A Costly Mistake?
An Open Letter to Imran Khan
By Dr Ismat Kamal
Fresno, CA
“There is a tide in the affairs of men.
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;
Omitted, all the voyage of their life
Is bound in shallows and in miseries.
On such a full sea are we now afloat,
And we must take the current when it serves,
Or lose our ventures.”
--William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, Act 4, scene 3, 218–224
Dear Khan Sahib,
As a long-time fan and admirer (ref. my articles in the Pakistan Link, April 26, 1996 and December 9, 2011), I was very disappointed when you declined Dr Tahirul Qadri’s repeated requests to join him in his historic long march on Islamabad in mid-January. The march was unprecedented in the history of Pakistan in terms of discipline, perseverance and dedication. It was aimed at putting a stop to the flouting of constitutional provisions and paving the way for true democracy which has eluded the people of Pakistan for several decades. Your party, which generally consists of people with untainted hands, would have been the biggest beneficiary of any success attained by Dr Qadri. Your failure to take the tide “at the flood”, may have cost you a golden opportunity to deliver the people of Pakistan from the ‘plunder and loot by turn’ which has gone on since the late 1980s, a state of affairs aptly described in the following verse by an Urdu poet:
‘Nahin rahzan badaltey hain faqat chehrey badaltey hain
Ajab apna safar hai faasley bhee saath chaltay hain’
(Only the faces change; one gang of looters is replaced by another:
Strange is our journey; the distance to our destination never shortens!)
After your successful meetings in Lahore and Karachi last year, you had come to be regarded as the most likely person to assume the leadership of the country after the next elections. According to surveys conducted at that time by the reputable International Republican Institute (IRI), “ Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) tops the list of popular parties in Pakistan both at the national as well as provincial level, leaving Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) behind.”
The thought perplexing the minds of many of your supporters like me was the seeming impossibility of your party’s victory if your opponents were allowed to conduct ‘business as usual’ based on a disregard for constitutional eligibility- considerations prior to each election, and bribery and coercion during the elections. This has resulted in a system correctly described by you several years back as a “business of staking and making money”. You had tried and failed before because of the manner in which crooks and robbers are allowed to contest elections and employ dubious means in their campaigns. In 1996, shortly after your entry into politics, I had accompanied the Pakistan Link team led by Mr. Faiz Rehman which interviewed you, where you had kept saying, “We’ll sweep the elections ji”. However, you failed to get a single seat in the 1997 elections. In 2002, your party had won only one seat. These results should have proven to you that the conditions are just not right for honest people like you to succeed in Pakistan’s elections (another example is that of Asghar Khan and his Tehreek-e-Istiqlaal). Dr. Qadri’s movement had come as God-sent to provide a level playing field, where the undeserving people would be nipped in the bud, and barred from contesting the elections, as laid down by the constitution of Pakistan.
For five days in mid-January this year, the whole country sat riveted to their TV and radio sets, enthralled by the voice of truth and irrefutable logic. The hearts and minds of the people of Pakistan were won over, and their hearts were beating in consonance with Dr Tahirul Qadri and his brave band of men, women and children. The only voices of discord were raised by jealous politicians who felt threatened, and the upstart media moguls of Pakistan, conspiracy-theorists who try to character-assassinate the singer, without even listening to his song. The country, including many members of your own party, was waiting for you. But you sadly let them down. If you had joined Dr Qadri on January 16 and added your counsel, a real tsunami would have cleared the way for free and fair elections for the first time since the 1970 elections conducted under military supervision.
The negative impact of your decision not to join was immediate. According to the latest IRI survey, the popularity of your party has fallen from 24% to 18%, while that of PML(N) has risen from 28% to 32. And now you are making the same demands, which Dr Qadri has already made. This sounds stale and second hand. You may have missed the bus.
Dr. Qadri’s Movement is showing a solution on how undeserving aspirants can be nipped in the bud. Articles 62 and 63 of Pakistan’s Constitution provide an easy way, provided the terms ‘sadiq (truthful)’ and ‘ameen (trustworthy)’ are defined in tangible terms. Honest applications of Articles 62 and 63 would debar at least 80% of the current incumbents from contesting elections, weeding out, amongst others, the following groups of people:
Tax evaders. The Federal Ombudsman for Taxes has stated that 70% of the current elected representatives do not pay all their taxes. A person who does not pay his taxes is neither ‘sadiq’ nor ‘ameen’. If this is taken to its logical conclusion, 70% of the current MNAs and their family members would be ineligible, opening the way for new leadership.
- Loan defaulters, who have proven themselves untrustworthy. This group includes people who have had their loans forgiven.
- People who have made false statements about their degrees. Even though a bachelor’s degree is no longer a requirement, those who have made a false statement regarding this in the past are definitely not ‘sadiq’.
Currently, appeals on the non-suitability of candidates are shelved, the candidates are allowed to contest, with the judgment getting lost in the process of appeals and counter-appeals, while the incumbent continues to enjoy the benefits of “possession is half law”. In future, the decision of the Election Commissioner to debar the ineligible candidate must be made final, with any appeals etc. allowed only after completion of the elections. There is an example of an MPA who had to resign because of the false statement he had made about his degree. He came back and fought again in the re-election, and handsomely won the seat again. If the articles of the constitution had been honestly applied, this candidate should not even have been allowed to contest a second time.
I can understand the other opposition parties opposing Dr Qadri’s Movement, because their own candidates may come under the chopping block if Rules 62 and 63 were honestly applied. I fail to understand why you should be worried, with no candidate in parliament – unless it is because of renegades and opportunists, members of the old guard, who have now joined you and may be feeling threatened.
Major surgery is required in order for the electoral process to be cleaned up, and this would require the unified, concerted efforts of all the forces for change. As a sincere well-wisher, I would request you to kindly put your ego aside and join the second phase of the Awami Tehreek’s March, scheduled for the 25 th of February. If Dr Qadri is forced to go alone on his own way, the votes for the forces of change would be split, and this will only benefit your opponents.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Back to Pakistanlink Homepage
