Change versus status quo

After years of wandering in political wilderness Imran Khan appears to have finally arrived at the scene, and what an arrival; his rally in Lahore on Sunday is said to be one of the biggest-ever in that city and immeasurably wild with joy and in high spirits. For about an hour that he spoke the massive gathering in the shadow of the Minar-i-Pakistan kept bubbling with anticipation and hope. It was a political rally of a different kind, unlike the ones held every now and then by the political parties as audiences were ferried in from distant places in commandeered transport by loyalist officials. Spontaneity and resonance obtained all the while as Imran Khan spoke in a measured tone laced with idiom closely in sync with people's aspirations. At times you had the feeling of sitting through a musical evening. But it was much more than that, for he spoke of change, a change from the present which fits the definition of an unending nightmare for the people of Pakistan. The Lahore rally has opened the doors on his Tehrik-i-Insaf to join the league of political bigwigs. Imran Khan is no doubt an icon for the millions both for his great cricket and his pioneering contribution to the treatment of cancer in Pakistan. Now he is also a great political leader in his own right that stands confirmed. The programme that Imran Khan unfolded in his Lahore rally, may not be very revolutionary, as some claim, but what is significant about it is the hope and a possibility that things can change, and everything is not lost yet. The prescription he wrote advises both care and cure; while good governance, honest bureaucracy, hard work and self-reliance can help retrieve national prestige and restore its vitality, the accountability of the corrupt politicians would stem the rot and give Pakistan new leadership. That he brought under sharper focus the ill-gotten wealth invested abroad or parked in foreign banks and wanted the politicians to declare their assets or face the 'wrath of the people and civil disobedience' Imran Khan appears to be in rhyme with the din that if repatriated these 'billions of dollars' can help the country out of the woods. About 100 billion dollars are in the foreign bank accounts of Pakistanis, says the Pakistan chapter of Transparency International and the case is now before the Supreme Court. Corruption in high places being the burning political issue in the country, he did touch a raw nerve, earning in response the crowd's rapturous cheers. Whatever else he proposed as the way out of the economic mess, energy crisis and political uncertainty is not new but the manner he presented it does establish his capacity to comprehend the complex nature of national issues and how those should be handled - unlike the whole lot of our veterans in this field whose comprehension of the issues is limited to the prepared text. But having witnessed what one did in Lahore on Sunday one would still be circumspect in saying Imran Khan is our next prime minister. As one of his detractors quite rightly argued, a big rally is no guarantee of big electoral victory - if you know how in the past huge processions and massive rallies failed to translate themselves into votes. Then it is also a fact that the gathering Imran Khan attracted in Lahore was essentially the urban elite comprising the educated class, motivated citizens and the youth, and that hardly stands for the majority of our people. More importantly, while the Tehrik-i-Insaf may have very clean people to field in the coming election, it doesn't have the kind of 'experienced hands' who have honed the art of winning at the polls by hook or crook. But what Imran Khan has done is much more than winning a seat here or there; his entry has the entire wherewithal to prove to be a game-changer in national politics. Not only the massive turn-up at his rally tends to suggest that an election is in the air, he has presented to people a political option and an alternative to the inescapably existing reality of choosing between the bad and the worse. And that is no mean achievement on the part of an individual even when he is the determined, indefatigable Imran Khan. Copyright Business Recorder, 2011