KHAN
Of Our Times

In an encounter with the unquestionable king of cricket in San Jose, California, Sarmishta Ramesh finds out that Imran Khan remains a player in the unfolding destiny of his turbulent country.

He’s no stranger to the limelight. Pakistan’s cricketing legend turned politician Imran Khan has been a media darling for more than two decades. His on and off the field exploits have been front-page news both in the sports sections of reputed newspapers and sleazy tabloids around the world. But whatever the situation, Khan, like the sure-footed mountain goats of his native land, has always managed to land rather handsomely on his expensively clad feet every time. That is, until he decided to enter politics.

Apart from making quite a media splash during the launch of his political outfit, “Tehreek e Insaaf” or “Movement of Justice,” in 2002 and then becoming the lone parliamentarian representing his party, Imran Khan has come to understand that politics in Pakistan is a different ball game altogether. In the last general elections, Khan’s political mistakes proved so expensive that many analysts were left wondering if the King Khan’s days as a serious political contender were numbered.

During the last presidential referendum, Khan wholeheartedly supported Gen. Pervez Musharraf and even commented that he (Khan) had been offered the prime ministerial seat. But soon things went sour between the two and since then Khan has become the most vitriolic critic of the Pakistani president. The year 2005, however, has proved to be the year of political reckoning for Imran Khan – a sort of personal metamorphosis through which Khan is trying to shed his moderate Muslim image and align himself with the mullahs of his world who practically control the vote bank.

It is interesting to watch a man who could decimate players on the field with his aggressive batting and fast bowling techniques, now bring the same passion to his politics. Khan was recently in San Jose to raise funds for victims of the earthquake in Pakistan. And it was clear that while the man who could charm the royals, the rich and the famous with his debonair and rakish good looks was still intact, there was another facet to the Khan – a man equally at ease with his lineage and articulating with fervor about his crusade to save Pakistan and the image of Islam. His hooded eyes glint with anger as he talks about the battering the Muslim world has suffered because of America’s “war on terror” and the Pervez Musharraf government’s “puppet” regime.

“Every religion has its liberals, moderates and fanatics. It’s part of any human society. If you concentrate on any extreme part of society you will demonize it,” says Khan.

“If I concentrate on the Shiv Sena or the RSS I will demonize Hinduism. If I concentrate on National Front and BNP in England, which are racist and beat up poor Asians, I can demonize that society. Unfortunately, Pakistan and Islamic world suffer from such demonization. We have a campaign, which goes out of its way to use Islam. It blames Islam for what are essentially political struggles. I mean the Palestinian struggle is not about Islam versus Judaism – but a political struggle of people fighting for their freedom. Just like the Tamils fighting against the Singhalese, it is not about Hinduism against Buddhism. So when you turn political struggles to religious struggles, you demonize the whole religion.”

Khan’s strong view on the state of Islam came to bite the United States government this year. All along, the Bush government has considered Imran Khan as a wannabe leader in a region full of religious zealots. It has monitored his political progress with perhaps just mild interest. But in May this year, the Bush administration had to sit up and take notice of Imran Khan as he stirred a hornet’s nest accusing America of torturing the prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, by flushing copies of the Holy Koran in toilets.

At a press conference he held in Islamabad, Khan referred to a Newsweek report claiming American military interrogators had desecrated the Islamic holy book in an effort to rattle detainees at Guantanamo Bay and demanded a formal apology from the U.S. administration. There was no apology forthcoming but Newsweek in a carefully worded statement soon retracted its story. Khan’s comments about the role of the U.S., however, incited a wave of unrest throughout the Islamic world. Muslims in Pakistan, Afghanistan, the Middle East and even Indonesia held anti-American protest marches where fifteen people were killed and several more injured. But Khan remains unapologetic about the killing spree that followed his remarks.

“Suicide bombing is not limited to Islam. The Tamil Tigers were involved in two-thirds of suicide bombings before 9/11. Through out history there have been instances of people sacrificing themselves for their religion and their community. Unfortunately, our own leadership in Pakistan and some leaders in the Muslim world portray themselves as moderate Muslims just to appease the United States. Musharraf is the classic case of a dictator trying to appease the U.S. He is portraying himself as a moderate liberal Muslim just to keep his position of power. Just like in the cold war period, every leader in the third world used to portray himself as anti-communist to gain the American support, now we are all fighting terrorism,” he adds with a wry smile.

This comment is perhaps the clue to the evolving Imran Khan. While hard to imagine, this is the same man who once wined and dined and had affairs with countless western women and even married British heiress Jemima Goldsmith much to the outrage of the Islamic world. Today, divorced from his wife, the 52-year-old Khan is the image of a staunch Sufi Muslim who prays five times a day and is impassioned about his religion. While Goldsmith and their two sons live in England, Khan has embarked on this serious role of a Pakistani Pathan set to change the course of his country.

But is this hardliner persona enough to fetch him votes at the election booths? Khan says his party is the fastest growing party in the country. “During the first and second elections we were not prepared at all. The first time our party was only 5 months old. During the second election we were supporting Musharraf and in the last minute, we realized he had conned the entire nation and we pulled out. We were neither opposition nor pro government. And it was a very controlled and rigged election. This time we will fight a proper election,” he says.

Despite his struggle to carve an identity for himself, Imran Khan is undoubtedly passionate about reforming Pakistan. He says if he were to become prime minister, one of his initial acts would be to cleanse the judiciary and make it into an independent system. “Crooks and criminals and military dictators will never allow an independent judiciary,” he points out.

When it comes to Indo-Pak relations Khan says he has nothing to complain about. “I think they are going in the right direction. There is a realization that we have to resolve our differences. But as long as we don’t resolve it with force, then there is no danger even if it goes on and on. But it is very important for the subcontinent for this hot arms race to stop. It is a big impediment to the subcontinent moving forward,” he adds.

Khan was recently honored at the Hindustan Times Leadership Initiative Conference in New Delhi and met with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. “While it is good for Pakistan to have a secular government at the helm, in India I feel the Manmohan Singh government is a little weaker than the BJP government, as far as the Kashmir issue goes. The BJP would have been better placed to resolve the issue because they are hardliners. But the Congress is vulnerable to attacks from the right wing – especially with Singh belonging to the minority and the ‘outsider’ image hanging over Sonia. Someone has to make the big decisions. Sometimes the hardliners can. They will not be attacked by the right wing and the whole process will not be called a sell-out,” Khan explains.

According to Khan, the only way to find a solution to the Kashmir dispute is to treat it as a human rights issue and not a political problem. “The people of Kashmir need to decide what they want to do. It has to be their choice. They do not want to see thousands of army personnel in the small valley they occupy nor do they want to be the region that harbors terrorism,” he adds.

While his progressive outlook on issues of education, government reform and Indo-Pak collaboration might win him brownie points from a section of his loyal fans on both sides of the border, is it enough to fuel his flagging political career in Pakistan? In 1992 he urged his teammates to fight like wounded tigers to win the World Cup – and they did. Imran Khan is now staging a comeback from the bruises of a heavy political wound. But how far his past glory and the new hardliner image will take him depends on how loudly this sher from Pakistan is willing to roar.