Dear Mr. Khan,
I write to you as your supporter and well-wisher. You have provided us with hope after a very long time and having desperately clutched at it, I am unwilling to to let you be squandered, like Bhutto and his daughter before you. Hence I address to you this letter.
Khan sb! Zardari and Nawaz Sharif are pygmies atop big political parties. They are incompetent, corrupt and self serving. Yet as I look at the state of our nation, I do not feel threatened by them. Democratic process was going to deal with them and your growing popularity and almost certain victory in the next elections shows that one cannot fool all the people all the time. As a Pakistani who believes in Jinnah’s Pakistan I feel threatened rather by a certain line of thinking – a line of thinking that still believes that the military has a role to play in Pakistani politics, that ISI and GHQ should hold a veto against corrupt politicians, and that some how the Pakistan Army is defender of some arbitrary ideological frontier of the country. Sadly many of our fellow travellers in the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf also subscribe to this view. The truth is that so long as this mindset prevails, no political leader no matter how well intentioned or honest will be able to dent the systemic failure which affects the democratic process in this country. I fear that you will be marginalised by these people in the PTI and ultimately you will fall and after you there shall be the flood or Tsunami of a kind that you do not envisage.
The second thing I feel particularly pinched about is the existence of an insulated inward-looking isolationalist Islamic nationalism within the PTI ranks. If you wish to build an egalitarian, modern and prosperous welfare state, then this particular sentiment will be an insurmountable roadblock in your way. Forget the great debate about Islamic v. Secular. The real question is do you want a Pakistan that is a theocratic and closed insulated society or do you want a Pakistan that in some way resembles the social welfare model that Scandinivian countries have successfully implemented. In other words do you want the Pakistan favoured by the religious right where everyone other than a Hanafi Sunni Muslim is a Kafir and a second class citizen or do you want the Pakistan once – perhaps naively- imagined by Jinnah as a state which would treat all citizens of the state equally without consideration of personal belief and where faith would be personal matter and not a matter of public inquiry and inquisition. This is not about the small “liberal” class or the large Pakistani class. This is not about wanting Shariah or not wanting Shariah- this is much more fundamental. This is about Insaf itself.
In this regard perhaps you should look towards Teyyip Reccip Erdogan. No one can question the fact that he is one of the finest leaders in the Muslim World today. You yourself have praised him and put him up as a model. He comes from a populist Islamist base. Yet he is firmly a secularist. His prescription for Egypt recently – blasted by Muslim Brotherhood and the like- is a secular democratic constitution that is impartial towards the considerations of faith. To Erdogan, Turkish secularism is perfectly compatible with Islam and Shariah. Erdogan does not pit secularism against Islam. Erdogan believes in religious freedom and equality for all citizens of Turkey. This is keeping with the finest traditions of Islam from its earliest period where Islam preserved religious pluralism of the areas Islam conquered. You should, skipper, follow the example set by Erdogan for that is the only way forward for our time. It may also appeal to you know that Allama Iqbal was not particularly opposed to this idea either. In his lecture on the principle of movement in Islam Allama Iqbal writes:
“They therefore reject old ideas about the function of State and Religion, and accentuate the separation of State and Religion. Now the structure of Islam as a religio-political system, no doubt, does permit such a view.”
It is time for you, Khan sb, to pick up from where Iqbal ended. Iqbal gave hope to a Muslim minority in the great subcontinent. Had he lived beyond the creation of Pakistan, he no doubt would have endorsed the idea of a inclusive and pluralistic Pakistani polity that Jinnah articulated. In addition to Iqbal therefore it is time you also paid some attention to Faiz and Jalib, who incidentally was the first one to describe you as Pakistan’s great hope in his poem dedicated to you. Faiz- a devout follower of Iqbal- was the next stage in our national evolution. You must embody this evolution of a Pakistan that is in tune with humanity and universalism. That is what Iqbal would have wanted.
The task before you is great. The forces of reaction and radicalism that are in your ranks have to be dealt with. You cannot speak of a progressive Pakistan and also send a note to Jamaat-ud-Dawa rally in Lahore. You cannot on the one hand rightly condemn Mumtaz Qadri and then have Ejaz Chaudhry represent you at the free Qadri rally. Imran Khan sb please choose, so that we may also not be under illusions about anything. Enough with the ambiguity and doublespeak, it certainly does not fit in with your personality and character. Remember these fascists and reactionaries that you seek to appease will tomorrow target you – as they targetted Jinnah, Zafrulla, Bhutto and Abdus Salam in the past. Don’t forget that a section of these fascists beat you up at the PU campus four years ago. So it is time you decide whether you are going to continue to appease them or are you going to make an effort towards making PTI a truly inclusive and democratic Pakistani political party committed to a plural and progressive Pakistan.
Yours sincerely,
Yasser Latif Hamdani
A supporter and a well-wisher.
