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.

Zardari's years in office

It has become more of a hobby to make caricatures of President Zardari. Social and electronic media has become more of  circus which had made the art of criticism disgusting. The use of words and satire are not only illogical but also don't conform with facts. Frugal words and taunt is all what anchors have against the president.

I consider Zardari to be the best post-Bhutto civilian president in Pakistan. Analytically speaking, he solved a nexus of problems confronting the country; problems ranging from constitutional labyrinth to provincial despondency. I'll be proving this claim in the article below.

We should first know about pre-Bhutto civilian presidents of Pakistan:

Mr. Fazl ilahi became the president after the 1973 constitution came into being. The president only had symbolic value and couldn't interfere in the working of the democratic system. Mr. Fazl ilahi was only a dummy head president with no real power whatsoever.

Mr. Ghulam Ishaq Khan and Mr. Farooq Laghari respectively became president in the post Gen. Zia period (1988 onwards). Gen. Zia-ul-Haq made the office of the president extremely powerful. The general added the infamous article 58(2)B into the constitution, giving president the power to dissolve assemblies at his own will. The office of the president was protected by Article 248 of the constitution which gave these president total immunity for any action he are she performs in office.

The 1988-1999 era was a period of musical chairs in Pakistan's politics. Article 58(2)B - the sword of Damocles - was repeatedly used to oust democratic governments:

1. Ms. Benazir Bhutto's PPP led government (1988-1990) ousted by Mr. Ghulam Ishaq Khan
2. Mr. Nawaz Shareef's PML led government (1990-1993) ousted  by Mr. Ghulam Ishaq Khan
3. Ms. Benazir Bhutto's PPP led government (1993-1996) ousted by Mr. Farooq Laghari
4. Mr. Nawaz Shareef's PML led government (1996-1999) ousted  by Gen. Pervez Musharraf

Such were the times faced by Pakistan. There was no political certainty, hence forth, no economic certainty. Governments were formed and expelled by undemocratic means. The balance of power favoured the president making him the agencies 'man in office'. Right wing politics took an exponential boost and situation never came under control. Whenever political stability was observed, the president toppled the civilian system and never allowed democratic ideals to flourish. Even Mr. Laghri -Ms. Bhutto's right hand in office- was tempted by the power of 58(2)B, consequently ousting his own prime minister from office.

Mr. Waseem Sajjad became twice the president of Pakistan in an interim setup. No major politcal decisions are made during interim governments. In 2002, alleged corruption cases were made against him, but he wasn't proved guilty.

Mr. M. Rafiq Tarar was a benign president in Mr. Shareef's 2nd term. Although he had the power of 58(2)B with him, but couldn't use it. It was an army coup which ousted Mr. Shareef for the second time from prime minster-ship. 

As we can see, the presidential office has always played an evil role in the constitutional history of the country. Weak bureaucratic and governmental mechanism allows corruption to flourish. This is what we are experiencing today.

Asif Ali Zardari

With this background, we can analyses how Mr. Zardari has been for Pakistan. 

1. When President Zardari ran for office, the province of Sindh loudly chanted the slogen 'Pakistan na Khappay' (We don't want Pakistan). The situation was extremely delicate and non-Sindhis living in interior Sindh could easily conjure the consequences of such an atmosphere. Sindh was on fire, and independence from Pakistan was the prime objective. At this point, President Zardari successfully turned the tide from the slogan of  'Pakistan na Khappay'  to a new slogan, something like 'Amreiyat na Khappay' (We don't want military rule). It was an historic occasion, as a single spark could had created problems for the existence of Pakistan. PPP being the strongest federalist party had the power to do anything with the federation.
2. Mr. Zardari started reconciliation with Baloch groups, MQM, ANP and with PML(N). This again was an unprecedented move. In Pakistani politics, it's near to impossible to let down one's ego. PPP being the largest federalist party started the process of reconciliation, while according to rule, there was no need for such reconciliatory behaviour. After Ms. Bhutto's assassination, PPP could easily had won the election if they had chanted Anti-PML(N) slogans in Punjab. As we have seen, it is easy to mobilise people on emotional rhetorics. Mr. Zardari abstained from such tactics.
3. Just a week after he became the president he successfully held a mutli-state meeting named 'Friends of democratic Pakistan'. Pakistan got a massive amount of aid. US also paid 'democratic' dividend to Pakistan which positively affected Pakistan's foreign exchange reserves.
4. The NFC (National Finance Commission)  awards is one of the greatest milestone for the present government. NFC was in dormancy for the last 30 years as a feasible formula for monetary division couldn't be reached by the provinces. Awarding the NFC allowed the long standing prejudice against Balochistan to be resolved. The demand of adding the 'inverse population' variable to the NFC award formula was accepted with consensus. This was due to the reconciliatory attitude of Mr. Zardari.
5. Mr. Zardari was able to get back the Pakistan Scientist Mr. Chisti who was in jail for the last 20 years in India. No president or prime minster was able to do this. This again is a mammoth achievement for Mr. Zardari.
6. The Benazir Income Support Program, initiated by President Zardari, distributed $2.25 billion  amongst the poorest of the poor. The distribution mechanism was made transparent by allowing the opposition to distribute money in their respective constituencies. Hence, no one has challenged the transparency of  the support program. This is a small step towards a future welfare state.
7. The sword of Democles - Article 58(2)B - was handed back to the prime minister of Pakistan. Such an act of trimming once ego in extremely rare in Pakistani politics. It takes courage to hand down legal power to someone else. 

"Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power." - Abraham Lincoln

The downsizing of presidential  power has ushered a new era of parliamentary democracy in Pakistan. Rusted and formerly rubber stamp prime minister is now in full control of the rudder. The office of the president has again became ceremonial as per the 1973 consitution guidelines.

With all theses achievements,  President Zardari needs a big hand of applause from the nation. It's not bad having enemies, as Churchill rightly said:

You have enemies? Good. That means you’ve stood up for something, sometime in your life.