30 October 2008 : In the News
By Alex Stevenson
Imran Khan has the ability to draw crowds in a way most foreign politicians do not.
He was a successful Test cricketer, after all, scoring over 3,800 runs in the game and taking 362 wickets for Pakistan.
Since retiring from the sport he has concentrated on making a similar splash in politics.
He may have had a lesser impact – the limited electoral success of his Pakistan Movement for Justice party has led to accusations he is a lightweight – but that doesn't stop him drawing a crowd.
There was a real buzz at the International Institute of Strategic Studies last week when Mr Khan was due to speak.
It had been difficult to get a ticket to the event and those around me in the audience were attending for a variety of reasons. Some were students of Pakistani politics, ardently keen on hearing Mr Khan's assessment of the dire situation there.
Others admitted being drawn, at least in part, to his profile. "He's a bit of a celebrity, isn't he?" one middle-aged female giggled.
After a slow start the man himself got into his stride. He explained passionately why he is so worried about the current state of Pakistan, which is "heading for disaster".
The situation there is certainly complex. Against a backdrop of radicalising sentiment caused by the Taliban's rise in the semi-autonomous regions bordering Afghanistan, former president Pervez Musharraf's dictatorial rule aggravated many in 2007.
In a bid to ensure his re-election he declared a state of emergency, using it to sack senior members of the judiciary and parachute in more sympathetic replacements.
Mr Khan was by then a pronounced member of the anti-Musharraf camp. He had backed him during the 1999 coup which brought the general to power but renounced him soon afterwards.
And on October 2nd 2007 he resigned from parliament in protest against the president's impending attempt to get re-elected.
His reaction to the state of emergency which followed was even more pronounced. After being arrested at a rally for inciting civil disobedience he was placed under house arrest, which was resisted by a hunger strike. He was released on November 21st, having generated headlines of his own.
The assassination of Benazir Bhutto in the final days of 2007 shook up Pakistani politics. Elections which had been due in early January instead took place on February 18th, with Mr Khan declining to participate.
"They were a vote against Musharraf – no one presented a detailed plan about how they would deal with the crisis," he said.
Mr Musharraf stepped down, removing him from the political scene, but Mr Khan's stance as an outsider was not to be shaken. The Pakistan People's party brokered a short-lived coalition with Nawaz Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-N which allowed Ms Bhutto's widower, Asif Ali Zardari, to become president.
This, too, was rejected by Mr Khan. He was frustrated by the national reconciliation ordinance, a measure approved by Mr Musharraf which effectively exempted Pakistan's political classes from a raft of criminal proceedings.
"Politics is a way to protect your criminal activities. That's why the movement for the reinstatement of the judges is so important," he explained.
"Politics is big business – it's the way you abuse power. The judiciary has always been a B-team."
The level of opposition to Mr Musharraf is barely distinguishable from that he saves for his successor. Mr Zardari, claims Mr Khan, is a "certified criminal" who is presiding over a system where corruption is endemic.
It's a worrying assessment. And most concerning of all, Mr Khan believes, is the impact political wrangling in Islamabad is having on the country's deep-seated security issues.
He says the fight against militants is radicalising ordinary Pakistanis, making them choose between the Taliban and the US.
"The way the war is being fought is like the David Bowie song – it's like putting out fire with gasoline," Mr Khan continues.
"It is a mess. The way to deal with it is trying to isolate the different terrorist groups.
"Unless there is a change of strategy there is no victory in sight for the US. But certainly the biggest loser in all this is Pakistan."
His conclusions are thought-provoking. There is a real role for Mr Khan in Pakistani politics, but the basic fact of his exclusion from its mainstream remains. It is this tension which makes him such a compelling figure.
I turned to the middle-aged female next to me to get her take on his speech. "It was all very good – but there weren't many answers, were there?" she said. Restoring the judiciary would be a start for Mr Khan – but his preoccupation with this goal appears to have prevented him coming up with more concrete proposals beyond it.
