Another Imran Khan article that’s not about Musharraf’s rally. Sorry.
Will our political entities be forever attached to a computer and internet connection, instead of the streets? PHOTO: TMN
If Pakistan were a school and voters were the graduating class, then we’d know exactly where Musharraf would fit in.
Musharraf would be the angry guy who sits at the front of each class and has a problem with things no one cares about, like the colour of the chalk the teacher uses. He would be a suck-up to everyone but his peers, and be like the head boy or prefect who gets the job done, but really, does anyone like him? His dog (his profile picture on Facebook) would probably be a lot more popular than he is.
This was an actual analogy used by an 18-year-old to describe the rally that took place this Sunday. The birthday party that the popular kids don’t go to. Only your friends who’ve known you since Class II show up, and they forget the presents too.
Who’s Imran Khan? The school athlete everyone has a crush on. Literally.
Sorry to think of this in terms of school but it’s just that it’s very hard not to. Because when your phone goes off and it’s someone telling you to vote, and the next thing you know, kids are picking up brand new CNICS and driving licences, it suddenly hits you. You’re part of the game now.
And this game is Facebook, Twitter, school corridors, phone texts, articles linked. I have heard in the last month PTI pick-up lines, PTI/Obama mashes (Yes, we Khan!), and PTI songs, which are not terribly catchy, but are still songs. After brotips, desitips, karachitips, I am now pretty much expecting a PTItips any day now. The Facebook newsfeed is a series of Imran Khan references, so that your cousins abroad have to ask – what is going on there? Do you guys have a life apart from politics?
No, we just discovered one, sad as that is. So here we are now: two weeks ago all anyone could say was the Imran Khan rally, how they saw your mumani on TV, and oh em gee, you actually attended? Yes, yes I did. I had cake and samosay, and I picked up an neon orange jacket that says INSAF on the back that irritates my parents to no end, because they bought something I will never wear again, except for the sake of having been at the rally. Yes, I was so “kewl”, I was with the heartbeat of Karachi. This is not something I will repeat for Musharraf.
Musharraf is a man no one my age really knows about. We were too young to witness his reforms (aged six, seven, ten?) and then too impressionable at 14 when the lawyers movement broke out (Lawyers throwing stones? LUMS students protesting? Definite bad guy).
He was in the army. And he drank – why do kids pick up such random facts? Oh, and he didn’t like that guy, what’s that guy’s name, the one only our parents remember – Nawaz Sharif. The Pakistan Studies syllabus was revamped in 2010 to include the politics of the 90s, and for good reason – everyone my age and older are stuck in a time zone that ends at Zia’s plane crash. Excuse us for knowing more about Bhutto’s trial than about why politicians want to put others on trial.
The point of this article then is not about, ahem, “Do the youth of Pakistan like Musharraf or Imran Khan?” It’s about the half-baked political ideas of slightly confused teenagers who are actually going to vote in the next election. Good, bad, frightening? Did you not educate us enough; will we ever take you seriously? Will our political entities be forever attached to a computer and internet connection, instead of the streets?
A teacher once scoffed at us and said:
“At your age, I was protesting outside the press club against Zia.”
The class collectively raised their eyebrows. We knew what she meant: we care, and then yet again, we don’t really look it. But if you want to start a PTItips page and get 20,000 people to like it, you know where we’ll be.
Loading ...The views expressed by the writer and the reader comments do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of The Express Tribune.
musharraf had the courage to take action against the religious fanatics of lal masjid who had been terrorising islamabad,whereas the kaptaan is the protector and chief apologist of the religious extremists in our country.all the kaptaan ever does is provide justifications and excuses for the religious fanatics.Recommend
You seem to be too young to be writing something on Musharraf or imran.Recommend
Imran khan,the apologist in chief for the ever in denial religious fanatics.Recommend
Definitely, an interesting piece!
I am no more a Musharraf fan but he did some good for us including ‘liberalisation’ of the media. Can’t take that credit away from him. Also, werent we proud of him when he asked India, our ‘enemy’ to “Lay off” and when he shook hands with the Indian PM?Recommend
Musharraf has proven ability to deliver on one key factor that a country should rely on that is the ECONOMY. Without it, nothing is going to happen. The other factor being Musharraf is a respected man in the international community and for Pakistan to prosper you need people like him. Imran Khan is yet to be tested and people don’t really know what policies he would follow. Be it education, foreign relations and so on.
However, if the two combined forces for Pakistan I see that they can make a HUGE difference.Recommend
i like musharraf and u r party im form chitral i giv big vote and scurity guard……………………………wel com toRecommend
Nicely written. It would be a mistake to dismiss your age group as not being politically aware.Recommend
@abdul moiz:
You are sadly mistaken if you believe that Mushie had the courage to take on religous fanatics. He played a double game being best buds with the jihadis whilst taking in American money. He let them build up and stock pile weapons and then when it became far more dangerous than it should have, he attacked the Lal Masjid to make it a big incident and international exposure so that foolish people would look and say wow he is taking such a stand. Every single knowledgable journalist knows that. Do you think Bin Laden was living in Pakistan under Musharraf’s watch without him knowing?Recommend
Musharraf is past, Imran is present.Recommend
What utter rubbishRecommend
Really liked it. The honest truth is, as the author points out, that we might be confused, delirious or totally right but at the end of the day, we are going to make up a massive chunk of those who will a actually vote. So it might be best for all these analysts to take their heads out of the sand and look at what the obvious voter group has to say!Recommend
Another pathetic attempt to ruin Tribune blog section..Recommend
irrelevant, childish and not upto the mark for ET. Furthermore, people who oppose musharraf most certainly deserve a headless chicken like imran khanRecommend
@abdul moiz:
I’m from Islamabad. We were more terrorized by the explosions going on next to our houses due to the ‘security operation against lal masjid’ than by the alleged burqa clad stick wielding women. Speak the truth and set the record straight.Recommend
I dont know what happen to our country man. or they by self are coward like musharaf. A man who sell his country on one phone call. for some of you afia siddiqui and lal masjid girls will be terrorist but for us they are like our sisters and this was your pamper hero (musharaf) who sold them. I my self as Pakistani can not tolerate such a person. Such a man need to be hanged in public what he did to Pakistan.
He is the one that only for sake of his self create NRO, could his supporter justify NRO.
My friends supporter of musharaf have no idea of his time/era what he did.Recommend
@Ahsan
@Captain Obvious
Really guys?
Musharraf tried to negotiate with those terrorists to come out peacefully. They refused and held kids as hostages. Hell they had GUNS in a mosque!
Musharraf did make a mistake, he gave them leeway far too long. The commandos should’ve gone in and executed the terrorist scumbags. If you hold kids hostage, you deserve to die, period.Recommend
Direction less …Recommend
the “Mush-bash” bandwagon ….. :-oRecommend
@zafar:
That’s why she is demanding to the ‘right’ of information via Education. Apart from it, yours intellectual age may also be calculated through your comment. ;-)Recommend
you may compare the two but WHAT WOULD YOU DO IF THEY BOTH END UP MEETING AND UNITING AS A FORCE IN POLITICS…??Recommend
@Danish:
ouch…well said. hahahaRecommend
@waqar:
do you have proof that he ‘sold’ women or aafia siddiqui? i wanna see the proof of your stupid claim. otherwise, keep your low IQ comments to yourself.Recommend
@Adeel Ahmed:
my dearRecommend
@Adeel Ahmad
it’s political game, you are not aware of imran khan… he is playing with emotions of population… one day u will remind my comment…. MUSHARAF, the great, the realistic person, who has guts, courage to bring pak into normal path, non other than musharaf can either think to rebuild pak…. he saved the country in such a situation which you all know well…. i recommend you to think broadly in respect of musharaf….Recommend
@sweet dee
dont called them terrorist they were innocent girls like our doughters and sisters shame on u calling them terrorist and second thing they agreed to leave then commander inchief drunk by
vodka told there brave soldiers to killed them and tell me why one karnel gor shoot by his fellow soldier can u because he refused to do so and got shaheed and also dont forget all the
bloodshed after this incident your fools leaders., any body can buys them for few dollers.Recommend
WHAT was this piece all about???Recommend
how do you people justify burqa women in lal masjid attacking other women and kidnapping them how do u justify those mullahs kidnapping chinese citizens how do u justify those students holding weapons and shooting at security personel there is no one above law and in the end trying to run away in a burqa where are the families of those girls that were “aparently” killed in lal masjid where are they musharaf gave us soo much this free media foreign investments ufone telenor and so much more be real guyzRecommend
Nicely written article, however the name of this article along with attempted sarcasm is just a massive over-kill. Nonetheless, you did a good job in trolling up both Imran Khan & Musharaf supporters… mission accomplished ?Recommend
If Imran Khan wasn’t around, I’d probably vote for Musharraf because he is certainly better than this current crop of politicians. I don’t get the Tribune’s editorial policy on blogs, I mean, it’s great that children are allowed to write here and give their opinions, don’t get me wrong – this country needs a forum for healthy debate, but there doesn’t seem to be any substance in many of these blogs.Recommend
When was Musharraf’s rally?!Recommend
@Ahsan:
That’s because you don’t run a CD or barber shop otherwise you would have been terrorized more by the stick wielding women and their brothersRecommend
How about this for a comparison:
a. Your teacher protested against Zia, who died in a plane crash.
b. We protested against Musharraf, and got his resignation.Recommend
@abdul moiz:
mate, how do you know they were religious fanatics? can you give me a ‘fact’ that is 100% true? that is not a quote from a politician or a newspaper? an eye-witness account? they could have been frmaed for all you know! imran khan was the only politician to protest against actions in the nwfp area and it turns out he was right! how can the army attack so called ‘militants’ and its own tribesman but when their our drone attacks killing our soldiers, no one says a word to them and america only supports you in the first example! seems weird, doesnt it?! also do you honestly think shooting at a mosque, A MOSQUE, is right in any way shape or form?Recommend
@zafar:
why don’t you write an article then? instead of criticizing the age of the writer, why don’t you write one yourself and prove her wrong? also dont read her article if you’re so bothered by her age! we are the youth of teh country and its us who will be giving votes in the future! I having studied pakistan studies myself, has realised we only get taught uptill zia’s death! what about the recent past? is that not important? the youth should be made aware that pervez musharraf was nothing but a dictator and america’s agent(not sayin im anti america, there are good things about america and many bad..we should learn from the good things) and the recent ppp government is not the genuine ppp, bhutto was a great leader but sadly his descendants weren’t. He was patriotic about the country, not corrupt. And for God’s sake, wake up and realisa Zardari isn’t even related to him so why are you even voting for ppp?! everyone knows the real ppp motives disappeared when bhutto died.Recommend
You are right. Imran is the athlete everyone has a crush on. And, Musharraf is the person probably no one likes yet he gets the job done. You have defined your leader Imran in the most appropriate words. You see, when all the guys want to have fun and not study, Musharraf is the person who knows how to get the job done, learn and get educated to be a better man. Imran on the other hand, utilizes his good looks and his atheltic physique to get girls, have illegal children, have affairs and then one bright day claims that all the guys in the class need a change. You know why? Because he is the one who never really understood what’s happening in the class and now he just want to change it because mid-term is near and he can’t seem to learn a word!
Now who’s the better man? The athlete everyone had a crush on or the person who got the job done, graduated with a good gpa and is now leading a great life?Recommend
ET ! Seriously you people are posting nothing but total crap :| Dont worry your conspiracies wont work against Musharraf ….and this shows why Musharraf banned the stupid media of Pakistan….ahh so much of negativity and lies.Recommend
@Sweet Dee:
Hear HearRecommend
Goddamn you’re young. For some reason I think the voting age in Pakistan should be 21 again. That said, it was a wonderful, analytical article. One of the most basic critiques of democracy (postulated by the likes of Plato) is that it’s too vulnerable to impressionability and that’s nowhere more evident than in Pakistan. Who the hell would be half assed to get some historical perspective and look at Musharraf’s pros and cons when the alternative, Imran Khan, is cool, sexy, charismatic and that’s all that people care about? Hell, I’m betting the same factors played a substantial role in getting Obama elected. Facing off against a pasty, aged, white competitor, Obama was practically assured a victory over the hearts and minds of young voters. It’s not much different for Imran Khan. Add to that his bachelor status and you have veritable tsunamis of women washing over the voting booths. And of course, men who shall go wherever the “tail” leads them.Recommend
Interesting article. Provides insight into formation of political thought process in Pakistani teenagers.Recommend
You showed, in your very first paragraph, Musharraf’s greatest strength over somebody like Imran or any of the other civilian politicians: ‘He’d get the job done.’
Also, the picture you’ve used is of a banned extremist organization which, while calling for revolution among the Muslim world and overthrow of all rulers everywhere, is enjoying the weather in London.Recommend
The writer has absolutely no political sense and knowledge.Recommend
@Amasch Qadri:
Well, the athlete sure lived a colourful life, went to one of the best universities in the world, got the women and the money, but he was a good man, no matter what he did, that quality in him didn’t change – he grew up a little and saw what was going on around him – and decided to build a hospital because too many people were suffering from a treatable disease.
He then saw people living on drugs and violence and thought that they’d probably be more useful if they learned a trade, got a job and made their own way in life – so he built a college.
Finally, he’s looking at his country imploding and thought, ‘Right, well, I know I can’t do everything on my own, so if I get the right people together and build a team that can sort this place out, my kids won’t feel ashamed of being half-Pakistani, and the kids of millions of people won’t have to go through this crap’. And so he started a political party to get rid of the bullies.
The angry guy is better than the bullies who rule the place, but he made a bit of a mess towards the end of his reign and wants to set things right. The angry guy had his turn though, it’s time for the athlete to make Pakistan a cooler place to live, a little more chilled out, it’s too intense out here. Guess most people think the same, eh?Recommend
@wat da ef: I had to reply to this – a difference in opinion is not a conspiracy theory! If someone finds faults with Musharraf it just mean’s s/he is looking at his rule from a different perspective to yours! He did some good things and he did some bad things, not everyone’s going to agree with your viewpoint, that’s human nature!
This is the biggest problem with Pakistanis, they think if someone points out their faults, they’re somehow ‘conspiring’ to ‘malign’ them. Maybe they’re just telling you what they think about you, and that’s based on how you behave in front of them. Stop believing in absolute truths and absolute lies about every single thing! (Oh, and I’m a Pakistani too, and yes, I’m criticizing my own people).Recommend
i guess we all should read the animal farm, coz it is so applicable to pakistans scenario right now, the past is easily changed due to the present polictic games. suddenly now everyone sees the lalmasjids as innocent, what about the time when everyone and it was everyone who was appluaidng for taking action, what about when everyone was angry at the chineese being held hostage, seige? it was all on media, suddenly after that fiasco our media and so called religious cleric decided to play with our emotions, they played our memories that everyone remebers only the poor innocent girls they forget the firing te seige and the war within state!!! extremismshould be removed in all cases, moderation is the only key to thiriving pakistan and he was one of the most moderate leader we had. yes he made mistakes, 1st NRO ( giving us this corruupt govt and oppostion in gift, i feel they should have been banned for ever) 2nd judiciary panga, 3rd listening to illadvised counsel.other than that his system , his policies were good. pakistan was eaisily on the road of recovery, which now is a distant dream!!
yes he was wrong to impose martial law, but comapred to zardaris and sharifs and juis i find him better still!!!! if nro was wrong then why these parties rules still constitutional??? take action on parites of nro too not only thei nitiator
you may be young at that time but instead of joining in the bandwagon i would sufggest you read uyp on his tenure, read up on the 90s tenure and then write. i feel PTIs biggest threat is these young supporters who are just joining in to make a statement to appear kewl or defy parents. join whoever you want just make an informed choice my dear!!Recommend
try fighting for your rights and stop humiliating others…Recommend
Meiryum Ali,you are being childish.Running a country is no ‘COOL GAME’ whereby you would sport jackets with ‘Insaf’ written on them and would have cameras clicking with miniature flash-lights,thence creating a hoopla for your or anybody else’s athletic school crush:Imran Khan.It is a serious matter.I am surprised at how you guys(most probably GCE’s lot) are riding a popularity fun-bandwagon without being inquisitive or critical even once.I mean we did A levels,but is everything supposed to make things ‘COOL’?Mushy was a far better leader than what has been projected.He improved the economy;people were happy and entrepreneurship was on rise.This was the case until literal scumbags ruined the picture and here we are with 90rps worth a dollar.Swallow that!Wasn’t it far better when a dollar was 55rps?But still we have to ride on the usual rhetorics rather than relying on stats and facts.Immy Bhai on the other hand is a confused guy;talks about Khilafat and then proposes Scandinavian models.Do the models resonate together or is it I,who doesn’t know about Khilafat or democratic systems?Recommend
This article is solely a personal analyze of a young guy who is really got impressed with the massive rallies of Imran Khan ;-)
There is no point of comparing Musharraf with Imran Khan, as Musharraf is a leader with vision and Imran just have spirit to charge youngster as he had done this job for a big time being captain of Pakistan Cricket Team.
Imran turned from Musharraf just because it was the easiest chance for him to become the prime minister of Pakistan when he had really really go relationship with Gen. Pervez Musharraf, but Musharraf ignored him due to lack of his abilities to handle the internal and external matters of country. And still Imran is not having defined policies to deal with internal and foreign affair of the country. Such arrogant leaders like Imran Khan can destroy the relationship between friends of Pakistan, as he have very narrow thinking, and he always want to show his ego and pride nature to everyone but when you deal with diplomats of different countries, it is never same like playing cricket with a opponent cricketer, it is totally a mind game where you have to be sharp in all kinds of affair.
Pervez Musharraf is best proven person to lead the country yet, and Imran khan is a unproven question mark yet. I will personally not give my vote to someone who has no track record of governing.
PAKISTAN FIRST!
Regards,
Ammar HassanRecommend
Just wondering is Musharraf worth so much comments?Recommend
@Ali Hamza Khan: yea, it is you who doesnt know abuot Khilafat and democracy. I suggest you read up on it from a reliable source before you choose who to support. P.S- everything some “liberal: Pakistani says or you find out from Western media are not always reliable info sourcesRecommend
@Umer: rescue ranger, eh?Recommend
What exactly this pictures tells is that people are expecting ideals and for their own selves do not want to be ideals, suppose someone place the picture of Imran Khan in place of Musharraf and there many ladies and gentlmen puting shoes on Imran Khan’s picture, for what purpose
This is hipocracy we tend to change pictures after every regime but we do not want to change ourselvesRecommend
Even though i dont agree with the entirety of your article, but hey, id like to point this out: not everyone studies or has studied Cambridge stuff like you and me, and thus be stuck till Zias crash. The majority (read: The 99%! :P) study another version of history than ours. – Sincerely, a 2011 A Level Graduate.Recommend
Aw, this was a very nice post. In thought I wish to put in writing like this moreover – taking time and actual effort to make an excellent article… but what can I say… I procrastinate alot and in no way appear to get one thing done.Recommend
Great post I have been reading all your posts and they are really great keep up the good work.Recommend
Hi,
I have been following Pakistan’s state of affairs for quite sometime now, I believe that it is absolutely preposterous to create an illusion for the Pakistani populace or for that reason any populace of and idealistic scenario within one electoral term would be suffice to eradicate deeply ingrained socio-political problems.
The youth of around the world seems to have been over taken by the idea of uprising to the extent of protesting without questioning.
I really liked your write up, you masked relevant realities under the aegis of humor.
Hats off.Recommend
Disgraceful!Recommend