Nisar Ahmed Thakur
Born into a Niazi family of Pashtoon background on November 25 1952, Imran Ahmed Khan Niazi grew up at Zaman Park in the outskirts of Lahore where his mother's family had migrated from East Punjab in 1947. The legendary cricketer received his early education from Aitcheson College Lahore. It was basically the Zaman Park and Aitcheson College where he spent early 18 years of his life. After completing A-levels, Khan obtained undergraduate degree in economics from Oxford University London.
He was just 18 years old when he was selected for Pakistan team and made his debut against England in 1971. Khan has been a great all-rounder who as a terrific fighter earned name and fame in the cricket world. Some times referred as international play-boy, the charismatic Khan won hearts and minds of cricket fans all around the world thereby playing superb and indeed unforgettable innings. Under his dynamic leadership Pakistan cricket team emerged as one of the most strong and finest ever cricket teams of the world. He has the honour to win the world cup in 1992. As a skipper, his tenure is believed to be the golden period of Pakistani cricket history. He was conferred with Hilal-i-Imtiaz in 1993 by the Pakistani government. In April 2007, Imran Khan was voted as the greatest all-rounder the world has ever seen. He is also known as one of the most prominent players of the 20th century.
After retiring from cricket, Imran Khan laid foundation of state of the art Cancer Hospital & Research Centre in Lahore wherein poor people are being treated free of cost. Imran Khan is also a special representative of UNICEF and Chancellor of Bradford University. In 1995 he married Jemima Khan, the daughter of the late British billionaire Sir James Goldsmith. But unfortunately, their love-affair did not last for too long and it was 2004 when their sudden divorce took all by surprise. He has two sons named Suleiman Khan and Qasim Khan.
In 1997, the cricketer turned politician stepped into the political arena with a view to change the traditional political culture in Pakistan. Imran Khan launched his own political party, Pakistan Tahreek-e-Insaf (The movement for Justice) to bring change in Pakistan, a change in terms of peace, prosperity and socio-political justice in the country. For the first time, he contested general elections in 2002 from Mianwali and thus became Member of the National Assembly.
Khan has a dream, a dream to make his country a welfare state. A state where there is rule of law, openness and fair play. In an exclusive interview with Greater Kashmir Pakistan's national hero spoke on host of issues facing the nation.
Q: You have been a terrific fighter and indeed a successful skipper having honour to win the world cup in 1992. Would you tell us as how and when you joined Pakistan Cricket Team?
IK: In 1970 I went to play cricket in England, in the meantime I was selected for the National team. So during my tour to England in 1971 I made my debut just at the age of eighteen.
Q: You played superb innings but in your opinion what are your biggest achievements in the field of cricket?
IK: So for as my achievements in the field of cricket are concerned, I think drawing series against West Indies in 1988 was one of my great achievements, simply because West Indies was one of the all time greatest teams. So in first test mach, beating West Indies on home ground and then drawing the series for the first time after so many years I consider it was one of my biggest achievements and of course then the World Cup in 1992.
However, beating India in 1987 was not even a minor feat, remember, it was the time when every team used to have their own umpires, so in such a situation, it was impossible for India to win in Pakistan and Pakistan to win in India.
Q: After retirement from cricket, you initiated a multi-billion project of building a cancer hospital in Lahore. What was the spirit behind and how did you manage to put-up such a huge assignment?
IK: In 1985, my mother died of cancer. It was the time when there was no cancer hospital in Pakistan. That is why I wanted to build a cancer hospital, it was way back in 1988-89 that I started this project and began fund raising and really I am still raising funds, so it was basically fund raising and you know I mobilized most of Pakistanis within the country and abroad to accomplish this giant project.
Q: You are highly engaged in social welfare, tell us about other projects that you have launched in Pakistan?
IK: Well, we started a Technical College in Mianwali, which is quite remote and indeed a backward part of Pakistan. This is because I am chancellor of Bradford University and the Bradford University in England is helping me in this project. Although we started the college but next year onwards we are planning to upgrade this college to University. My ambition is to make it one of the best universities in Pakistan, in fact not just a university but I want to convert this college into a knowledge city. We are still in progress; I am acquiring land to give this project a final touch.
Q: Coming to politics; Mr. Khan would you like to tell us what was the source of inspiration or a motivating factor that prompted you to join politics?
IK: I think realization that a country can not move forward unless it has good political governance and in Pakistan either we had military dictators or we had a very poor civilian governments which are going nowhere. So I thought rather complaining and criticizing them I should myself take the plunge, go into the field so as to lead from the front. I never call it to be easy. Since then it has been continues struggle, the struggle, which I will carry on and on until I win the battle.
Q: What is the vision and political philosophy of Tahreek Insaf and who has influenced you the most, I mean who is your ideal?
IK: My philosophy is to bring rule of law in Pakistan and to make it a welfare state. This is really the philosophy and vision of Tahreek Insaf (The movement for Justice). And to ensure rule of law in the country you need an independent justice system.
Q: And your role model?
IK: As a politician I consider Qaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah as a model whereas my model role model would be Mahteer Muhammad and Nelson Mandela in the sense that these were the leaders who achieved their goals after a lot of perseverance.
Q: Politics in Pakistan is usually the game of elites. Are you satisfied with the present political system in the country? Do you see any flaws in the democratic system?
IK: Pakistan is unfortunately not elites of political Mafias; these are people who in fact benefited from politics………the people, you know, who gained a lot from politics so in that sense, it is a very exclusive club and these political mafias who used country politics for their own self interest, amassing huge wealth, abusing power that really is why, what you see, people having lost their faith, because politicians failed and military dictators find easy to come in……..
So in Pakistan what we need is basically a change here, the change by that we mean is that we need a political class that does not come from this political Mafia or some times referred as feudal lords and so on…..who had dominated the Pakistani politics. We need young people; fresh faces who take politics as a mission to serve the masses. So this is a sort of change that we desperately need here to achieve the great potential of the country.
The only flaw in the system is ………..that if you don't have rule of law, simply holding elections really don't make any difference, elections alone don't bring you democracy in the country. To have to have a genuine democracy you need an independent justice system. If you look around, I mean in third world countries, you see same thing is going on, you have elections every where but unfortunately no democracy at all. So just holding elections does not mean you have democracy in the country for that what you need is the independent judiciary and of course an independent election commission. You know when I talk about an independent and impartial election commission it is the independent judiciary that protects independent election commission.
Q: You are a staunch supporter of independent justice system, how do you see the lawyer's movement for independent judiciary?
IK: Since Pakistan movement I believe that the movement for independent judiciary is the most important movement. If we succeed in reinstating the sacked judge Iftikhar Chudhary who took a bold initiative against military dictator, would certainly be the beginning of change in Pakistan. The change, which I talk about would usher an era peace, prosperity and justice in Pakistan.
Q: Former president General retired Pervez Musharraf is said to have offered you the highest slot in his government. You rejected the offer why?
IK: Well, Musharraf in his own interview has said that "I would have been prime minister had I stayed with him" but you know it was so obvious that he was not ready to reform the country. He just wanted to grab power, so the only reason I supported him earlier was that I thought he was a reformist but the moment I realized that he was just like anyone else, I moved away from him and even I opposed him in public.
Q: You boycotted the general elections last year; don't you think that you might have been in a better position to plead your case in the parliament?
IK: Not at all, these elections were a big conspiracy against Pakistan. In fact these elections were forced on Pakistan by Bush Administration; they wanted to prop up Musharraf so that he could support US policies, which is basically meant to use our own army to bomb our own people in tribal areas. So to prop up Musharraf, they wanted a liberal alliance; they needed Pakistan Peoples Party to give a civilian face to dictatorship and this domination was pushed through by the Bush administration.
Following the November 3 Emergency, every party decided to boycott polls even the PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto decided to boycott but remember what happened, we had Negroponte and Richard Boucher immediately rush Pakistan to annul the decision. So the reason we boycotted elections was that you can not have free and fair elections while 60% of your judges are being suspended.
Secondly the election commission was appointed by Musharraf, and the media was muzzled, you know the politicians were under arrest and within a short span of time we were supposed to have elections…...
I mean this was the situation, I think every party should have boycotted the elections, waited until the judiciary should have been reinstated and then we should have fought elections.
Q: The elections were supposed to be fair enough what do you say about it?
IK: Yes, on the polling day there was not so much rigging that is accepted but there has been pre-poll rigging as emergency was not lifted completely and whole government machinery was helping the Q-league (Pro-Musharraf Party). Secondly how could you expect fair elections when 60% judges are sacked and media is muzzled, you know most popular Current Affair programmes were taken off the air.
Q: Now that president Musharraf has gone. Do you see any change in the system and are you satisfied the way country is being governed?
IK: Nothing has changed instead of Musharraf we have Asif Ali Zardari, who is enjoying the power. He has all the powers the Musharraf had. We have parliamentary democracy but president, which is in fact a ceremonial position, has become the chief executive. We have a dummy parliament same as in the time of Musharraf and we have same judges appointed by him, the same election commission so nothing has really changed. With regard to governance it has gone down even further because rather than getting a cabinet of qualified people in Pakistan Mr. Zardari has got his conies to run the show.
Q: Pakistan is facing some daunting challenges both at national as well as international level. In your opinion what steps should be taken to take the country out of this chaos and confusion?
IK: Well the first big challenge for us is that our own army is fighting our own people in Tribal areas and it must stop immediately. I think army is not the solution as situation has gone from bad to worse by sending army in these areas. The solution is to hold dialogue with all groups, indeed it is a slow process, but there is completely a mess and we should never ever use our own army against our own people. So there is a dire need to change this strategy completely, but I think there won't be peace until NATO forces leave Afghanistan. But at least we should withdraw our forces from tribal areas and instead of using Army, Frontier core and frontier constabulary should be used to maintain law and order situation in these areas.
Secondly, there is economic crisis. The only way to solve this issue is that we need a credible government in the country. Unfortunately the present government has no credibility whatsoever. The problem we have is that our expenditures are more than the revenue being generated. The reason we don't have revenue is because the rich people in the country don't pay taxes, the powerful people don't pay taxes. So first of all we have to have a credible government where prime minister, ministers, cabinet and the parliament members pay taxes themselves. And then remove all tax holidays for the rich, the real estate people don't pay tax, the stock exchange where people make billions don't pay taxes. Agriculture income is tax-free then we have money whitening schemes. So to raise revenues we have to change the whole system, cut down our expenditures. I mean this is basic economics for this you need a strong and honest leadership.
To boost up the economy, we need foreign investment. We need overseas Pakistanis to come and invest but they don't come here because there is so much corruption in the country, therefore we need to fix our governing system. But unfortunately, without having a powerful independent judiciary system you can not fix the problems. So these are the steps we must take to deal with the issue confronting the nation.
Q: Who is responsible for all this…….?
IK: You see there has been a steady deterioration over the years, Pakistan has gradually gone down due to the mixture of military dictators and corrupt politicians all have combined to make us into what we are right now. To correct this we need a powerful and independent judiciary, which is now the movement, being led by Chudhary Iftikhar and secondly we need free and fair elections so that we have genuine representatives in the government.
Q: Coming to Indo-Pak relationship, following the Mumbai incident both the nations are yet again at loggerheads in your opinion what steps should be taken to avoid tension between the two arch rivals?
IK: Terrorism is a common threat in India and Pakistan. To deal with this problem there should be a joint commission of our intelligence agencies, they should get together, share intelligence so as to get rid of this menace.
But the basic question is….why do we have terrorism in our countries? It is due the lack of justice. You know terrorism is something that can be fought with moral authority not with guns and bombs. The first thing you have to do is to get to the root causes of this problem. You have to see as why people blow themselves up and know why people do suicide attacks. I am afraid if you fail to get to the root causes, you may not be able to tackle this issue.
There are political reasons behind this--------------so unless you sort-out the political problems we will always have tension.
Q: What about Kashmir issue and how do you see the Kashmiris' struggle for right to self-determination?
Kashmir is the key issue, you know between India and Pakistan, bigger impediment in our relation is Kashmir problem. I am afraid there is too much resistance in India to deal with this problem; you know just palming off and on, saying it were the terrorists from Pakistan is not a solution to the problem. First you have to acknowledge the fact that there is problem in Kashmir; you see there were millions of people in Kashmir who turned out on streets, protesting peacefully for Azadi, you know the demonstrations were seen all around the world, I mean that is a real issue that needs to be settled amicably.
So for as Kashmiris' struggle for right to self-determination is concerned, yes, it is a legitimate one. There struggle is not just new it has been going on since 1931.
Q: So you see Kashmir as bigger impediment in the relations between the two nations?
IK: Of course, this is the only problem. What else problem does India and Pakistan have, it is just Kashmir problem that has been hampering relations between the two nations. Had this problem been sorted out the subcontinent would have moved forward. I mean we would have achieved a lot from mutual co-operation.
It is very unfortunate that despite the pledges given to the people of Kashmir by Indian leadership that they would be given the right to choose their political destiny as envisaged in the United Nations resolutions. Even in a radio broadcast the Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru made this assurance that India was committed of letting the people of Kashmir to determine their fate. Even though, you see, the issue of Kashmir is still hanging on and on. It has not been resolved, although elections have taken place but it does not mean that issue has been settled.
Q: What is your opinion about these elections?
I believe that occupation forces can not hold free and fair election, so in presence of over half a million troops in Kashmir one can not even think of a free and fair election process.
Q: What is the way forward and what steps do you suggest to make headway?
IK: Rather dealing militarily I think political settlement is the only way forward to deal with this issue. There is a dire need to have concerted efforts, be it sluggish but if there is a road map at least we will be able to move forward. I am completely against Army going to civilian areas so onus has to be on the Indian government, if you have so many troops there is always tension in Kashmir but at the same time Pakistan too should ensure that no one crosses the border from this side. Therefore the government of India will have to take some measures with regard to the troops' withdrawal so as to pave a way for peaceful solution of the vexed issue.
Q: What about peace talks? Do you agree with president Zardari's thought of leaving Kashmir settlement to next generation?
IK: Well peace process has taken real bashing following the Mumbai incident. I think whosoever is responsible should be brought to justice. But you know these attacks have shown how fragile the peace process was.
And at the same time the Mumbai attacks have made it absolutely clear that if you don't resolve the core issue you will always have problems. Any one can dislodge the whole process; therefore it is very essential that the real issue must be addressed.
So for as the statement of Mr Zardari is concerned, I don't think he is very qualified to make such statements, he has even called Kashmiri freedom fighters as terrorists and you know Pakistani people took that statement very badly. Secondly, Asif Ali Zardari does not understand the intricacies of Kashmir problem and the relationship between India and Pakistan.
No comments:
Post a Comment