Imran Khan: The anti India election campaigner

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  • Debajit Dutta

Rajniti Axom (www.rajnitiaxom.com is Assam’s 1st e-magazine explicitly for politics)


18 prime ministers, none completed the full term. This statement tells us the story about the democracy of Pakistan. The army who is a dominant force in Pakistan keeps taking center stage time and again. For almost half of Pakistan’s 70 years as an independent state, the country has been governed by direct military rule. The other half has witnessed the army’s interference in governance and policy making. All Indians are eager to know the political developments in Pakistan and vice versa. This is very natural considering there were 3 wars already took place between the two countries. We don’t know when the 4th one is coming.

Imran Khan, the former captain of Pakistan cricket team is all set to become the prime minister of the country. His Party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) is the single largest party. PTI was launched in 1996 but that won only a single seat in the National Assembly that year – his own. This time Imran Khan’s PTI won 116 of the directly contested 272 seats in the elections held on July 25, falling 21 short of the halfway mark. Imran will be able to form the government with other small parties.

There are many challenges in front of Imran. The priority definitely is to develop a national consensus on key issues of foreign policy, economy and extremism. The economy is not in good shape. World Bank has predicted that the GDP will decline in the next quarter. The country does not have enough budget to spend on education. The country has the lowest primary school enrollment rate in the region.

Can India trust Imran Khan?

In his victory speech on 26th July, Imran Khan alleged human rights violations in Kashmir Valley . Imran Khan is also known for his open support to jihadi terrorism for independence, which has earned him the nickname of Taliban Khan. Though, Imran Khan reached out to India for talks over Kashmir but we don’t know how much he actually mean it.  Imran Khan is expected to work keeping in mind the interest of Pakistan Army.  Moreover, in the past he has voted in favour of religious laws that make it impossible to prosecute rape cases. Imran Khan also played India hate card during his political campaign. There was a slogan from Tehreek-e-Insaf  “Modi ka jo yaar hai, gaddar hai [Any friend of Modi’s is a traitor]”. Imran alleged that there was an international establishment working with India to ensure Sharif’s victory. He called former Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif “India’s agent” for advocating peaceful ties with New Delhi. How can India trust a person like Imran Khan? Just to show the international media, Imran Khan might say about dialogue or discussion with India, but his political compulsion and the army will not allow him to do anything meaningful. It is very unlikely that the relationship between India and Pakistan will improve under the prime ministership of Imran Khan. Lets hope the situation doesn’t get worse.