An open letter to Imran Khan
Though your intentions are good, but this one-man-show or Napoleonic attitude is not conducive the organisation’s desired objectives.
I tried my best to gain direct access to Imran Khan, but failed, and now I hope to share my suggestions with him through newspapers
Dear Chairman PTI,
No doubt, you are a just, philanthropic, practical and esteemed leader. However your Tehreek (movement) should also possess all these strengths, not just you. Most people only know ‘Imran Khan’. The Tehreek-e-Insaaf, they only know by name and not otherwise.
A quote is popular among many of your supporters:
“I am a fan of Imran Khan, but not Tehreek-e-Insaaf”
This does not imply that they don’t like the PTI — they do like it and want to be members of it, but they object to the approach PTI uses in achieving its goals and ideals. In other words, the structure of the party is not ideal for achieving its targets.
Though your intentions are good, this one-man-show is not conducive for the party’s desired objectives.
Many supporters also say:
“Imran Khan is a candid person but a media leader”
There is logic in this phrase.
‘Seriousness to the cause’ and ‘completion of a campaign’ are pivotal points for any Tehreek.
It is not once that we have seen our chairman embark upon a campaign and leave it half-way. Take for example the task of proving Altaf Hussain, leader of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) as a criminal and bringing him to court. Next, we see that the whole task has been abandoned.
Similarly, one day would see the chairman taking part in serious protest on a national issue, and the next day, he would be commenting on cricket in Sri Lanka. This displays a lack of seriousness to the cause. Once you start a campaign, you need to adhere to it till its logical end.
Dear chairman, you also need to re-consider your existing leadership and go to each and every square of the country to elect your organising body. You need to have Mahallah in-charges, Village in-charges, Unit in-charges, Sector in-charges etcetera. The hierarchy must be formed with the consent of the public.
Unfortunately, most of the PTI leadership has been picked by one person, which is a ‘selective procedure’. What is needed is an ‘elective procedure’. An elective procedure ensures trust and shows solidarity and oneness with the workers and the public. It is an inclusive procedure in which the leaders, the workers and the common people work as a team for the common cause.
Only then will you have the trust of the public and we will see our dream of Pakistan as a modern Islamic Welfare State come true.
Best wishes,
Khalil Ahmad
The views expressed by the writer and the reader comments do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of The Express Tribune.
This guy has got to be joking – all of the parties in Pakistan with perhaps the exception of JI are run in an autocratic fashion. PTI when compared to the family run businesses of the PPP and PML-N is relatively benign.
Seriously, what the hell happened to ”reason”?Recommend
People like him are just writing about Imran Khan so they can get a share of the limelight..yes your name will come up when people will search for news about IK..but that’s about it…that is as far as you go….Recommend
@Express Tribune- This article solidify my believes that IF you are an Imran Khan opponent, Express Tribune is your platform, even IF you no idea how to write an article.
@Khalil Ahmed- have you offered your “critical thinking” to the ruling parties of Pakistan? It is a shame to even compare PTI with other mainstream, so-called political parties. This so-called letter is nothing but a laughing stock for PTI supporters.Recommend
The first three comments pretty much sum up PTI’s attitude towards criticism. They don’t know and don’t want to know how elections are fought and won in Pakistan.Recommend
@Khalil Ahmed- A serious & sincere advice to you. STOP worrying about PTI, find an activity, utilize your free time on other important things in your life. Or perhaps take an online technical writing course. Your writng skill speaks in volume about your PhD.Recommend
LOL @ txbashi! I have seen more pro-Imran Khan news in this newspaper than anywhere else. It’s a predominantly Liberal paper encouraging liberal views and opinions. It is wrong to say that Express Tribune is the platform to criticise Imran Khan. PMLN & PPPP are by far the two most criticised parties whereas MQM & Tehreek-e-Insaf are, more often than not, shown in a positive light due to their respective positions and stances on issues. I think this was good advice by the author of this blog, Imran Khan definitely needs to organise his candidates as except him, not many people would know another heavyweight MNA candidate- which Imran would need to form a governement. All the above comments are being unreasonable as this blog is just a form of actual constructive advice, not even criticism.Recommend
Another meaningless, direction less critique…….Someone who has not even an iota of clue how difficult the politics in is in Pakistan and how difficult is to develop a political party from grass roots.
Anyways to answer his three questions:
1) Intra Party elections: PTI has started this process and it is currently under way in its oversees chapters. It is growing rapidly in Pakistan but still it had election in some chapters in KP and Baluchistan. Obviously this is not an over night process and ill take time as the party grows.
2) Case against Altaf Hussain: Imran himself has said millions of time that in order to quiz the witnesses an NOC from govt of Pakistan is required by the Scotland yard and London police which, unsurprisingly, was never issued and thus the case froze there. But on the other hand there were many other parties who had grievances against MQM who are now together in govt. I hope the writer had said anything about them.
3) Party structure: I am not sure how the writer thinks that PTI party structure is not good enough to achieve the desired goal ( to me it is a good performance in next elections). PTIs regional leadership is working hard and the last two Dharnas in Peshawar and Karachi are good testaments to this fact.
In the end such direction less criticism serves no purpose. It is now becoming a fashion to criticize PTI and not uttering a single word about other parties and this usually done by those who have never cast a vote in their lifetime and watch TV on election day.Recommend
At least the writer acknowledges that Imran Khan is a “just, philanthropic, practical and esteemed leader.” This is what I like best about him. Many people say he doesn’t have political acumen and he has failed to create a political party, yet nobody will say he’s dishonest or corrupt. You see, this makes him shine among all our current crop of politicians.
You say the “Tehreek” should reflect all his strengths. Well do you know about his party? Have you really investigated about what kind of team he has? How do you know they’re not honest and credible personalities like him? You see, you don’t know them. Because they are not projected by our media much and are not “known” political figures. I ask you, did anybody know anyone apart from Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto in 1970, before the elections? People still did vote for him and his idea, not the candidate. It was only after the formation of the government did we really get to know about his team.
You say something about seriousness to the cause and completion of a campaign. How can you say IK wasn’t serious about the case against Altaf? Perhaps you think he enjoyed his personal life being splashed on the media, not to mention Karachi’s walls by MQM. He tried his best but couldn’t achieve it at that time. I don’t know from where you get the impression, but he hasn’t backed off at all from that case. The problem is only of witnesses without which the case won’t be strong enough and the government doesn’t allow Scotland Yard to come here to take evidence (because of MQM being in government). This may take a bit longer, but you’ll see it will go towards its logical conclusion.
As for the party elections, it is easier said than done. IK is committed to the dream of PTI as an institution, with all posts including his being elected. However, there has to be proper organization for that to happen. There have recently been elections in the USA chapter and in the UK chapter, they are due to be held soon (July). PTI is slowly but steadily moving towards that goal.Recommend
You can’t win when people deify the obviously flawed.Recommend
After reading your article, I completely understand that why were you not able to gain direct access to IK. Keep struggling…Recommend
What a childish piece!Recommend
hahaha what u rubbish article. who told you that you can write an article. You can try your best but people are now looking for a change and such rubbish articles cannot change the minds of peopleRecommend
Why is Imran Khan being asked to adhere to standards that dont seem to apply to the rest. It seems that we are looking for reasons not to support him despite the lack of any alternative whatsoever. reminds me of another article where some whippersnapper of a awriter who ahdnt even gotten around to shaving yet wrote that I cannot believe that there are no better candidates. well than please tell me who i certainly can find anyone.Recommend
The article is so childish that I don’t even feel like criticizing the writer. The less said, the better..Recommend
Dear Khalil sb, its not difficult to get access at all people i know who have joined the party a year back and have already had the chance to interact with the top leadership of PTI including Imran. Now to your point its always easy to give suggestions while sitting outside it is difficult to join in the struggle and then change the things from within, every one wants to be a consultant but nobody wants to work.
We are well aware of PTI and its flaws and yet we support it to make sure that people have some sort of a chance at getting out of this mess, work is already being done on a devolved structure of the party that goes down into the polling booth level, so we are working on it and it is already being done in a lot of PTI offices countrywide. As for the office bearers elections within PTI would be done once membership rolls have been finalised so that we can hold intra party elections for all position holders within PTI.
Your suggestion is taken positively but i must also implore you to step forward and do your bit giving advice is easy, implemneting is hard work join us in the hard work.Recommend
@Khalil
You shouldn’t have pointed-out shortcomings of Tonga party not because they wouldn’t extract any lesson out of this criticism but these bunch of wanna-bes are into the personality cult, they would criticize tribune for publishing a point of view, examplify the ills of other parties to justify non seriousness of Imran Khan but never look into the reason of consistent failures of what they call “tehreek e insaaf”. Please read this to get an idea of their behavior
http://tanzeel.wordpress.com/2009/04/24/you-know-you-are-from-pti-when/Recommend
A just, honest, and fearless team of unknowns is way better than a team of corrupt, empty-headed, servile well-knowns.Recommend
@ Tanzeel, its funny how you seem to have the handle on PTI and its politics, you dont seem to ever express your politcal views lest someone actually challenge them its always safer to play the critic and ‘ordinary liberal Pakistanis observation’ card it seems to work everytime. We are all wanna be’s buddy some of us wanna be a better Pakistani and actually do something others just want to post links to their own blogs to gain some attention.Recommend
@faraz: Oh Great Guru of politics tell us earthly beings how politics is done and how elections are won….we waited anxiously for your wisdom!!!!!!Recommend
http://asadejazkhan.blogspot.com/2011/06/developing-pakistan.html
read and share the article on the link below
http://asadejazkhan.blogspot.com/2011/06/developing-pakistan.htmlRecommend
The anti-IK bunch never ceases to fascinate. I am yet to come across a single person who either a) has solutions to our problem b) knows of alternate leaders. Sore bunch of losers who are probably benefiting from a corrupt system too scared to have an honest/clean guy in power i guess…Recommend
Why cant we abolish political party system all together? That way nobody can be patronized by a party/ group/mob mentality.Recommend
Imran Khan’s good luck is that he is well positioned.
If and its a big IF people turn towards Imran and PTI it will only be because they are disgusted by the present lot.
I will go out on a limb here by saying that in essence Imran / PTI will be not much different from the present lot. The effort is always on the journey and once the objective is achieved the manifesto / plans goes out the window along with the peoples hopes and then its party time.Recommend
This nation TODAY need change…& Ik / PTI can bring that change…inshaAllah….Let us give PTI that support to help our poor people to bring change & prosperity in their lives….we hv already tested the present politicians & it is high time we give chance to other political parties to prove their worth…it is not going to be worse ( God forbid ) than what it is today.Recommend
@Hassan
You don’t have to be a guru of politics to understand the importance of party structure. You are mistaken in the belief that people will watch Imran on talk shows and come to vote for him on Election Day. You need permanent party members who operate at local level, understand problems of the people and convey to higher leadership. On election day, these party members arrange transport; take people out of their house towards the polling booth.
Then you need to develop different strategy for rural, urban and semi urban areas. For example, the biggest problem in a village might be absence of electricity. Now those villagers want electricity, they don’t give a damn who provides them, whether a thug, killer, rapist, Hindu-Zionist, sectarian extremist, secular humanists, US agent or ghairat mand politician who protests against drones, it doesn’t matter. In Pakistan, where bureaucracy is corrupt and politicized, the role of MNA/MPA is to negotiate development projects for their constituencies; unlike cities where you don’t have to vote for a certain candidate to get an electricity connection. So tickets should be given to a person who has political and social influence in that area. Now urban kids would like an educated middle class gentleman as ticket holder, but in rural and semi urban areas that constitute 70 percent of Pakistan, you need rich influential people as party candidates. So PTI shouldn’t shy from recruiting people who hold power at the local level. Practically speaking, you would have to look for the lesser corrupt elite in rural and semi rural areas. The sophisticated ones, like you, can be tried in better developed urban areas where patronage politics has little role. And if the city is Karachi, then you need a militant wing. If PTI starts influencing the politics of Karachi, it will be forced to pass through the Karachi’s meat grinder.
Forget about Karachi, Interior Sindh, Southern Punjab, Baluchistan, and certain areas of KP. PTI can only win elections in urban areas of upper Punjab and KP. And among these areas, the highest probability of winning an election lies in Lahore. If PTI can’t win in Lahore, it can’t win anywhere. Main opponent of PTI is PML-N. There is no need to heavily criticize other parties, and I think Imran has now realized that. PTI can ask PPP for support against PML-N, as PPP has 10-15,000 votes in every urban constituency of PML-N. Similarly, PTI can ask SSP, LeT and madrassas, but usually such groups demand cash per vote.
PTI needs to differentiate itself from rest of the parties by focusing on certain specific issue, and drone is a bad choice. Because everybody is against drones, JI, PML-N, religious parties. Main strength of PTI is that it isn’t corrupt, so corruption should be the main focus. And corruption is an issue that affects the entire nation. Unlike drones which is hardly an issue for the common man. Common man is concerned with inflation, unemployment etc. and not qaumi ghairat or ghulami. Don’t turn into Qazi Hussain Ahmad Part 2… Zalimo Imran a raha hai!
Imran often talks about Muslim League which lost elections in 1937 but won in 1946. You are more knowledgeable than you leader, so I need not go into details of Jinnah Sikandar pact and how the same feudal won in 1937 from the platform of Unionist party and in 1947 from the platform of Muslim league. And Bhutto won elections on the slogan of roti, kapra, makan, not some sexy elitist issue. 1971 elections were the first ever elections held on adult franchise basis. There was a political vacuum. There was no major party opposing PPP. He had support from Leftists in urban areas and feudal in rural. Bureaucracy was efficient and people didn’t rely on politicians for developmental work. And Bhutto toured small villages and towns and connected with the poor masses; he didn’t discuss foreign policy on talk shows.Recommend
IK, Military Establishment’s new political product to cover/ehance their sins against this poor nation.Recommend
Let me clear from the outset that i am a well wisher of Imran Khan. after going through all the comments given above its realy confusing and beliveable that how the supporter of IK would be so touchy and resistive for opponents ideas and thoughts.
The writers intention is seems to be very clear and honest. All we know Imran Khan to be honest and sincere. thats why we dont want to expect from other corrupt leaders what we expect from Imran Khan.
We must have enough courange to listen to others even if they say what we dont agree upon!
Dr. Sb keep it Up.
Want to see the same analysis about the other currupt mafias..Recommend
Take it easy guys. Stop challenging the writer’s skills. This is not an article, check out the title; it says “An open letter…”.Recommend
Maturity in politics as in life comes with experience. Once in power politicians realise how dificult it is to deliver. Ranting can take one to the hot seat, delivering is another matter.Recommend
dear sir imran khan
i want to meet u and join PTI
.I belong to bahawal pur teh yazman
villege area . if u read this pls contect me pls
my cell number 03007818627
from sajid padhairRecommend
What a rubbish person is this “Bakhuda i never here these kinds of slogans which he talking about” who the hell is thisRecommend
Bachaay aasman pay nahe thooktay dekho apna ganda sa mounh aour gand kar lia………Rubish piece of shit……… i got answer y u coudn’t get access to IK because u are a rubish person.Recommend
This mean that Imran Khan will nominate himself for all national and provincial assembly seats or constituencies. Lets hope he will alone win all 336 seats of National assembly.Recommend
Imran Khan is prominent in demanding the blocking of supplies to NATO forces through Pakistan — a step which would help the Taliban. He is against drone attacks. It is true that the drones cause regrettable collateral damage but they also target the al Qaeda and its supporters. The Taliban also demand an end to drones. Imran is prominently part of anti-US campaigns. True that many American policies have been self-serving, but then it is our responsibility to protect Pakistan’s interests against any foreign country, not just the US. Just being against the US and the war on terror is again an indirect help to the Taliban. Most significantly, his calling the war on terror as an American war is the standard Taliban slogan. Over 30,000 Pakistanis have been killed due to the Taliban’s terror attacks. Is it still not our war? He is agitating in Karachi against the supplies to NATO forces, and the drone attacks. He was active with the extreme Right in protesting against Raymond Davis’ release. He has been doing sit-in protests in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. In fact, the PTI has been doing so many protests that it may be aptly called Tehreek-e-Ehtijaj. Imran’s group seems to be joining every protest and playing to the gallery.Recommend
Forget everything else – what’s wrong with protesting for national issues and making comments on cricket at the same time?Recommend
Great Post. Thanks Tribune to Publish it :)Recommend
Forget everything else, what’s wrong with protesting for national issues and making comments on cricket at the same time?Recommend
if you want PTI to be run like any other party around here, then what do you expect out of them as opposed to your other major (ruling) parties?Recommend
There is a bashing attitude in most of the above comments. Some bashing the criticism on PTI, others bashing the writer himself and still others bashing each other. What a show of intolerance! If we have to grow together, whether in support of Imran Khan or not in support of Imran Khan, we should support each other, for our weaknesses and for our strengths.
Note: If you think there is anything lacking in the other person’s point of view, learn to communicate it. Otherwise politics is taking us to death only, as we can see.Recommend
Great piece…….good analysis.Recommend
Yet again all PTI ‘fans’ have shown their inability to take any kind of criticismRecommend
The PTI and its leader are perhaps politically insignificant, but conceding space to such Ziaist propaganda has the potential to radicalize the nation, especially our youth. Fortunately, Mr Khan is not perceived as an American stooge — he is seen as a Taliban apologist .It is not just the journalists embedded with the jihadists
who are peddling nonsense. Among the politicians, Mr Imran Khan keeps outdoing himself in the craft of black propaganda. He has been stuffing people with this Goebbels-speak for years and, unfortunately, the western print media is one such avenue he uses to push his outlandish assertions. Mr Khan has completely glossed over the terrorist acts of the jihadists trained in the Pak-Afghan border regions.Recommend
@Ahmad Ali:
Can you please prove PTI is run on democratically.Recommend
@ishrat salim:
Inshaallah! A positive change will come and our only hope is through Imran Khan. My aim in the letter was not to contradict or refute or any sort of disappointment. All I meant was to put forward some fruitful suggestions because it’s the time we can improve our strategies.Recommend
Astonished. I’m not for PTI at all (more MQM), but it’s just ‘beautiful’ how some peoples put all their hard work in de-credibilizing PTI (and Imran Khan.) The dude is the only honest (I don’t say anything more) politician in Pakistan, and yet, you have this dude accusing him of a one man show, another (on ET) accusing his voter of being the well-do children of an idealistic Lahore-Karachi-Islamabad-based petite bourgeoisie, when the Bhuttos, the Sharifs and co have made Pakistan politics a family business.
Just wanted to say: have shame.Recommend
A man to save us all. We must unite as a nation and fight the extremist mindset that is literally destroying our nation .Recommend
i am wondering when will we come out of our hidouts , our blood is half sucked by these ruling parties because full blood drained out mean “dead” – no light , no gas , sugar shortage , fuel price rised , target killings you name it.
what we are waiting ? lets join IK movement to topple this so called government.
if we have given every one more than two chances, why not , lets give IK a single chane? how about that ? because at worse, he would loot us as well, would it be any thing new ?we are being abused daily by government, so let me assure you we wont loose anything if we support IK.Recommend
I fully agree with comments made above by @txbashi.
I submitted a blog few days ago that was supportive of IK and much better written than this article. Express Tribune ignored that. I think Tribune will only publish articles which suit their editorial agenda.
I thought Express Tribune was a refreshing change but apparently not. Very disappointed.Recommend
I think the the ‘selective procedure’ instead of the ‘elective procedure’ is where the problem lies. This would eventually make the party no different from the already existing ‘sifaarshi’ system in Pakistan (I did not say that the candidates are selected through this ‘sifaarshi’ procedure). Someone should be selected on the basis of his credibility, past achievements and the willingness to contribute rather then being a friend, or a friend of a friend, or a friend of a friend of a friend.Recommend
“I am a fan of Imran Khan, but not Tehreek-e-Insaaf””
LOL who says that ?? All Imran Khan support Imran Khan on ideas of tax raising,ending corruption and foreign policy change. we dont support imran khan because he opened pakistan 1st cancer hospital and english campus in pakistan. you kind of people who say imran khan is one man party or taliban khan.are just jealous of his sprit and achievements. PTI has a spokemen for every ministry and an party president.if you dont know their names that is your problem. Tell me who is running Punjab govt ? apart from Shabaz sharif…does that mean PMLN is one man show ?Recommend
express loves writing open letters….get the message express… when people ignore your silly ideas and complaints whether its the Army,Imran Khan or somebody else its because no one takes this french paper seriouslyRecommend
realistically, imran khan’s party needs almost 175 seats to win next general election. can they really get to that number ? …………………..Recommend
dear khalil ahmed u r very rite. i m of the same opinion.Recommend
Me baing a PTI suporter would take this article seriously. My friends who say why the same standards are not suggested to other parties is because perhaps thats the difference between PTI and the others. PTI is open for criticism and suggestions whereas others are not. My fellow PTI supporters: take this criticism with pride and open heart and act on it.Recommend
I am also a big fan of Imran Khan and i wish he would lead pakistan like he did in cricket. but lets be a pragmate bec cricket and politics is different. like fraz said Imran khan needs alot to improve on mohallah and village level. Imran khan is mostly famous in punjab and PK urban areas but there is big gap in catching up all rural and urban areas of sindh and balochistan and rural areas of punjab and PK.
But when it comes on advice or suggestion we should have big heart listning to the critics bec can show the angles which u overlook or cant see play a key role in correction and ultimately succes provided if they are taken posotivelyRecommend
how funny it wud be when our President giving press conference and comments on cricket matches (if his selected as president of Pak) lolRecommend
And also the worker of the party didn’t get the role and position in the party, I did see Imran Khan chosing well-know doctors and personalities and make them the head of PTI Sindh and other organzations positions.
This is the very undemocratic approach.Recommend