Rebuttal:

I wish we had the luxury of ignoring such weekly ramblings by these 60 year old teenagers who are still stuck in the 70s with all their hero-worshipping of ZAB & his “bonafide intellectualism”.

But when one sees such hacks being routinely quoted by Western

journalists as “critics of the regime” & “dissenting voices” from Pakistan, one realises that such fools must be countered.

And since we also don’t have the luxury of getting published in Dawn, so we [the anti-intellectuals] have to counter shallow propoganda pieces here.

To start with let me confess that I don’t know from where to start - this 60 year old teenager’s blog is so full of contradictions, childish surmises, shallow takes, stinking political biases & outright lies that ..... you know what I mean.

So, I’ll start from downwards

He quotes “TFT” that Imran discussed mandating wearing of Dupattas by all women TV anchors.

Now, quoting TFT on matters relating to Imran Khan is like soliciting Islami Jamiat e Talaba’s opinion on Valentine Day celebrations.

But let us dissect this statement:

He is trying to

stir up demons of Zia days - his favourite topic with all its easy binaries of democracy vs dictatorship & freedom of expression vs censorship blah blah blah.

In which meeting did IK discuss this? With whom he discussed this? Has Imran ever floated this idea in his speeches?

In fact PTI is the only party that can pride itself for its participative & vocal women support.

Our opponents (who are all in alliance now) still badmouth our women for attending PTI rallies & sit-ins - & “badmouth” is understatement - they literally abuse our women for this

Interestingly, most of Imran’s female critics (of NFP’s bent) meekly wore “dupattas” while cheering a bigoted Mullah last year when he camped outside the capital to oust Imran’s govt where Blasphemy allegations were hurled at Imran, he was labelled a jew & his wife was abused

Now, towards ZAB “the bonafide intellectual”:

He compares Imran’s wearing of Shalwar Qameez & his using Urdu language with ZAB’s theatrics.

For Imran, it is a “populist antic” whereas it was “rigorous intellectual scheme” which compelled ZAB to pose as “people’s man”

Imran’s views are “mishmash” of islamic & post-colonial theories.

However, his “bona-fide intellectual” hero:

1) Coined the term “Islamic Socialism”

2) Prided himself on being a “scion of an aristocratic family” while calling for land-reforms;

3) Tortured his senior party

members like JA Rahim;

4) Had his political opponents killed in encounters;

5) Used draconian censorship laws against his regime’s critics;

6) Banned a major opposition party NAP;

7) Made bargains with Mullahs to stay in power;

8) Supported military action in East Pak;

9) Launched military action in Baluchistan;

10) Was in Ayub Khan’s cabinet for 8 years;

11) Called Bengalis “pigs” (on record);

12) Supported Yahya Khan’s military take-over;

The list of his crimes & contradictions is too long for a simple twitter thread

But still ZAB was “bonafide intellectual” whereas Imran Khan’a views are a mishmash of opposing ideas

Now: “well-educated opponents, Bilawal Bhutto and Maryam Nawaz”

Firstly, someone has mislead you. These two pampered brats of corrupt families are NOT his opponents. They are two nincompoops & pigmies who can’t sit across third tier leaders from Imran’s party in any debate

NFP say that “Maryam & Bilawal” sound a lot more articulate on politics than IK.

One can just laugh at this.

But - just one instance for context - the province where the “inarticulate” Khan’s party is ruling has now “universal health coverage” whereas the provinces where these

articulate-political-scientists’ parties were ruling still don’t have this facility.

In fact their legacy is land-mafias, fake accounts, TT scandals, killing of journalists, police brutalities, falling HDIs & the list goes on.

“The Articulate Maryam” was caught committing forgery with the Supreme Court of Pakistan

&

“The well educated Bilawal” who is a third class copyist of his fascist-maternal-grandfather threatens journalists who dare to ask him tough questions “kiska himmat hae”

He says Imran is more articulate when speaking about Cricket than about things related to the country he is “supposed to be governing”

Well, this proves my point that he is still stuck in the 70s when Imran talked about cricket only.

How does one argue with such absurdities!!

Before Imran, we had buffoons like Nawaz, Raja Rental, Shahid Khaqan & Yousaf Raza as our PMs.

None of them could utter a single coherent sentence on economy, institutional reforms, power sector, welfare projects, SOEs, white collar crimes, Pak’s foreign policy & Islamophobia

Did the “military-establishment nurture Khan’s political ambitions?”

Does it take 22 years of drubbings if Estab. is propping you up in politics?

Did he serve as a military dictator’s foreign minister for 5 years or was he directly appointed as a finance minister by Zia?

Did his family roots in “military- bureaucracy” help him in becoming one of the greatest all rounders of Cricket?

Or in collecting funds for world’s FIRST charity hospital for Cancer?

Or in establishing a first rural university in one of Pakistan’s poorest regions?

Where would IK stand if we remove his family background & where would Maryam & Bilawal stand if we just remove “Sharif” & “Bhutto” from their respective names.

They owe their entire “existence” to these family names thats why they write & guard these surnames so feverishly.

So, FGS, at least don’t disrespect our conscience by throwing up such utter crap in the name of “political analysis”

He has blocked half of his critics on twitter (including yours truly), yet he has the gall to allege that Imran is fostering anti-intellectualism.

PS: I wish I could just laugh at his blogs but again... such people write for foreign magazines, they cultivate foreign journalists & correspondent & feed them with such crap - that is why it is so important for all of us to “intellectually” counter their lopsided narratives