Although Imran Khan does not spell out the manifold linkages that bind Pakistan’s corrupt rulers to the United States, he understands that Pakistan cannot move forward unless it ends its neocolonial ties to the United States. To this end, he sets himself several interrelated tasks. A Tehreek government will pull Pakistan out of America’s so-called war on terrorism; this means stopping the drone attacks on Pakistani territory, revoking all the territorial concessions General Musharraf made to the United States, and ending Pakistan’s war against its own people in Pakhtunkhwa. “Pakistan should disengage from this insane and immoral war,” writes Imran Khan (360). If this could be done, the chief factor that has been destabilizing Pakistan, pushing it to the edge of a civil war, will disappear. Pakistan’s military disengagement from the US will be followed by efforts to end Pakistan’s dependency on foreign loans to pay for government programs, much of which have been diverted to private coffers in the past.
Is all this doable? Despite the dire warnings of slanted commentators, should Pakistan withdraw from the US war against terror, it is extremely unlikely that it would face a war. At present, the US has no stomach for starting another war even as it and Israel threaten to start a war against Iran. The US will certainly stop payments of the blood money, but this should not hurt Pakistan since most of this money finds its way back where it came from. China too will oppose any US attacks against Pakistan, and will stand ready to tide Pakistan through its balance of payments difficulties.
Pakistan can gain economic independence – Imran Khan argues – by ending tax evasions; this alone will double the government’s revenues. Ending corruption at the highest levels of government, therefore, is the Tehreek’s signature policy goal. Imran Khan has sought to develop a culture opposed to corruption in his own party; the Tehreek requires the party’s office bearers to declare their assets and tax returns; it has set in motion steps to elect all office bearers to the party; it will deny the party’s ticket to anyone with a record of corruption; and, it has promised to make all elected and unelected officials accountable to an independent National Accountability Board. Ending corruption at the top – Imran Khan maintains – will banish corruption from lower levels of government. I am afraid this is a wish not a well-considered expectation. It will take a lot of hard work – a variety of administrative reforms – to push back against Pakistan’s rampant corruption.
Reforming the country’s education system is a fundamental goal of the Tehreek. The country’s three-tiered system – consisting of private English-medium schools, public schools using Urdu and local languages, and the madrasa system – is divisive. The English schools reproduce the class of brown sahibs and spread their pernicious culture to the growing middle classes; the poorly staffed and poorly equipped public schools deny the great majority of the country’s population a decent education; and the madrasas have become a welfare system for the poorest children. The plan is to replace this multi-tiered educational system, one that has perpetuated the colonial mindset, with a uniform system of education for everyone that will embrace mathematics, the natural and social sciences, and history while giving their proper place to the Pakistani languages, English, and the Islamic sciences.
Another important policy goal of the Tehreek is to create a system of local governance for Pakistan’s 50,000 villages. This will take local development funds out of the hands of politicians and put them in the hands of elected village councils, who will decide how this money is spent. They will also serve as the local government for the villages, with responsibility for maintaining municipal services, including a registry of births, deaths and marriages; and reviewing the work of local officials responsible for policing, health, irrigation, and education. In addition, like the panchayats of the pre-colonial era, the village councils will provide cheap and quick adjudication of local disputes.
Imran Khan has not articulated – at least in his book – an economic policy. Most likely, this omission is deliberate; he has had many occasions to set forth his economic policies but he has persisted in reiterating his position on a few signature issues, including corruption, lawlessness, and the betrayal of Pakistan’s , national interests by the rulers. As a result, we know very little about what policies he favors on infrastructure, industry, agriculture, urban labor, urban transportation, exports, energy, water, R&D, etc. This appears to suggest that he takes a rather Adam Smithian view of economic development. If you provide honest governance – I have heard him say this a few times – this will create the right incentives for all other matters to move in the right direction; the proverbial invisible hand will sort things out for the best. With their property rights secured, private individuals, pursuing their own interest, will generate savings, investments, innovation and, therefore, rapid economic growth. It is possible that Imran Khan has not had time to formulate policies in these areas; or he believes that the focus on a small number of core issues will best help to energize support for his party. In either case, it is this writer’s view that he should quickly remedy this neglect. For good governance alone will not energize Pakistan’s people to become active economic agents of change. In addition, from an electoral standpoint, he is more likely to expand his support base by articulating his position on issues that are vital to the interests of workers, peasants, ordinary citizens anxious for their health, and prospective investors in Pakistan’s economy.
Certainly, better governance will be a hugely positive thing for Pakistan; it can start to reverse the ruination produced by decades of rampant corruption. But good governance alone will not lift Pakistan out of poverty nor will it produce economic miracles. Objectively considered, no one will contest the British claim that they instituted ‘good governance’ in India once the rule of the East India Company was replaced by representatives of the Crown. Nevertheless, the evidence is also clear that during their long stay in India the British produced a great deal of economic misery; unfettered British imports destroyed India’s manufactures; British capital displaced indigenous capital from the most vital areas of the economy; their destruction of indigenous educational institutions produced mass illiteracy; and they pauperized the Indians. Good governance alone will not produce economic development if that governance is not used to encourage the growth of indigenous capital, institutions, technology, education and skills. Good governance must also be used to correct past social inequities and the new ones that a capitalist system is certain to produce. If good governance is used only in support of markets and capital, it will very quickly be overthrown by the inequities produced by the capitalist system. Let us not forget that Western democracies – especially in the United States and Britain – are now mostly hollow institutions; they are tolerated by corporate leaders only because they can game these systems to perpetuate their wealth and power.
6.
Notwithstanding the surge in his popularity in the cities, what are the chances that the Tehreek, if given the chance, will be able to form the country’s next government?
If Pakistan had a presidential system of government, it is more than likely that Imran Khan would sweep the polls; the rivals that any party might place against him would look like cretins. Under Pakistan’s parliamentary system, however, he faces an uphill task. In this decentralized system, where elections have to be won in several hundred local constituencies, the Tehreek candidates will have to fight against the power of corrupt local incumbents who will use their traditional authority, their money, dirty tricks, thugs, and help from their foreign masters to defeat a challenge that threatens to end their plundering binge. Winning a majority of these local contests cannot be easy.
On his path to power, Imran Khan will have to face a showdown with several factions of Pakistan’s corrupt elites. Many top generals, bureaucrats, politicians, media barons, loan-defaulting mill-owners, journalists, television anchors, and leaders of civil society have become entangled with American interests: they have cultivated ties with various US agencies; they or their close relatives hold green cards; they or their relatives work for subsidiaries of Western corporations; they have advised or worked for Western think tanks; their NGOs have thrived on foreign funding; and they have become rich and are hungry for more. Perhaps, the corrupt elites may concede victory to the Tehreek, since they may soon engineer a return to power; but it appears more likely that they will fight back, since this will end even if temporarily the bonanza they have enjoyed since 2001.
If it appears that the Tehreek is going to win the next elections scheduled for 2013, will these elections be held or, if they are allowed to proceed, will they not be rigged to ensure the Tehreek’s defeat? Alternatively, the political parties in power may try to increase the chaos in Pakistan’s cities, and thus pave the way for a military takeover that may end Imran Khan’s political career. More simply, the CIA or some segment of the corrupt elites, or the two working together, may assassinate Imran Khan. Can Imran Khan forestall these subterfuges? None of these options are certainties, but not to anticipate them and have contingent plans to deal with them would be reckless.
The power of the corrupt elites will be hardest to dislodge in Pakistan’s rural hinterlands that are still dominated largely by traditional power barons: the landlords, dynasties of so-called pirs, and tribal chiefs. Despite his tremendous charisma and notwithstanding his populist rhetoric, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto chose the easy route to electoral victory by co-opting the traditional rural power barons. This compromise brought an easy victory but, bending to the power of these barons, Bhutto proceeded to marginalize the left block in his party. At the same time, he implemented his farcical ‘socialist’ agenda of destroying Pakistan’s nascent capitalist class; he seized and handed over their industries, banks and even schools to the stalwarts in his party. Imran Khan too is aware of the handicap he faces in a parliamentary system; and – on a smaller scale so far – he too has opened leadership positions in his party to the old power barons. This compromise is certain to alienate the old workers in his party, but it also carries the more serious risk of alienating the young voters who have pinned their hopes for change on the Tehreek’s commitment to establish a just order in Pakistan. The propagandists of the old order are already hammering home this point. It does not inspire confidence when the Tehreek takes a strong stand against drone strikes but appoints a former foreign minister – who supported these strikes during his tenure – as the vice-chairman of his party.
Not a big fan of Imran Khan but I agree that he stands head and shoulders above the modern day Pharohs ruling over Pakistan. Looking around me and listening to the buzz on the street, it does seem like his time has finally come……..
I agree this is his time and it is a good news for Pakistan,
Bravo. One of the most thorough articles I have come across on the subject. On a side note, I would like to add few cents to your article:
1. In the beginning of the article, you implied the definition of spiritualist vs. materialist. Having spent some time in the corridors of spiritualism and materialism, I think the distinction based on religion is relatively shallow. You will find many God believing materialists and plenty of agnostic spiritualists in the world. This observation is also consistent with the Sufi discourse.
2. As for your reference to his economic policy gaps, I agree more work is required on that front. However, with inclusion of Asad Umer (Ex-CEO of Engro) in the ranks of PTI, I think whatever system comes out will be socialist in its soul but capitalist in its outlook (like China?), and will focus on progressive yet symmetric and slightly heavy taxation structure across the board.
Philosophical and idealistic thoughts in crude unsopisticated society doesnt stand water,where democracies are farce even in so called free western societies the POWER politics plays the role,the private giants purchase the democracies and thier ideal leaders ,coming to PAKISTAN where litracy is below average the votes sell like oranges in the market the highest bidder takes all.Imran khan has to see that it is not easy to won the elections by mere rhetorics but by giving the massess programme in thier own language under the PEEPLE TREE the people listen ,and come out to vote ,JAGIRDARS SARDARS CHUDHRIES AND PEERS are the decadant monsters he has to kill them like a gladiator with one sword only then he can achieve his BRIGHT GOALS GOals which are high in ideals and achievable too.I wish him GOD SPEED.
Pakistan is a strange place- leaders lead their followers to exactly opposite of what they claim as their objective. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto set out to help the poor; his nationalisation policy harmed our economy so seriously that we have yet to recover from thus making it more difficult for people to come out of poverty. Zia and religious parties wanted to implement Sharia; see what happened to that. Our generals want to preserve our national unity and territorial integrity; and their policies has caused so many of our problems. MQM was supposed to help Mohajirs and caused mayhem in their cities. And now Imran Khan is the last hope of corrupt politicians- by shouting that everyone (but a few chosen ones) is corrupt, he has damaged the credibility of the allegation and will divide the anti corruption votes. All credit to Benazir, Nawaz Sharif and Zardari- they did not set out to do anything except complete their tenures and so did not cause a great damage
i wish media could just go into the tribal territories and see their life. i am wandering pakistan will end up in civil war soon when pakistani talibans are removed because these talibans has given immeasurable hurts to the tribal residents feeling. they have ruined with their culture and thus as a tribal resident i would never forgive these criminals who are being supported by a strong organisation for their own aims. i call this a war of deception not a war of terrorism in which only pushtoons are used like a pawns in afghanistan and pakistan.i laugh when people say that fish in the water is thirsty .. indeed the only solution is to educate tribal people thats the only way out in bringing peace in the region.
I LOVE YOU IMRAN KHAN
Imran ji could be a changing face of political scenario in south Asia
Will read one page a day…too good to finish in haste
Sir, thanks for providing us comprehensive view about Imran’s policies. great write!!
InshaALLAH Imran khan will b our Next PM……InshaALLAH……
Its probably the best article I have ever read in my whole life .
But at 1 point i will like to disagree . Where u said
“If it appears that the tehreek is going to win the next elections scheduled for 2013, will the elections be held ? Or, if they are allowed to preceed will they not be rigged to ensure the tehreek’s defeat .
Alternatively the political parties in power may try to increase the chaos in Pakistan’s cities and thus pave the way for a millitary take over .that may end Imran Khan’s political career .”
well . . . Today pti is the only party having the street power and As the John F. Kennedy says ‘those who make the peacefull revolution impossible acually make voilent revolution inevitable’
today ppl are anxiously want imran khan to lead the long march and end the present gov. to take over Pakistan from these american puppets(brown sahibs) .
‘If a party has street power today in Pakistan then thats no other than tereek’
saif imran on a tv show
‘if u have street power then what for God sake u r waiting for why don’t you bring the government down as the ppl wish and hope’ the female anchor shouts back.
The elections are coming soon and we are
waiting for them bqz we don’t wana give another chance to pti for pretending to be a poltical shaheed’ replied imran khan .
So the question that i ask is if the elections will not be held or rigged . Or if the millitary takes over who’ll stop the youth of Pakistan ? The youth who is sick of these brown sahibs . The youth who’s sick of unemployement and slavery . And is fully potent to stand up against tne state and this 2% elite class of Pakistan . As they have already proved in long march which was unfortunately taken over by as status quo force i.e N leage .
this is a great,exhaustive and informative column on tehreek’s policies but it contains difficult terminology. so it may become difficult to red out and impossible to be understood by lay man, i suggest to writer or admin or any other person concerned, that please translate the same in urdu and give its link on tehreek e insaf’s facebook page or website, i m sure this effort shall take great affect, thanks for giving us much detail about tehreek e insaf that we could be able to choose right, and better leadership for our country,
Great insite I think he is last hope for change in pakistan inshalla.
I like Imran for his slogan, against corruption and corrupt political mafia, I think insha Allah Imran’s tsunami will remove corruption and corrupt political mafia from Pakistan. Really Pakistan needs a leader with firm will to do something for Pakistan.