They say that language is the source code for all human interaction. If even a modicum of this axiom applies, Prime Minister Imran Khan needs a crash course in tact and restraint. He could also make do with that rare breed that cultivates a “passion for anonymity” (Brownlow Committee) – the political speechwriter. If the kaptaan’slatest diatribes are anything to go by, two very disquieting, very problematic conclusions can be drawn: it is completely kosher to reference and pay lip service to Adolf Hitler, the architect of the largest recorded genocide in history, and – second – that Jesus has no footnotes in the annals of antiquity.
Whilst addressing rising concerns over the optics of his recently recurring ‘U-turns’, Khan seemed to have overlooked the significance of his largely diminishing articulation. If there is one thing most career politicians, diplomats, public speakers, thought influencers and anyone given access to a public forum knows, it is that you do not plug the Third Reich in your sound bites. Apparently, Mr Khan is of the opinion that Adolf and his party of candy cane kittens wouldn’t have suffered heavy losses in Russia if they had just made a couple of U-turns here and there.
First of all, playing Hitler’s advocate by adopting a certain degree of association through ambiguous analogy does notmake a fun reference. Hitler and the Nazi party are the head honchos of the most devastating decimation of an entire people, a butchery in equal measure sadistic as it was calculated. Murder camps, men, women and children, tortured and massacred for an ideal that was as fanatical as it was frenzied, the least pressing concern for the Nazis was reassessing their U-turns but that hasn’t stopped our PM from dishing some posthumous advice for the party. By willfully yoking together your own ideals of party protocol with the planning, precision and persecution of a fascist behemoth, you are giving symbolic rationalisations to the method in their madness. A surrogate romanticism that seems to regret the misdirected tactics employed by Hitler isn’t going to do wonders to endear a newly elected prime minister to many astute observers who look towards him with cautious regard.
Mr Khan is of the opinion that Adolf and his party of candy cane kittens wouldn’t have suffered heavy losses in Russia if they had just made a couple of U-turns here and there. First of all, playing Hitler’s advocate by adopting a certain degree of association through ambiguous analogy does not make a fun reference
To add more flame to the folly, Imran Khan chose the auspicious occasion of the birth anniversary of Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) to deny the presence of Jesus (you know, a pretty relevant persona when it comes to the largest religious denomination in the world) in all of recorded human history. This just isn’t something you say. Period. When one takes to a social stage, a pulpit for the public, you take into account sensibilities, politically correct speech patterns and your audience. You consider the fact that the white on the green represents your country’s minorities, of which the Christian faith is a large part. They are as Pakistani as the premier on that platform and they are hanging on to every word he is saying. You do not run to the aide of linguistics to help isolate you from the very people who need you the most. You do not come always prepared in your capacity as a public servant but rarely equipped in your role as a public speaker.
From channeling the playwright of the Holocaust to excising the residence of Christ from history, Imran Khan’s recent speeches have been successful in helping to take a few eyes off the U-turns he keeps on floundering through, however briefly. From the debacle that was the handling of the Aasia Bibi case in which public displays of appeasement abounded to the IMF bailout recently sought by his party, Imran Khan might just be learning a nifty trick or two about how to converse in this age of digital overload and limited attention spans. We’re talking about it, you’re reading about it and we will all be listening very carefully next time he takes to the podium. We’ll get to the U-turns later once we’ve followed the trajectory of one’s foot and one’s mouth.
To his fans and followers – of which there are many – these are merely trivial semantics, his words mild inconveniences in the larger picture. If the picture here tells of his long-term political policies then the words he uses are the frame with regards to which we observe his vision. If his supporters fail to see the ire with which their leader has missed the opportunity to include every citizen when he addresses them through the banal task of employed syntax they too are missing the fact that what one says is oft repeated through the chronicles of human interaction.
Public speaking has always worked well for Imran Khan when he spoke passionately about corruption, looting, plundering and dynastic control – he has a firm grasp on what he wants to say because he wants to follow through with action, strong arm and decisive. However, when it comes to areas less monochrome and more outlier, issues of human worth and tolerance, pushing through on hard won agendas where U-turns seem more lucrative, he would do well to absorb the need for a full-time political speechwriter, giving Khan some room to clarify his public opinions and determine a better course of action.
The writer is a former Op-ed Editor of Daily Times and is currently working in the NGO sector in New Zealand
Published in Daily Times, December 1st 2018.