Today I would like to share some inner thoughts with all of you particularly the youth who are the spearhead of the PTI because if the spearhead is pointed in the wrong direction it can cause friendly fire casualties.
The Karachi jalsa was another roaring success and a reflection of the peoples’ longing for change.
What do we mean by change? In my humble opinion change means building a new society based on time tested values and principals. Our society has decayed over the years and decades. Our entire social fabric is in tatters. A society devoid of basic honesty cannot last for long. When we talk of accountability, it just does not mean simply the return of looted money or crucifying those who have indulged in mega corruption.
Accountability is essential if we want to resurrect one of the time tested values of any successful society that honesty and hard work pays. Given an opportunity, if only we are able to demonstrate to society through our actions that no longer would we accept cronyism, corruption, and injustice, we would have turned the tide and started on our journey to build a value based society. Investment and expertise would pour into our economy once we are able to develop an institutional framework that protects the sanctity of contract, encourages talent and new ideas. Off course we would need to focus on a host of other issues, but at this time I am only limiting the discourse to one; namely building a tolerant society.
IK and I are ideological soul mates but when it comes to matters of strategy we have had our share of differences. IK’s strengths include his never say die approach which means you never lose until you give up. So as long as you fight on, there is no chance of losing. Similarly, his eternal optimism provides the fuel to go on despite the setbacks. But we all have our blind spots including IK or for that matter I or any one else are no exceptions. In politics, the genius is to cover one’s blind spots by associating with those whose strengths complement the leader’s blind spots as long as the commitment to the basic ideology is without doubt. I could recount numerous CEC meetings where, sometimes, the drift of the discussion would be in negation to our ideology and beliefs. After hearing views which were in complete contradiction to our fundamental beliefs, IK would point at me and say “Akbar please explain PTI’s ideology and why we have decided on a certain course.” And, then I would unleash a range of arguments based on fundamental principals which were and remain the bedrock on which PTI’s policy direction rests. My tirade would normally end the debate on a particular issue and the discussion would move on to other items on the meeting’s agenda.
Building a tolerant society is fundamental to the PTI ideology. We can only build a tolerant society if we have the courage and patience to listen to diverse and even critical opinions. General Musharraf was instrumental in allowing the mushroom growth of a free media particularly the electronic version of it. He took great pride in claiming to be the champion of a free media. Little did he perceive that the same free media would be instrumental in his political demise?
I was the PTI’s Central Information Secretary for 7 years during General Musharraf’s rule. My hard drive is full of the most stringent criticism of General Musharraf and his policies. Once IK told me that someone who had attended a private dinner with General Musharraf the previous night came to see him the following day with the message, “please tone down your criticism as it is getting personal-your car can easily blow up one day.” Whether or not the message was accurate or credible or a hoax or for that matter General Musharraf actually meant it, I have no clue. All I know is that anything is possible in Pakistan. So without informing IK, I made sure that our criticism of General Musharraf’s policies through PTI press releases remained within the realm of policies and there were no personal overtones. But I must give credit where it is due. We were extremely critical of General Musharraf and he took it without causing any harm to any one of us. I never received an obnoxious or threatening telephone call or message during General Musharraf’s era. In comparison, during Nawaz Sharif’s second term particularly during the time of GDA’s movement, intelligence operatives were posted 24/7 outside my residence for surveillance and on more then one occasion, while driving, they would overtake my car in a threatening way, avoiding an accident by a close shave.
Marvi Memon has recently been somewhat critical of the induction of traditional politicians into the PTI fold. Her recent comments on a TV channel have led to a torrent of critical comments, some not in good taste, on her twitter account.
Since I am privy to some of the facts surrounding Marvi Memon’s possible joining of PTI, please allow me to correct misgivings about her recent comments. Some months back, IK called me late at night. He (IK) was very excited to have Marvi Memon onboard PTI in a pivotal position. He asked me to interact with Marvi Memon in an attempt to encourage her to join PTI. I have had a number of meetings with her since and over the months that I have known her, we have developed a relationship based on mutual respect. I counseled Marvi to join PTI un-conditionally and allow herself some time to assimilate into the party mainstream before assuming any responsibility. We had almost agreed that she would resign from Parliament in July 2011 and simultaneously join the PTI alongside IK in a press conference outside the Parliament House. Even a tentative date of her joining the PTI was agreed. Unfortunately, again some news leaks by some insecure party officials complicated matters. The news leaks created an impression that Marvi Memon was negotiating a tough bargain for her entry into the party. The news leaks created doubts in Marvi’s mind and she decided to delay her joining the PTI. There were some other developments which I would not like to share in the best interest of the party. I am also aware of recent overtures made by General Musharraf and some of his close companions to IK to join hands. When IK asked for my opinion on the matter, I simply responded by saying “Khan khudkushi is haram in Islam.”
As someone who has given the best years of his life to the PTI cause, I consider it my duty to share my thoughts with all the young and zealous PTI supporters who dominate the cyber world that Marvi Memon desires the kind of change in society that PTI publicly espouses. She wants the message of hope that PTI has generated to spread wide and deeper in our society. In her opinion, her criticism is only to advocate course correction before it is too late. She wants the PTI and its leader to succeed in achieving the publicly stated objectives. She strongly feels that our society cannot afford another letdown.
My views on the issue are simple. In general, politicians who hop from one party to another only further erode our nation’s already tattered political culture. Barring exceptions, the majority of these hopping politicians are rank opportunists. The message and the credibility of the messengers are essential for the message to sink in society.
We, as a PTI family, should be more tolerant to criticism. You, the young supporters of PTI are our messengers of peace, harmony, and tolerance. We are trying to build a more tolerant society. Already, our extreme reaction to criticism has provided the fuel to our critics that we are building a fascist political culture. We must use arguments based on logic to further our point of view. Let time be the final judge, the right as well as the wrong decisions would bear results for all to see in the not too distant future, good or bad.
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Posted 4 months ago on 29 Dec 2011 13:30
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