An Orwellian Analysis of Imran Khan

Imran Khan in the animal farms

Whether it is Fatalism or a curse of history, Imran Khan can be characterised either as the simple-hearted animal or as their leader.

George Orwell in his well-known book, Animal Farms, writes about a farm owned by humans that was overtaken by animals. The leaders of the animals were the pigs. Their polemic against the human owners made the simple-hearted animals believe that humans are the source of their suffering. The polemic was highly effective, and the animals were able to arrange a successful coup d'etat against their masters. Hence the eulogized Kingdom of Heaven, where all animals will have a equal share of work and equal standard of living started to take shape. Unfortunately, the end was as tragic as the beginning. The pigs - who initially were the harbingers of peace and prosperity - later on became the new kings, while the simple-hearted animals still suffered. The cycle of suffering perpetuated. 

Whether it is Fatalism or a curse of history, Imran Khan can be characterised either as the simple-hearted animal or as their leader. For the middle class, he still rings in their hearts. His ferocious stance against corruption even make his arch-enemies support him. His idea of justice being at the heart of a progressive society appeals to the common sense. Similar to the "first birth" of the animal leaders, he believes that the system is rotten to its core and has to be changed immediately. 

The same Khan, acts like the simple-hearted animal when it comes to international and domestic issues. He preaches the wrath of dictatorship, on his infamous "Dharna Truck", standing besides people like Sheikh Rasheed, Khurshid Kusuri, Javeed Hashmi, and Shah Mehmood. Similar to the simple-hearted Orwellian animal, Khan continues to hearken to them, although they represent the same Orwellian humans that he is fighting against.

Hashmi's betrayal can not be erased from the annals of Pakistani politics. Imran in his dream, like Julius Ceaser, would had have said "You too Brutus!?". I hope he doesn't have to repeat it again.

When is comes to terrorism, Mr. Imran Khan seems to be chained in the classical paradox of tolerance, i.e. should one tolerate intolerance if intolerance would destroy the possibility of tolerance? Without any doubt, this is a difficult problem for everyone including him. The simple-hearted Imran Khan tried to become the modern day Gandhi and preached dialogue as the key to peace. Taliban even nominated him as their spokesperson, when the government started the dialogue process. 

The terrorist kept on destroying our cities, and he remained disillusioned and kept on presenting that war on terror is not our war. It was not until the horrendous attack on the army public school in Peshawar, that he finally made up his mind, or maybe forced to make up his mind, as the military started a massive operation to eradicate this evil from our soil.

The final metamorphosis has happened lately. Imran Khan kept on blaming a private television station and news group for orchestrating electoral rigging and announced its boycott. He developed the story of 35 punctures, that has become an idiom in itself. Then, he said that it was all a mistake and apologised for it. Later on, he said it wasn't 35 punctures, rather 70 punctures. God knows, what's to follow. Just like the "second birth" of the animal leader, Imran khan has deviated from his idea of justice.

Justice in its very essence its defined as truth. A person who can not keep his words, might also fall short on creating a just society. Like the animal leader, he plays with words and fools the simple-hearted animals.

Machiavelli wrote in The Prince, "A prince never lacks legitimate reasons to break his promise." The "second birth" of Imran Khan can be characterised precisely what Machiavelli wrote a century ago. I would say, "A prince never lacks legitimate reasons to break his word".

I hope that we do not see an Orwellian end to our political story, where the simple-hearted animals get ruled by pigs who are at par with their human counter-parts.