Mr Khan and Mr Rehman
By Syed Kamran Hashmi
Westfield, IN
Ideological differences aside, the contrast in their physical appearances too catches your attention: one tall and lean, the other short and round; one modern, fashionable and Western, the other simple, traditional and conservative.
Politically speaking, if one holds the other responsible for financial irregularities and monetary misconduct, the other fires back with charges of moral corruption and debauchery. If one tends to collaborate with the party holding power in Islamabad, the other prefers to sit in the opposition. The former, therefore risks to be labeled as one having no principle except: show me the money and I will change my mind. The latter takes pride in being considered as reckless and selfish a person who could destabilize the whole democratic process to seize power.
Even so, both Imran Khan, the Chairman of Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf (PTI) and Maulana Fazl-ur-Rehman the leader of Jamiat ullema e Islam (JUI), have a lot more in common than they realize or are ready to accept in public. For example, both of them keep a cozy relationship with the establishment trying their best to stay in the good books of the ‘relevant authorities.’ At the same time, both of them quite ingeniously maintain a safe distance from the agencies by criticizing their role here and there for plausible deniability. Both realize that though their strategy of ‘sleeping with the enemy’ may irk a small minority of constitutionalists, it will pay long-term dividends.
First, it will establish their patriotic credentials and second, it will provide them a moral high ground from where they could demean the non-conformists, people who want to limit the role of agencies in politics.
Not impressed? Let me recall the first few years of the former Chief of Army Staff, General Retired Pervaiz Musharraf. After orchestrating a successful coup de tat, he needed both the political face-saving and the constitutional back-up to continue to rule for an extended period. One by one, both Imran Khan and Maulana Fazl-ur-Rehman stepped up to help the former dictator in achieving these goals. The Maulana, then the leader of the opposition, voted in favor of Pervaiz Musharraf to get the constitutional amendment approved and avoid a treason trial. Imran Khan, meanwhile, galvanized the public to support him in the referendum. He hoped that by doing so he would clinch the nomination of the Prime Minister of Pakistan.
Still not convinced? Tell me how do JUI and PTI differ in their policy on drone strikes? Both of them oppose the strikes arguing that the attacks cause more harm than benefit killing innocent civilians. Just a few years ago, JUI pronounced Hakeemullah Mehsood, the former leader of Tehreek e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and an enemy of Pakistani, who was killed in a drone attack a couple of years ago, as a martyr. According to Maulana, anyone killed by Americans, even if it happened to be a dog, was a shaheed. For PTI too, Hakeemullah was the ‘last hope’ of bringing peace in Pakistan. The party protested and held America responsible for our failure to establish law and order in the tribal areas. Following the same line, last week, the spokesman of PTI, Naeem ul Haq, called Mullah Mansur, the leader of Afghan Taliban, a martyr disregarding the death of innocent Afghans killed in the suicide attacks by the organization. Moreover, both Mr Khan and Mr Rehman disapprove the US invasion of Afghanistan, considering it to be the reason for instability in Pakistan. Both oppose the operation in Islamabad against the Red Mosque radicals.
In addition, both Mr Khan and Mr Rehman have led a coalition government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) by forming an alliance with the Jamat e Islami (JI), the party that had the closest ties with Al Qaeda in Pakistan. The alliance of JI with JUI was formal, named as Muttahida Majlis e Amal (MMA) while the partnership between PTI and JI is not as formal but is almost as strong, or may be a little more since a significant number of current PTI members served in JI before they joined the party of Mr Khan. The five-year tenure of MMA concluded with Taliban taking over Swat. Compared to that, how would the current tenure end? We do not know yet. Let us pray that it ends differently; however, knowing JI I will not be surprised if it created another Frankenstein for Pakistanis to sort out later.
Need more evidence? Both Mr Khan and Mr Rehman take inspiration from a specific brand of Islam in politics. For them, it is the major driving force to bring change both in the lives of individuals and to help nations move out of corruption and economic dependence. One refers to the specific verse of Qur’an for guidance and help while the other has memorized the relevant verses by heart and recites them back and forth to make a political statement.
Finally, both of them want to bring a sort of soft revolution in the country while staying within the framework of constitution! Which is why neither one of them hesitates to accommodate the most corrupt turn-coats, some of whom jump parties more often than we change pants. In that regards, PTI leaves JUI far behind.
