AMJAD MALIK ARTICLE : RESPONSE
Its A No-Brainer Where The Vote Is Likely To Go..
Malik seems to suffer from the same, stereotypical political myopia that repetitively comes through in writings and speeches of IK and PTIs detractors, who seek to curry favor with status quo politicians, both treasury and opposition, regardless of their true merit. Whilst PTI Chairman , Imran Khan, and PTI members, workers, and volunteers have successfully managed to counter most of such myths and perceptions, rather misperceptions, the dragon appears to rear its unsightly head again and again, and requires to be slain for the collective benefit of the political system in, and the populace of, Pakistan.
Whilst Mr. Malik speaks of the administrative experience attributable to Nawaz Sharif, he seems to have forgotten the leadership qualities, team work, clean intent, credibility, and supreme administrative capabilities required to build and run charitably a hospital of the stature of SKMT (with annual budget about PKR 8 billion; and now being expanded to the cities of Karachi & Peshawar); establish Namal College; and raise funds to the tune of PKR 2 billion within only 2 weeks to aid victims of flood. IKs efforts in social, developmental, and emergency relief sectors may be deemed larger than life, for all his achievements came without having any access at all to national taxes; public exchequer; state machinery; the establishment; the bureaucratic setup, all of which have been enjoyed by his major political rivals at several points in history, with very little to show in return. Given Imrans clean, non-corrupt personality as regards his public commitments, he stands good chance to usher in an era of major reforms when he is elected and when he has recourse to all the above mentioned resources. Being twice elected seems to Mr. Malik the crowning glory of Nawaz Sharif. We wish he had also touched upon any significant achievement of IKs political alternatives, even one singular achievement, whose double shots at governance seem to have only put the people through misery and a sordid plight, what with Pakistan being ranked amongst the leading nations with regard to corruption, economic mismanagement, foreign policy failure, and rigging the electoral processes at the very core.
IK has chosen deliberately to sit at the sidelines of political power for he happens to be a non status quo politician, incorruptible (as his detractors admit themselves), and not open to ideological compromises as regards the PTI. It appears strange then that the writer terms him an impatient politician. If anything, IKs principled stance and his visionary political ideas such as accountability, independent judiciary, criticism of the US for sponsoring a civil war like situation in Pakistan (all hijacked later by his adversaries for their vested gains), project him even to international media and observers as an independent-thinking and patient leader. Imran may not be a politician per se. However, each one of us Pakistanis has witnessed, and now realized, the dismal performances of career politicos, each dabbling in politics to make a fast buck. IK, on the other hand, consistently displays leadership. If the electorate can dole out multimillions of hard earned savings to support IKs social imperatives, it certainly does not appear unlikely that, given an undisputed track record of public service, he stands to win a whole lot of seats come next election. Afterall, what are the other alternatives? Repetitively tested and repetitively failed PPP and PML-N?
The writers assertion that, His handling of public purse is yet to be seen, may safely be termed ludicrous laughable and ridiculous purely because if anything, he has excelled at handling public funds. Further, Mr. Malik seems to be stating that Imran has no team with him, which logistically and operationally appears in frontal contradiction to the ease with which he cruises along from one remarkable project to another!!! Mr. Malik is perhaps ignorant of the reality of how well organized the PTI is becoming with each passing day, right down to the grassroots level, and right across the country. Additionally, I would question him to please shed some light on the amorphous performances in government of parties such as the PPP and PML-N (some granted three shots at power) despite having teams comprising a 100+ cabinet members? Any comments, Sir?
Mr. Amjad Malik makes another erroneous presumption when he speaks of the expatriate vote. By PTI estimates, and supported by facts, no less than 90% of the overseas Pakistanis vote lies with IK. Chairman PTI, Imran Khan, has gone so far as to state that whilst 175 million people at home have a collective GDP of about US$ 175 billion / annum, the roughly estimated 10 million Pakistanis abroad alone have a GDP of about US$ 250 billion / annum. With IK and PTI credibility and clean record, there already exist commitments to the tune of 10% of expatriate GDP in the form of remittances and / or Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) into Pakistan. This approx US$ 25 billion / annum for Pakistan emanating from our own people, our own sons-of-the-soil, so to say, certainly augurs favorably for Pakistan in comparison to the piddly sum of US$ 1.5 billion / annum through the Kerry-Luger Bill that has unfortunately made the whole nation, and our rulers (not leaders!!) completely hostage to the US.
Lastly, the writer brings up the subject of ballot, as well. So disenchanted and disenfranchised are the people that hardly anyone turns out at the ballot. Pakistan seems to be signaling, We want none of the above. Could we have a change of face? PTI has been running a widespread voter registration campaign, and have reached the highest courts of law for electoral reform. Also, the Pakistani electorate has been becoming increasingly savvy. All of us witnessed in the 2008 election several sitting PML-Q Federal Ministers unable to secure their very own seats from their very own constituencies. This included political heavyweights including the likes of Khurshid Kasuri, Sheikh Rasheed, Humayun Akhtar, and Chaudhary Perwaiz Elahi, because the electorate deemed they had not performed.
Today, the ground reality, which the majority of the country is united upon, is that both status quo parties have once again failed to perform, the fifth time around between the two of them.
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