Will Imran Khan be Able to Translate Promises into Action?

Zafar Bangash

With the federal government as well as two of the four provinces—Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab—under his belt, Imran Khan, leader of the Pakistan Tehrik-e Insaf (PTI) party is a greatly satisfied person. His 22-year-long struggle for change from the two mafia families—the Zardari-Bhutto combine and the Sharifs (no sharifs, those crooks)—has finally borne fruit.

Even in Baluchistan where PTI gained only four seats, talks of coalition with the Baluchistan Awami Party (BAP), winner of the largest number of seats (15) in the province, are underway.

PTI victories can be attributed to Imran Khan’s hard work, charisma and steely determination in the face of entrenched interests that were determined to steal this election as well (like in 2013) but for the activism of the judiciary and supervisory role of the military that provided 380,000 personnel for security duty.

There is little doubt that the vast majority of people in Pakistan are greatly pleased—and relieved—with the July 25 election results.

Perhaps nothing has pleased them more than the fact that maulana Fazlur Rahman, the most venal character in Pakistani politics, lost both seats he was contesting for the National Assembly.

Many other party ‘leaders’ also lost, much to their chagrin but to the huge satisfaction of the people. How could they lose, they demanded to know.

Their knee-jerk reaction was that there must have been massive rigging. And they announced rejection of the results vowing to launch agitation rallies. Let them try; they will find that few people would join them.

One of the most ludicrous rules in Pakistan is that a candidate can stand for election in five different constituencies at once. He/she can also run simultaneously for the National as well as Provincial assemblies.

Clearly this is meant to enable ‘leaders’ of political parties or people that think they are ‘important’ to be in parliament to get into one or the other assembly. This needs to change.

Imran Khan’s challenges, however, are much more serious. It is easy to make promises, a lot more difficult to deliver with so many opponents both internal and external.

He has aroused great expectations among the people with the promise of change. People will be anxious for instant results and can quickly turn sour if their expectations are not met.

Economy would be his biggest challenge. Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves have been badly depleted with the former rulers stealing billions and stashing them in Western banks or buying luxury properties abroad.

The former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam Nawaz are currently in jail over corruption charges. A great many more need to be there including Asif Ali Zardari and his equally thieving sister Faryal Talpur.

Will the stolen loot that amounts to some $135 billion, be returned to Pakistan?

Imran Khan has promised transparency and accountability across the board starting with himself and his ministers. He also announced the day after the election (July 26) that he will not move into the prime minister’s residence in Islamabad that resembles a palace and fortress rolled into one.

He said the prime minister’s residence and the huge governors’ mansions would be turned to better use such as educational institutions or rented out.

These are good gestures but still symbolic. It would set an even better example if Imran Khan and his ministers were to use more modest vehicles for travel rather than Mercedes or Pajeros. Other perks also need to be curtailed.

In the immediate aftermath of the elections, Imran Khan has to curtail the oversized ambitions of the independents that have joined his party both at the centre as well as in the crucial Punjab province to give him the majorities that he needs to rule.

These people will demand their pound of flesh seeing that they are in a position to blackmail, especially in Punjab where the Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) is a very close second. There is much more room for mischief there.

Decades of misrule have distorted life in Pakistan a great deal. While Imran Khan focuses on the economy that must be his priority, urgent reforms of the judiciary as well as the police forces across the country are also needed.

Similarly, land reforms must be tackled on a priority basis as well as attention paid to getting clean drinking water to people. Millions of children die each year due to contaminated water in Pakistan.

One measure of confidence in PTI’s victory can be discerned from the fact that the dollar to rupee rate dropped from 129 to 126 rupees to the dollar.

In order to attract foreign direct investment, especially from overseas Pakistanis, the PTI government has to address the issue of land and property mafias.

Many overseas Pakistanis are hugely frustrated by the fact that their hard earned income that they invest in Pakistan, is usurped by people, often close relatives.

They have no recourse to law since the court system is riddled with corruption and often takes decades to deal with such matters. In Pakistan, these are referred to as ‘Diwani cases’.

A complainant may die long before the court deals with the matter and then too, it often advises both parties to resolve their differences through negotiations.

If Imran Khan is serious about attracting foreign investment, especially from overseas Pakistanis that have hitherto been remitting some $20 billion each year (more than Pakistan’s export earnings), he must address their legitimate concerns.

China’s economic miracle was partly financed by expatriate Chinese investing in their country’s development.

In his address on July 26, Imran Khan said he would send teams to China to learn from their method of alleviating poverty (China took 70 million people out of poverty in 30 years) and fighting corruption.

He should add to this list China’s policy of assuring its expatriates to invest in the country.

Environmental pollution is another major concern, as in several regional countries. This also needs to be addressed.

Imran Khan and is party face a tall order of challenges. There is, however, no reason why they cannot succeed if there is a will and the determination to tackle them in earnest.

It is our prayer that the hopes he has aroused, especially among the youth, are not dashed again as happened following the assumption of power by Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto in 1972.

 

Zafar Bangash

Pakistan goes to polls amid fears about violence, manipulation

By: Syed Zafar Mehdi

Tomorrow, Pakistan has a tryst with history. Despite heavy odds and pejorative conspiracy theories, the people of Pakistan will exercise their right of franchise to elect a new government.

Tight security arrangements have been made for the election, with the deployment of nearly 7.5 million security personnel and 1.6 million electoral officials. There is an electrifying buzz on the streets, as people animatedly discuss which party will have the last laugh and who will be the deposed former premier Nawaz Sharif’s successor to the throne of thorns.

Known for their exemplary courage and resilience, Pakistanis are eager to defeat bullets with ballots and replace despair and darkness of yesterday with hope and light of tomorrow. However, not everything is hunky-dory. There are many hurdles and stumbling stocks. The volatile political environment of Pakistan means the election will be bitterly contested and there would be overt and covert attempts to manipulate the result.

Some serious doubts have been expressed by top political parties – including Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) and Pakistan Peoples’ Party (PPP) led by Bilawal Bhutto – about the fairness of the election process and the ability of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and the caretaker government in Islamabad to provide a level playing field to all the parties. They have alleged that the cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek Insaaf (PTI) was being favored by the powerful military establishment. Interestingly, many senior leaders of PML-N and PPP have defected to PTI lately.

The independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), in a statement last week said, there were “ample grounds to doubt” the legitimacy of the elections and criticized “blatant, aggressive and unabashed attempts to manipulate the outcome of the upcoming elections.”

PML-N, which ruled the country until recently, has been hit badly after the three-time prime minister and the party’s lynchpin was sentenced to 10-year jail term in an anti-graft case, along with his daughter and heir apparent Maryam Nawaz. The verdict, which came less than a month before the election, is being seen as a smart ploy by the military establishment, which has great influence in judiciary, to prevent the party from retaining power.

However, the move might just prove a blessing in disguise for the beleaguered former premier and his party, considering the sympathy factor. Also, the party has strong hold on its traditional support base. Even if the party loses to PTI, it is most likely to win the Punjab province, which is extremely significant.

The intense political rivalry between PML-N and PTI is believed to be one of the reasons the military establishment in Pakistan decided to nail Sharif and leave his camp dispirited just before the election, which gives automatic advantage to PTI. Sharif, before going to Adiala jail in the garrison city of Rawalpindi, asserted that the elections did not remain credible and the results would not be acceptable.

So, unlike in the previous elections, when accusations of fraud, rigging and manipulation would be made after the exit poll, this time the judicial-military establishment has been accused of supporting Khan’s PTI even before the voting. In all likelihood, the post-election scenario doesn’t look too attractive. If there is a hung parliament, all parties would cry foul. If PTI wins the majority, other parties would claim manipulation. If PML-N races ahead, PTI would protest. The fault lines are deep.

Pakistan’s powerful military, which controls the country’s foreign policy, especially relations with neighboring countries, is believed to have been miffed with Sharif’s peace overtures to New Delhi and his endeavors to broker peace between the Afghan government and the Taliban.

In Pakistan, the democratically elected leaders cannot overstep the red line drawn by the military. Sharif did and he paid the heavy price. He was disqualified from elections and sent to jail, even when some candidates affiliated with outlawed organisations like ASWJ, who have blood of Shias on their hand, have been given tickets to contest the election. Muhammad Ahmed Ludhianvi, the ASWJ leader, was taken off Pakistan government’s own black list last month as he prepared his candidature.
Khan, who is seen as the military’s blue-eyed boy, single-handedly led the crusade against Nawaz Sharif government, calling it corrupt and incompetent. When the verdict against Sharif was announced, Khan was addressing one of his election rallies. He broke the news and his supporters broke into celebration.

In his massive election rallies, he vowed to transform Pakistan in line with the vision of country’s founding fathers and root out corruption by strengthening institutions of governance. While his cozy relationship with the military and Taliban has raised a few eyebrows, he has great following among country’s burgeoning young population.

Even celebrities and former cricketers like Wasim Akram and Waqar Younus have backed their ‘skipper’ with one of the top trending hashtags #BehindYouSkipper. But, what must have given Khan a reason to cheer is a public opinion survey done by Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) and Herald magazine that shows PTI in lead, followed by PML-N and PPP.

While according to most pundits, it will be a close fight between PTI and PML-N, the other party in the fray PPP is now a shadow of its past, with support base limited to southern Sindh province. The young party chief Bilawal Bhutto has been campaigning hard across the country but undeniably he lacks the charisma and mass appeal of his late mother Benazir Bhutto.

Meanwhile, the election is being held amidst a series of terror attacks across the country, which has created panic among the voters. Security has been beefed up to protect electoral booths and neutral observers have been appointed to ensure free and fair voting. But, as they say, the last word in Pakistan belongs to the military.

Pledge to end sectarian violence in Pakistan

By Ahmet Aslan

Pakistan has been gripped by sectarian violence for decades but in recent times, it has become more vicious. Committed Muslims, representing “Shi’is” and “Sunnis” from many parts of the world gathered in Turkey to work toward ending this unnecessary conflict in the Ummah. While Syria and Iraq have been engulfed in bloody sectarian violence, a promising development took place recently to end sectarian bloodshed in Pakistan. Last month, members of some of the most influential Shi‘i and Sunni groups in Pakistan met in Bodrum, a popular holiday destination in Turkey, to end the ongoing bloodshed that has claimed the lives of thousands of innocent people since 2000 and even earlier. The meeting was initiated and organized by the Universal Justice Network, an umbrella organization that represents more than 200 Muslim NGOs around the world. The highlight of the three-day meeting was Imam Muhammad al-‘Asi’s speech titled “On Search of the Prophet and Unity/Perils of Disunity.” Fellow at the Institute of Contemporary Islamic Thought (ICIT) and mufassir of the noble Qur’an, The Ascendant Qur’an, seven volumes of which have been printed so far, Imam al-‘Asi has a very good grasp of the affairs of the Ummah. In addressing the issue of sectarianism, Imam al-‘Asi highlighted the Prophet’s (pbuh) strong connection to the society he lived in and his outstanding exemplary role in dealing with the affairs of society. In particular, Imam al-‘Asi emphasized that the Prophet (pbuh) always considered the people to whom he was delivering the message as his people (ahlī) even though they were mushriks. He stressed that according to the noble Qur’an this was also the practice of all the earlier prophets as they always played a unifying role in society rather than being divisive. He concluded that while there are contextual issues regarding the ongoing sectarianism in the Muslim world, he pointed to the lack of “social imān” in Muslim societies as the main reason. What this means is that Muslims are not involved in the affairs of society as they ought to be thereby allowing venomous concepts to seep in. Imam al-‘Asi’s thoughts, borne of deep contemplation of the Qur’an, the Sirah and Muslim societies were extremely well received by all participants at the conference. They all accepted his arguments and there was almost unanimous acclaim for his deep contemplation over the issue. Subsequent meetings between the participants, however, showed that Muslim leaders of the Ummah needed more contemplation and self-criticism to fully grasp the real causes of the problem. Almost all participants unanimously pointed to foreign influence on and interference in Muslim societies, namely British and the US imperialism, which created and fuelled the schism among the Shi‘is and Sunnis in Pakistan and elsewhere. They also named lack of education, poverty, cultural baggage and national characteristics (i.e., emotionalism) yet they failed to acknowledge their share of the problem, not fully imbibing the social instructions of the Qur’an and the Prophet (pbuh). Western powers together with their local regimes have indeed incited and exploited the rifts among Muslims, but it is the Muslims themselves that have allowed them to exploit these weaknesses. If Muslims do little or nothing but watch the heinous crimes committed against their brothers and sisters in Islam, such interference will continue. Nevertheless, the delegates discussed some of the core issues affecting Pakistani society and the ongoing sectarian violence and tried to find practical solutions to the problem. After three days of deliberations, they signed a declaration containing 11 points that all Muslim groups should adopt. According to the declaration “abusing the family of the Prophet (pbuh) — including his wives — companions and relatives as well as the religious opinions and beliefs of Muslim groups is haram and is against the Shari‘ah.” Further, the declaration stated that “differences within the Ummah should never lead to issuing takfir against fellow Muslims, and if it does lead to issuing takfir we declare such action to be haram and against the Shari‘ah.” The declaration also acknowledged the disruptive and diversionary effect of sectarian conflict by stating that “the conflicts in Palestine and Kashmir are fundamental issues facing this Ummah and on which there is unanimity.” The declaration strongly condemned “the instigation of sectarian division and internecine conflict within the Ummah to divert attention away from Palestine and Kashmir.” The meeting and declaration that emerged were promising developments since it was the first time that representatives of influential Pakistani groups from both Shi‘i and Sunni backgrounds came together to discuss very serious issues affecting Muslims, and they managed to come up with a declaration that denounced sectarian rhetoric and violence. Participants included Sahibzada Muhammad Hamid Raza, head of Markazi Dar ul Uloom Jamia Rizvia Trust, the biggest and oldest madrasah of the Sunni Barelvi sect in Pakistan; Allama Ibtisam Elahi Zaheer, who is a renowned scholar in Pakistan and has served as Secretary-General of Jami‘at Ahle Hadith Pakistan and Chairman of the Qur’an o Sunnah movement; Allama Syed Niaz Hussain Naqvi, who has been a senior judge in the high courts of the Islamic Republic of Iran for 27 years and is currently the principal of religious education institution Howza Ilmia Jamia al-Muntazar; Allama Muhammad Sadiq Qureshi, vice president of Minhaj-ul-Qur’an International; Liyaqat Baloch, General Secretary of Jamaat al-Islami Pakistan and Member of the Punjab provincial assembly; and Muhammad Sarwat Ejaz Qadri, President of Pakistan Sunni Tehreek. The attendance of Allama Muhammad Sadiq Qureshi was especially significant since his organization Minhaj-ul-Qur’an had adopted a sectarian discourse until last year. Then its leader, Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri changed the organization’s outlook by denouncing its sectarian stance and embraced a more unifying position. Given the seriousness of the issue, there were scholars and activists from a number of other Muslim countries and communities including South Africa, Turkey, Iran and Lebanon. Inspired by wide-ranging discussions and the conference declaration, the participants decided to work toward concrete solutions for ending sectarian violence and creating a cohesive and united Muslim community in Pakistan that perhaps could serve as a model for other parts of the Muslim world. As part of their commitment to keeping the momentum for unity alive, the participants decided to meet again in a year’s time, also in Turkey. The follow-up meeting would evaluate the work done and reflect on changes implemented in their practices. And perhaps they could come up with more tangible solutions to this artificially created problem that is tearing the fabric of the Ummah apart.