The false messiah Pakistan awaits By Nadeem F Paracha June 28, 2011 A fantastic cricketer, Imran Khan once

seemed to possess all the right ingredien ts to become a truly progressive politician. Unfortunately, he landed on his fac e. Now it is all too obvious who is trying to pick him back up and that too for all the wrong reasons! What can one say about Imran Khan? A great former cricketer, a compassionate phi lanthropist... and a sorry excuse for a politician? But his continuing forays in to bad politics and tactical blunders can be excused, for he is yet to understan d that politics is not a game of cricket and that the democratic election proces s does not follow the selection policy he enforced as the captain of the Pakista n cricket squad. The truth is Khans penchant for picking up talented players seemed to have gone h aywire when he decided to pick his early political mentors. By the time Khan off icially entered politics sometime in late 1995 it wasnt his pristine education at Oxford University or a more insightful understanding of Pakistans political hist ory that was informing his political make-up. On the contrary, his ideology was weaved from the usual reactionary claptrap one expects from former ISI men and political Islamic parties, especially those who got emotionally involved in Pakistans counter-productive Afghan jihad project in the 1980s. Thus, the next logical step for him, was, of course, going further d own the reactionary rabbit hole. This hole is the same one into which a number o f urban, middle-class Pakistanis have decided to fall, becoming an isolated (alb eit growing) cult of sorts with its own set of prophets that include certain mus ic and fashion celebrities, TV personalities, cricketers, journalists, televange lists et al. This cult also has its own understanding of Pakistani politics, society and the faith. Its worldview espouses a narrative that puts Pakistan at the centre of th e universe around which malicious anti-Pakistan and anti-Islam forces (mostly We stern) are constantly trying to undermine the countrys political and cultural wel lbeing and sovereignty. But the funny thing is that a majority of those followin g this cult are rather westernised in their habits and many are also well settle d in various European countries and the US. There is a clear lack of self-awareness on their part due to which they seem to completely miss noticing the ideological and existential dichotomy that their ou tlook exhibits. Its like knowing the spelling of the word hypocrisy but not knowi ng what it means. This cults messiahs too demonstrate similar dichotomies. For example, it is ironic hearing men such as Imran Khan, Hamid Gul, Munawar Has san and Zaid Hamid spout lectures and speeches on corruption, sovereignty and pa triotism, when the truth is that much of what these gentlemen are spouting is no thing more than a populist version of a slippery narrative propagated by a polit ical and economic elite. Their roots are not in the so-called masses but in the smoky corridors of Pakistans intelligence agencies and in the comfortable TV loun ges of the countrys urban middle and upper classes. Since lack of self-awareness is the highlight of this cults gung-ho behaviour, I wonder if Khan is conscious of the fact that much of what he chants in the name of the poor people, free judiciary and national sovereignty is largely a by-prod uct of the nonsense generated for years by the countrys economic, military and so cial elite groups. Thats why even though the media and politicians have only just begun to suggest that Khan might be being propped up by certain sections of the

intelligence agencies, the truth is, as far as his political beliefs are concer ned, he was always the establishments man. This cult of leaders that Khan belongs to is somewhat oxymoronic. They are being u sed to preach a revolution from above so that a genuine revolution from below (i e from the masses) can be kept in check to safeguard the economic and political interests of those sitting at the helm of Pakistans establishment. But is Khan re ally such a novice? Since he has not been above hypocrisy and contradiction hims elf, blundering over and again by questioning the moral make-up of various polit icians, from Mr Asif Ali Zardari to Mr Nawaz Sharif to Mr Altaf Hussain, in resp onse, he has constantly faced some ugly reminders of his own not-so-moralistic p ast. This can let one assume that he is conscious of the said dichotomy, but more so, also conscious of the fact that in a country like Pakistan such dichotomies get lost in the usual hullabaloo about honour. An honour that has more to do with i maginary wars and mythical warriors rather than something a tad more realistic. Whats more, the more tenacity mainstream political parties in Parliament exhibit in the face of a rabid onslaught against its character, the more frustrated this cults leaders and supporters get, consequently becoming more audacious and absur d in their attacks. They foam at the mouth, blasting incoherent rants about patr iotism and Islam, sometimes sounding as if they are suffering from a rapid case of reverse evolution. A man like Imran Khan with such a fantastic cricketing career and an impressive record of philanthropy, a man who once seemed to possess all the right ingredien ts to become a truly progressive politician, has, unfortunately, landed on his f ace. It is all too obvious now who is trying to pick him back up, and that too f or all the wrong reasons. His supporters, mostly through social media, are just fodder to feed his delusion of being the messiah that Pakistanis await. The writer is among the most popular Pakistani columnists. He writes for Dawn. Source: The Dawn, Karachi URL: http://www.newageislam.com/NewAgeIslamCurrentAffairs_1.aspx?ArticleID=4965