With IK turning many doubters into believers by virtue of his unwavering, unflattering and untiring show in Islamabad, I have no hesitation to admit that his performance in political ground is as bold as it used to be on cricket ground. His supporters have shown commendable commitment as sit-in at D-Chowk is now approaching towards a silver jubilee mark, thanks to street power show in other cities, especially Karachi.
However, as I listen to IK speeches, quite frankly, I love the idea of ‘Naya Pakistan’ more and more but what really confuses me is the model he is portraying and the practices he is following. There can be many contradictions that can be highlighted but, for me, there is a couple of very fundamental questions that need to be answered by PTI before ‘Naya Pakistan’ can be further idealized.
The first and foremost, is the very idea of ‘Naya Pakistan’; is it going to be a secular or religious state? Right now, ‘Naya Pakistan’ is being supported by every factions of society. People like JJ, who represents a large chunk of right wing school of thought is supporting ‘Naya Pakistan’. On the other hand, there are many actors, actresses, singers and left wing population, which is also chanting slogans for the same cause. On the surface, it looks perfectly alright as this brings these two wings to a common platform, something you witness once in a blue moon. However, I believe that it is not happening because both wings have shed their differences and have joined hands to a common cause; rather, it’s happening because nobody actually knows how will ‘Naya Pakistan’ look like. Both wings want to break free from current system of injustice, loot and corruption but both have destinies which are not oceans apart, in fact, they are poles apart. This confusion is luring these two arch-rivals into false hopes that can never be come true for both at the same time. As PTI moves closer to ‘Naya Pakistan’, they have to take one side, and from that point on, they will lose one camp of supporters. For me, as long as this confusion is not clarified, model of ‘Naya Pakistan’ is incomplete and that’s one of the core reasons that critics label ‘Naya Pakistan’ as a confused, mystified and uncooked idea.
The other confusion with ‘Naya Pakistan’ is IK’s claims about feudalism in Pakistan. It looks really relaxing that he is determined to challenge the rule of feudal lords but when he has many feudal lords in his own party, with Shah Mehmood Qureshi holding a key position, Should we take his claims seriously? As PTI move closer to ‘Naya Pakistan’ and feudal lords keep coming and join the movement, are they ready to say good-bye the supreme power their families have enjoyed for decades over ‘the ruled’ in their ‘feudal territory’? Obviously not, and most likely, they are joining because they also have no idea about how ‘Naya Pakistan’ will be different from existing Pakistan. They believe that with some cosmetic changes, their family will continue to rule and oppress ‘kami kameen’ under the banner of ‘Naya Pakistan’. For this reason, they don’t see any threat to their territorial rule and quite happy to join the ranks of movement for change.
For PTI supporters, I am not a PML(N) supporter. For others, I am as pissed off as you are from current situation but if option A is not correct, it doesn’t necessarily mean that option B is.
