Overthinking Imran Khan's 'ideology' - a thread

1. Back in 1994 or 1995 Imran Khan visited my school. He was there to raise money for the Shaukat Khanum Cancer Hospital, but much of the time he spent speaking focused on what he called 'brown sahibs' - local elites impressed by and beholden to the West.

2. Back then IK railed against 'brown sahibs', saying that they were responsible for Pakistan's subservience to the West and its lack of progress. It was only by challenging these elites, and the Western hegemony they served, that Pakistan would be able to prosper.

3. IK's message to all of us, assembled to listen to him, was to not be Brown Sahibs. Even at the time, though, this seemed a bit strange coming from a man who, if anything, had spent much of his life till then being a Brown Sahib.

4. After all, IK's past - Aitchison, Oxford, cricket, a reputation for philandering - marked him out as a member of the very elite he was decrying. Yet, as he said in his speech, he had seen the light; his experiences had shown him what was wrong with the West and its supporters

5. There was another important difference between IK and the targets of his ire; at that point, he didn't actually have any political power. The PTI hadn't emerged yet and the closest IK had come to public office was a rumoured offer to head the Pakistan Cricket Board

6. In retrospect, given what has happened since, it seems IK's criticism of the West might have also been the product of a vague anti-imperialism; the recognition that colonialism and its legacies had fettered Pakistan, and that the system had to be challenged for this to change.

7. It is not difficult to see how Imran Khan, like many before and after him, would have discovered religion and nationalism as antidotes to the perceived oppression of the West and its local allies.

8. The direction taken by IK's political awakening aligned with the military establishment's own view of history and national identity - defined by Islam, shaped by a mistrust of and contempt for the political elite, and happy to invoke the specter of the external 'other'.

9. It is well-known that Imran Khan fell under the influence of General Hamid Gul, known for his role in the Afghan Jihad and cobbling together the IJI, and it is easy to see how Gul's own worldview - that of the establishment - complemented IK's emergent politics.

10. Fast forward a few years and the results of all this are clearly evident. IK abstained from voting for the Women's Protection Bill in 2005, aligning himself with the JI and JUI-F - his political allies at the time.

11. Not too long after that, IK started with all his talk of the Taliban and other militant groups in FATA being our 'estranged brothers'. This is an important point because, as with his 'critique' of imperialism and the politival elite, there was some truth in what he said.

12. One could, for instance, take issue with drone strikes in Pakistan and the role played by the US in Afghanistan while also opposing the pernicious ideology of the Taliban and the policies that led to the growth of militancy on Pakistani soil.

13. One would also be right to point out how a combination of neglect and state cynicism had contributed to the instability and deprivation that tore FATA apart in the 1990s and 2000s.

14. Yet, that is not what IK said. His desired embrace of the Taliban was articulated without an accompanying recognition of the dangers of their ideology and the cynical establishment machinations that had fostered their growth in Pakistan.

15. In a sign of what was to come, IK's attacks on the status quo in Pakistan missed the wood for the trees, ignoring/absolving the establishment and endorsing its ideology while railing against the West, westernized elites, and corrupt politicians

16. Enough has already been said of the PTI's journey to power after 2011 - the allegations of being 'selected', the embrace of traditional electables, the hollow populism, and so on. It might also be worth remembering how ego must have also played a role.

17. All who aspire to be leaders must be at least a little narcissistic and is it beyond the realm of reason to think years of ridicule from his peers and opponents might have led IK to accept the 'compromises' needed to win power?

18. Nonetheless, the more important point is this: Imran Khan's comments about OBL yesterday, calling him a 'martyr', are not an aberration or a simple slip of the tongue.

19. Anyone who has followed his political career and the evolution of his political thinking will recognize how his words about OBL fit within his worldview, a worldview that arguably sees OBL's activities as being an expression of anti-imperial sentiment.

20. There is also an elememt of calculation at work. Through his endorsement of the blasphemy laws and his attempts to style himself as a leader representing a supposed Islamic bloc on the world stage, IK must also recognize that his stance yields domestic political capital.

21. So here we are. What might have started out as a nebulous sense of rage at the injustice of the world system has evolved into a strange mix of nationalism and religion as antidotes to imperialism.

22. If only he'd met a few good comrades back in the 1990s instead of General Hamid Gul.