Source/Credit: Ahmadiyya Times
By Imran Jattala | October 20, 2011
If Imran Khan, Pakistan Tehrik-e Insaf (PTI) chief, has any potential to be elected, selected or installed to lead the nation, I predict, he will share at least one thing in common with Zulifiqar Ali Bhutto, a once-upon-a-time leader of the 70’s who was later hanged for ordering a hit on one of his political opponents.
Bhutto apparently went to the gallows for the murder of a wrong person. The victim, it was widely reported, wasn’t the intended victim and, in Pakistani political context, ZA Bhutto seems to be the only politician ever who could not get away with a murder.
But, God forbid, violence is not the characteristic I want to tie Imran Khan and ZA Bhutto together with.
Rather, this is about Imran Khan’s not-so-hidden longing to be accepted by the MullahCult of Pakistan that, I believe, will ultimately do him in on the same pattern as Bhutto was treated by his ‘political alliance’ with the moulvis [clerics] -an unholy alliance nurtured and solidified solely at the backs of a small and very benign Ahmadiyya religious community.
ZA Bhutto, a self-promoting secular, never had a ‘thing’ for religion and cared less for the conservative class. He was married into a family of Iranian socialites of Karachi and openly admitted to casual drinking – a straight no-no even among the most liberal practicing Muslims.
However since selfishness breads more selfishness, moulvis and Bhutto met at unbridled crossroads of religion and politics. Moulvis wanted control of the masses’ faith and Bhutto sought political immortality, a deal of their mutual interest was quickly in the making.
Why would Ahmadis be victimized, as a common target of both - the liberal and the conservative class – has many answers. However, the most intriguing one comes from the Ahmadis themselves. They point back to something from fourteen hundred years ago - something having to do with numerals 72 and 1 or vice versa, a sign the Holy Founder of Islām prophesied about the truth for one community versus the rest.
Anyhow, Bhutto proudly took credit for ‘democratically solving the 90-years-old Qadiani Problem of the entire Muslim Ummah’ through his political wit and compromises with the moulvis on the infamous constitutional amendment of 1974 that outlawed the Ahmadiyya “Muslim” community in Pakistan.
However, once it was all over and the religiosity honeymoon wore off, the MullahCult simply joined with the Bhutto’s hand-picked army chief in overthrowing the very ‘democratic’ process they were touting for their success in instituting the anti-Ahmadiyya legislation.
When Bhutto was later sentenced to death by one Moulvi Mushtaq (the chief justice of Lahore High Court), not a peep was heard from any of the moulvis Bhutto had befriended.
For ZA Bhutto the ‘moulvi’ irony will live on forever.
Three and a half decades later, Imran Khan is running a step ahead. He seems to have already struck a mental cord with the moulvis and he is visibly eager to be seen working with the bearded men; he accepts Talibani school of thought and has become their spokesperson; he expects the world to see ‘it from their angle’; and refuses to acknowledge Ahmadis and the atrocities committed against them.
Recently, a conversation has sprung-up in the social media whether Imran Khan can be trusted to treat the Ahmadiyya community fairly and justly in light of the MullahCult influence clearly seen around him.
In May of 2010, when nearly 100 Ahmadis were butchered by the Taliban terrorists in two Ahmadiyya mosques in Lahore, the world reacted in different ways and so did PTI. But, recently I was intrigued by the two excerpts Let Us Build Pakistan (LUBP) blog had highlighted back in 2010 about Imran Khan and his party’s attitude towards Ahmadis. The excerpts, taken from official statements made on behalf of Khan and his party about the Lahore massacres aren’t so much about what was said, rather, what was so clearly and carefully kept from being said.
Let's read.
In the first statement PTI stated on their insaf.pk website:
“Imran Khan condemns attacks on places of worship in Lahore
Islamabad. May 28-05-2010: The Chairman of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Imran Khan has strongly condemned attacks on two places of worship in Gharhi Shahu and Model Town Lahore yesterday and expressed his deep sorrow on the loss of lives in these incidents. These episodes, he said, occurred because of the incompetence of administration. The rulers have deputed heavy contingents of police for their security, leaving the citizens utterly defenceless and at the mercy of the criminals. In a press statement, Imran Khan said that such violent incidents have become the order of the day due to incompetence of rulers.”
In the second statement posted on PTI Blog it read:
“Chairman Imran Khan & PTI condemns the atrocity against the innocent citizens of Pakistan in Lahore on May 29
(PTI UK – May 30 2010) – We categorically condemn the atrocity committed in Lahore in Garhi Shahu & Model Town on May 29 2010 against the innocent citizens of Pakistan. The murder of over 80 people in a place of worship is abhorent to any decent human being and is against the teachings of Islam. Chairman Imran Khan today visited the injured at the hospital and condemned this crime against the citizens of Pakistan.
PTI hopes that the Government of Pakistan is able to catch & punish the terrorists. We sympathize with the families of the victims who will now be the ultimate sufferers of this heinous crime.
PTI is a party based on the principles of Justice (Insaf). PTI stands for one rule of law for all Pakistanis regardless of caste, creed or religion & as a sovereign nation the country has to provide security and safety to all citizens of Pakistan, irrespective of their caste, creed or religion.”
As the LUBP post asked, I too ask you to “review the statements, and answer this million dollar question: What do you find lacking in these statements?”
And, no, it is NOT about ‘places of worship.’
Read original post here:
Entirely misdirected. Quoting LUBP on Imran Khan is just sad given that LUBP is the mouthpiece of the same party responsible for the 2nd Amendment. Imran Khan had the moral courage to go and visit the injured in the hospital. The only other person who did so publicly was Shaheed Salmaan Taseer ...
ReplyDeleteJudging Imran by Bhutto is wrong. Ahmadi Muslims would do well to realise that in Pakistan it was Khawaja Nazimuddin - a right winger- who stood against the Mullahs' demands against Ahmadis meanwhile a left winger accepted them.
Caution my dear friends... you are attacking the only politician who has the moral courage to do away with the discrimination against Ahmadis.
Only a politician who is accepted by the Mullah cult will be able to do away with this discrimination... not someone who talks great game like the Bhuttos.