Advent of 'Pak Spring'?

Imran Khan's mammoth public meeting in the shadow of Mazar-i-Quaid on Sunday evening may potentially set the tone for future politics in Pakistan; one may call it the advent of Pak Spring. It was different in substance from all political rallies now underway or before, except for his rally in Lahore on October 30. But it was an improvement over that too, in that it turned out to be even larger, as against predictions that Karachi is somebody else's home ground. It was also different, in that he stood clear of the polluted past tormenting present of Pakistani politics. Barring a few passing remarks about his principal rivals, President Zardari and PML (N) chief Nawaz Sharif he talked of the times to come, outlining a 'You-can-do-it' sketch for the people of Pakistan. "I have a dream of a strong, vibrant Pakistan," Imran said, quite sanguine for its realisation, for his dreams be these about winning the World Cup or setting up country's first cancer hospital, he said, come true. His audience, comprising young and old, men and women, representing the entire spectrum of ethnic mosaic of that mega city that Karachi is, sang and danced to his hymn of a glorious future for the people of Pakistan. He called his rally a tsunami, the second in his programme; the third would be held in Quetta on Pakistan Day. Indeed PTI now is a third option for the people, whose will to be a part of the electoral process had eroded as they found themselves left with no choice but to vote for what they perceived as the status-quo political ciphers. Imran's rally put out early signs of the 'change' he has promised and his audience seemed to be embracing. Looking to the future he laid out broad contours of his agenda to usher in a 'New Pakistan'. Elimination of corruption and delivery of inexpensive justice on the doorstep, stand out as his first and immediate concerns. Given a chance to serve the people he promised to make Pakistan an Islamic welfare state, with wellbeing of the 50 percent in the lower strata, the have-nots segment of population as principal focus of his policies and governance. The curse of corruption, he committed would be eliminated in the first 90 days of his purported government, and justice would be freely available to all, calling upon Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry to rest assured that as he hears the cases of corruption in the high offices the PTI stands behind him. Quite expectedly the prompt reaction of quite a few to his game-changing reforms agenda was pessimistic, if not cynical, in that Imran can only make promises because he is asking for the moon, a mission-impossible, they argued since the team he is selecting for the task is too unreliable. That his promises are too rosy to be realised, the criticism is valid to some extent - but one should keep in mind that there is always an unbridgeable gap between the election promises and their fulfilment. In this case, one would think that even if one-third of his promises were met we shall have a different Pakistan, and more importantly, a fully furnished confidence that we can do it. Regarding doubts about the tried and tested new entrants Imran has an argument which deserves unbiased consideration; if strong leadership could single-handedly turn around destinies of people in Singapore, Malaysia and Turkey why not in Pakistan. That in his address he refrained from touching upon Karachi's myriad problems particularly the rampant lawlessness and the critical economic slowdown his critics have point. He certainly went out of his way to assuage the dominant party in the city that he wants to bury the past. The road-map that he spelled out was short on specifics and long on rhetoric. That Imran presents the face of an Islamic polity in the backdrop of modern times, he has certainly 'hijacked' the agenda of our religious parties whose programmes, in the eyes of third generation Pakistanis, are stuck in old grooves with no hope of embracing realities of time and space. In that he has carved a niche constituency for his party. Equally significant was his position on the situation in Balochistan and his plea that the province be given special attention on the pattern that East Germany received after the fall of Berlin Wall. But he did not seem to be in any hurry. He did not ask for early elections and appeared to be bidding for the time when his party will have found its feet squarely and firmly on the ground, reflecting a dimension of his brand of politics. No less pleasing is the fact that his massive rally was entirely peaceful, as Karachi presented a picture of perfect harmony and togetherness - distinctly verifiable from Altaf Hussain's greetings to the PTI leader soon after the public meeting was over. Copyright Business Recorder, 2011