common man. It's payback time and all those characters from the past with nefarious means and activities should be brought to the Court of Law, tried and punished according to their crimes. An independent judiciary is the hallmark of any society for all times and that is the top agenda of Imran Khan’s party. To put brakes on 66 years of downslide, we must stop bickering about petty issues because there is a humongous task ahead of us and if we do not take it seriously, the repercussions could be devastating.
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