Daily Times

Still in the middle, neither this nor that. What he said is in the past, what he is going to do is not part of the present either. It is too early to judge him and declare him a non performer.

Imran Khan asks us to give him only a 100 days, before we judge him for his performance — and of course the direction of his performance. Direction matters more at this stage than performance. His speeches were largely meaningful with a few exceptions. His few quick steps are a mix of homeopathic and allopathic prescriptions, if we assume Pakistan to be a human body.

Imran Khan’s circumstances have made the scene look like a one-day match. Performances do not happen as quickly in a country. It was not overnight that China became a world power. It took her 30 years, to maintain its pace at a 7 percent GDP growth rate on average. Their long and short-term planning were synchronized. Despite the fact that democracy was not its path. It is perhaps the only example of a dictatorship which is growing and making people’s lives better. It has a trickle-down effect unlike India, with its democratic government.

For Imran Khan things are almost identical to what Bhutto faced after the fall of Dhaka. Khan is in charge of a Pakistan which is drowning in debt. It has a huge defense expenditure, given the realities of the region. It has a rotted oligarchy which has looted exchequers money and laundered it. Today we are under the US as we need dollars to fill the empty jar of foreign currency reserves, which were stolen by the oligarchy. Before going to the IMF we met Pompeo, the Foreign Secretary of US, who recently advised IMF not to give money to Pakistan.

We are at a crossroads. We are not able to maintain a balance between China and the US. Our foreign policy revolves around our regional realities. Of course, we await to see how Imran Khan handles all these challenges. His past as an individual, is credited with a few unbelievable achievements if not miracles. From World Cup 1992, to Shaukat Khanam Cancer Hospital and of course his electoral win as the Prime Minister.

Imran Khan’s circumstances have made the scene look like a one-day match. Performances do not happen as quickly in a country. It was not overnight that China became a world power. It took her 30 years, to maintain its pace at a 7 percent GDP growth rate on average. Their long and short-term plannings were synchronized. Despite the fact that democracy was not its path. It is perhaps the only example of a dictatorship which is growing and making people’s lives better

He is personally too inexperienced to run the state affairs, yet with a lot of experience in different fields. He is a dreamer. He made compromises also. He played with narratives as Politicians often do. He mobilised young voters and brought women into politics.

Time is running out, while there are problems to be dealt with, he can rise above them, if he performs well. He is like an opening batsman in a one-day match but who is sent at the eleventh hour.  Sometimes such changes give zero results but at others a lot can be achieved. He has nothing to lose, compromise is a thing of the past.

He stated that he will not live in the Prime Minister House, but forgot altogether that how practically impossible that is. He has been hit by the liberals, for he him self once abused them openly, perhaps knowing that their virtues may be purposive but are not popular. He kept himself glued to the right wing opportunist narrative, for there was a need to make inroads into power politics.

His life sketch is analogous to that of Jinnah’s. He had a very disturbed family life. He married to a woman like Ratna Jinnah who was not a Muslim. He was educated in England. He was brought up as an inclusive society citizen, live and let live was his motto. He does not support nepotism as his successors did. He is a very hardworking and stubborn man.

Imran Khan is good in health. The issue of Pakistan is not deradicalisation, we have achieved much on this front. It is basically about eradicating poverty, providing access to education and health facilities. Furthermore, it is about providing clean water for drinking, creating jobs and increasing the economy at a sustainable level by containing inflation. It is also about broadening the tax net with less regressive and more progressive taxations and thus generating more revenue.

It is basically about Pakistan which has to grow and only grow, let us see how Imran Khan is going to achieve this. Just wait a few months to critically analyse is performance, just give him a 100 days.

The writer is a lawyer at Javed Qazi & Co. He can be reached at jvqazi@gmail.com

Published in Daily Times, September 5^th 2018.