New Delhi: A wave of revolutionary consciousness across the Arab world has also begun to influence other nations ruled by unpopular, if not undemocratic, governments. The former Pakistani cricket legend-turned-politician Imran Khan believes the country might witness a popular uprising soon, making it the next Egypt. ibnlive invited Khan on Friday for a chat on his somewhat ambitious claim. The dashing ex-cricketer tackled all kinds of questions with the same finesse he used to display on crease years ago.
Imran Khan stood his ground during the chat, presenting interesting arguments to back his claim. When quizzed about Pakistan doing an Egypt, he said, "Pakistan is going through the worst of times and the best of times. The country has an independent Supreme Court through a massive street movement. It has the most vibrant media comparable to anywhere in the world. It has a public that is more politically aware than ever."
Soon, it became clear to readers that the basis of Khan's optimism was the faith he had in his party, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI), which he founded in April, 1996. He said whenever a popular uprising happens in the country, PTI will lead it. "Ours is already the most popular party in Pakistan amongst the youth and 70 per cent of Pakistanis are under the age of 30," he said.
The next general elections in Pakistan are scheduled in 2013.
"The last election my party contested was 8 years back, and the party was only 5 years old then. Now it's a 14-year-old party and it is spread all over Pakistan. In a recent survey of 10 universities in Lahore and Karachi, 70 per cent were with PTI. So I am confident that the next election will be swept by my party," he added.
Of course, the readers in India could not help throwing bouncers on the most prickly issue between India and Pakistan, i.e. the Kashmir issue. The seasoned batsman that Khan had been, he answered them with a straight bat. "It would need strong leaderships in India as well as in Pakistan (to address the Kashmir issue). The first step will be to get the Army out of Kashmir because whether it is Waziristan, Baluchistan or Kashmir, we have seen that the Army action makes things worse. It can never be a solution. Kashmir needs a political, not a military solution, a solution based on justice."
On the rise of Taliban and terrorism in Pakistan, he said, "The current terrorism is largely due to a puppet government fighting someone else's war and bombing its own people. There were no militant Taliban in Pakistan until on behest of the US we sent our troops in the tribal areas. The military operations created the Pakistani Taliban."
On the PTI manifesto on terror, he said, "If my party comes to power, we will immediately pull our forces out of the tribal areas and enlist our own tribal people to hunt down the real terrorists. Extremism will subside very quickly, then the real terrorist will be easy to track down and tackle."
(Click here for a full transcript of the chat)
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