Smokers Corner: The reverse Khan

Faheem Niaz

Senator (1k+ posts)
Nadeem-F-Paracha-New-640x480.jpg



Last week when PTI chief, Imran Khan, held a joint press conference with the head of the fundamentalist Jamat-i-Islami (JI) and hinted that his party may get into an electoral alliance with the JI, many frontline PTI enthusiasts on the social media were not impressed.



They are at pains to describe the PTI as a ‘genuine liberal party,’ some even argue that it is actually ‘leftist.’


Of course, thus far, PTI has largely come across as being a more animated and youthful version of the conservative PML-N.


PTI has tried to mix things up by placing one of its dancing feet in the idealistic potpourri of urban middle-class youth, while attempting to place its other foot in the muddy mush where a number of right-wing Islamist outfits have been rolling for attention. This is the mush where PML-N too has a foothold in.


If the JI does get into an alliance with the PTI, it will not be the first time this otherwise elitist Islamic outfit would allow itself to jump into the fry of populist politics.


From its controversial involvement in the 1953 anti-Ahmadiya riots in Lahore, to its participation in the raising of violent militant squads by the Pakistan Army against Bengali nationalists in 1971; and from its active role in toppling the Z A. Bhutto regime, to supplying the ideological rationale and manpower to Ziaul Haq’s ‘Islamisation’ project and jihad in Afghanistan, the JI has found itself to be at the centre of a number of controversial episodes that one can’t quite call democratic.


But why would Imran Khan who in recent months has been riding a wave of popularity be so willing to ally himself with the JI?


Apart from JI’s awkward past, it has never been an electorally strong entity. It has not managed to get more than five per cent of the votes in all the elections that it has taken part in ever since 1970.


Its main hurrah in this respect only arrived during the 2002 election when it was just one part of the religious parties’ alliance, the MMA. And even then many analysts insist MMA’s victory in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) was ‘facilitated’ by the ideologically schizophrenic Musharraf dictatorship.


Thus, Khan is certainly not in line to bag any additional number of seats if he allies his party with the JI in the next election.


And even though JI still has some muscle left in its otherwise creaking bones to gather a good number of people for rallies, Khan can now do that on his own.


So if one rules out gathering additional seats in an election or the fattening of political rallies as reasons for Khan’s romance with JI, what else is there for him to gain from the purposed alliance?


He hasn’t been able to give a more concrete answer himself, apart from that he thinks JI is one of the few ‘non-controversial’ and ‘clean’ parties out there.


Of course, Khan’s political navet and his simplistic (if not entirely selective) understanding of the country’s political history have never been a secret, so let’s just leave his reading of the JI at that.


However, there just might be some pragmatic meat after all behind Khan’s move to partner JI, or for that matter, to continue sending his ‘envoys’ to rallies held by far-right groups such as the Difa-e-Pakistan Council (DPC).


JI’s vote bank which is more akin to generate spoilers than produce winners, mainly lies in pockets in Karachi, Lahore, central Punjab and parts of KP.


For example, in elections that were boycotted by JI, most of its votes largely went to conservative-democratic parties like the PML-N. In some incidents a chunk of JI voters voted for PML-N just so the JI candidate is not able to split the right-wing vote in the constituency and consequently produce a victory for non-right/secular parties.


So perhaps what is on Khan’s mind is a three-way fight (especially in the Punjab) between the PML-N, PPP and PTI, where Khan wants the JI vote to come to him instead of going to the PML-N?


In theory it makes sense. But statistics of the elections held since 1988 clearly see how rapidly JI’s vote bank has shrunk.
It is however true though, that JI votes continue to go to PML-N.


So does this mean that by warming up to Islamic outfits whose supporters usually end up voting for the much larger conservative political parties such as the PML-N and JUI-F, Khan is squarely going for the PML-N and JUI-F vote bank?


I believe so. By holding hands with the JI and flirting with DPC, Khan is trying to attract the right-wing and Islamic votes into becoming consolidated PTI votes.


If he also manages to break a few PPP votes then that will be a bonus because his other hope in this respect are the young first-time-voters. They are a mixture of formally apolitical (but socially liberal) urbanites and those who see Khan as some kind of a reincarnation of a more romanticised version of Z.A. Bhutto.


That said, there certainly is an ideological link between PTI and JI as well. Apart from being baptised into politics by right-wing figures such as Hamid Gul, Khan’s initial political training took place at the hands of former JI chief, Qazi Hussain Ahmed.


Though one can’t accuse Khan of being an ‘Islamic fundamentalist,’ he most certainly is right-wing. At least in the post-Cold War context in which many rightists have adopted a number of old leftist gestures, rhetoric and postures to address the concerns of societies disorientated by the economic and social fall-outs of things like globalisation, religious extremism and War on Terror.


Also, in a way, Khan also seems to have a sentimental spot for JI. His idea about JI suggests that he views this party as an ideological powerhouse that just got blown away by the crude ways of populist electoral politics.


Some would also suggest that since Khan’s recent rise was shaped a bit by some powerful figures in the country’s intelligence agencies, it was only natural for him to make friends with the ‘B teams of the agencies’, such as JI, DPC, etc.


Whatever the case, Khan is very much his own man now. His popularity, if not entirely judged by superficial popularity polls, does have a genuine tinge to it.


His rendezvous with the Islamic right in the shape of JI or DPC may make some political sense, but he should also be conscious of the other side of the issue.


His manoeuvres in this regard are likely to make his more liberal supporters question his egalitarian postures and stands on things like religious extremism: not only the kind practised by sectarian and militant organisations, but also the sort of religious bullying members of parties like JI have had a history of.


Suffice to say, these are the kind of questions that are not answered by sharing sofas and stages with outfits known for having sympathies for Islamic extremists and for laws that have created more disorder than otherwise.


The Dawn Newspaper



By Nadeem F Paracha
 
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kNoWnAjNabi

Councller (250+ posts)
Whats wrong with our people yaar....those who tries to follow Islam, they tag them with the western given names. I am not reading this article :@ I know this guy is really confused........
 

M Ali Khan

Minister (2k+ posts)
Whats wrong with our people yaar....those who tries to follow Islam, they tag them with the western given names. I am not reading this article :@ I know this guy is really confused........

when did the Jamaat-e-Islami become a testimony of 'following true Islam'??
 

Lahori Paa Jee

Politcal Worker (100+ posts)
Excellent analysis. Indeed Imran has been targetting the PML-N vote bank. PPP's political orphans have already been joining PTI
 

Zoaib

Minister (2k+ posts)
Well, given NFP's rants against IK in the past, this is quite a reasonable article by him. Rather than commenting myself, I would like to quote here another comment I found just below this article (credits to Rai Hammad):

"
we r sick of this,rightist and leftist.Our past generation including the writer gave us this sick thought of rightist and
leftist,liberal and conservative but in fact there is only one partition and that is "poor and wealthy...strong and weak...elite and red indians".In our country leftist altaf hussain and asfand yar wali are of same group as rightist maulana fazlurehman and ch shujatt hussain.So where are rest of us....we are like red indians born for nothing and die for nothing.

Mr NFP this time we will not tolerate this blackmailing of your generation.Your generation spoiled there whole life following this ideology and look what you have leftist asif zardari at the place of ZA Bhotto andrightist Maoulana fazl At the place of mufti mehmood.What a shame of your generation thet you bleak our future in this country but we will lot compromise on the future of our childern.We will go against our fathers and families to vote for a right man whether he is religious or secular,........No to rightist leftist theory"
 

kNoWnAjNabi

Councller (250+ posts)
I am not saying that Jamaat-e-Islami is the testimony......I was talking about different tag name introduced by the west.....I don't think is sensible thing to use being Muslim and criticizing those who walk along them. They give tags name to divide and than conquer :)
when did the Jamaat-e-Islami become a testimony of 'following true Islam'??
 

unique

MPA (400+ posts)
Nadeem farooq paracha un be ghairat logon mein se hay jo doosron ki values apna chukay hn...i
 

malik1c

Senator (1k+ posts)
PTI is a not left or right party, It represents all the people of Pakistan. Its vision is Modern Islamic welfare state, So islam is at its core, as Imran said if Pakistan was not to be an islamic state we could have stayed apart of India.

These Liberal extremist don't understand this.
 

arslan4u

Minister (2k+ posts)
Is ki shakal dekh ke hi pata lag gaya hai bakwas likhi ho gi, is liay parh ke apna time zaya nahi karun ga.
 
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khan27

Minister (2k+ posts)
jamat e islami muje b nahi pasand par yeh nadeem paracha tu zehr lagta hai banda..agar PPP inke saath etehaad kare phir usko bura nahi lage ga
 

insafandjust

MPA (400+ posts)
criticism on PTI is on Peak specially from fake liberals like nadeem paracha .Akhir itehad tu karna hi kisi say.So what is problem if there is alliance with JI which is free of corrupt people and also we have not seen JI involvement in militancy except that in 1970 or 1953.
 

khan27

Minister (2k+ posts)
mera nahi khyal imran khan ne kahe kaha hai ke mil ke gov banaege PTI aur JI ka mokaf aik hi hai NATO ke khilaf
 

Bourne

MPA (400+ posts)
This man is a retard, even if he writes something in favour of PTI I wont bother to read let alone PTI bashing..
 

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