Imran Khan – The Bat-Man and His Change

Writer is a political commentator and renders his services to Capital TV as Assistant Producer (Twitter: SaqibTanveer)

Imran Khan has been running the Sharif brothers ragged in the political battlefield of Punjab. The two Sharifs have been roaming around whole of Punjab to counter the attractive ‘rhetoric’ of change of Imran Khan. The bat of Imran Khan is clearly producing sixes that has left the lion thinking.

Sharifs may feel threatened with the presence of Khan in Punjab, as it breaks the traditional hegemony of two parties in Pakistan but, actually – much hasn’t changed. The rhetoric of Imran Khan, to bring about a change and moving away from the politics of elect-ables, has been blown by his recent actions i.e. induction of turncoats and not being able to present pragmatic and implementable solutions to complex problems.

The mantra of change has always been seductive to the masses, primarily because of the incompetence of previous government. As the cliché goes; it isn’t the opposition that wins the elections, it is the government that loses. People want change and desperation leads them to anyone who spearheads the campaign of change, be it Barack Obama, Tahirul Qadri or Imran Khan.

Bringing about a change, especially in a place like Pakistan, is not as easy as it may seem. Though I completely agree with Imran Khan when he says that he can end major corruption in 90 days, as it only takes will and honesty.

Imran Khan will definitely come in to power one day, not sure if next term is his.

But his agenda of change – from within – seems highly impossible. Ending the politics of dynasty and elect-ables is something that cannot be done from within. This sort of change can be brought in the urban area but our rural area is poles apart, when it comes to both, facilities and electoral dynamics.

Imran Khan’s focus has been Punjab and Punjab is all about rural areas.

People in rural areas are not concerned with party’s manifesto, economic policy, stance on war on terrorism etcetera etcetera.

Recently, I was in my village and attended a lot of baithaks (formal sittings of elders of village) and all their talk was related to elections. They all were active, in fact, proactive and excited about the upcoming elections. Though all of them were interested in the predictions on who would emerge as the winner in their constituency, none of them was concerned about the background and capability of the candidates.

All they were interested in was the caste of the candidate and his previous allegiance with the village.

One candidate and previous MNA is commonly known as a murderer and car lifter and there have been many cases pending against him in the courts but no one is concerned with his criminal record.

A recent decision by the head of my baradari (caste) was to vote and campaign for one particular candidate and all the baradari has to follow that decision now. No element of freedom to cast vote for personal choice.

This is the story of virtually every rural constituency in Punjab and this is where Nawaz Sharif has been successful. He has been there and done that while Imran Khan is a rookie, when it comes to rural politics.

If Imran Khan has to come into power then he will have to follow the suit of status-quo i.e. emulate the way Nawaz Sharif or any other party in Pakistan has been doing so – the politics of elect-ables.

And Khan has been able to deviate from his idealistic standards and lean towards the more pragmatic ones and has become an agent of status-quo. Even if Imran Khan comes to power, he will never be able to break the shackles of status-quo, in fact, if he has to come into power then that can only be with the help of people guarding the status-quo.

Imran can hit sixes with his bat very well and win the crowd with his sixes but will these sixes help him win the match? That remains to be seen.

The question is what sort of bat does Imran plans to bring? If it is the same bat that brought us the worldcup, then I would love to hold it but if by bat, he means the animal then I am sure, the lion is ready to swallow it. Choice is yours, Mr. Bat-Man! And you are definitely out of options.

Published on Saach.TV

Iran for Pakistan: A Friend or a Foe?

Writer is a News Producer with Saach.TV and a political commentator based in Islamabad.

Twitter: @SaqibTanveer

Iran has been donning the attire of the untouchable for so long. Casted aside by international powers, specifically the west.

However, for Pakistan, Iran is a country that Pakistan can never take its eye off.

Pakistan has endured a lot in the last five or six years or so, both economically and security wise. While Pakistan has waged a war under its own territory, Iran has been able to expand and flex its muscles across the region, be it the establishment of a pro-Iran regime in Iraq or Afghanistan or be it trade with major powers including Russia, China and India.

Looking at the history of relations between the two countries, one gets mixed signals. There have been times when the interests of the two have coincided while there have also been times when there has been a conflict. Current scenario is not any different. While economically both the countries want to trade with each other, as both have granted Most Favorite Nation (MFN) status to each other, geo-politically their destination is not the same.

Iran is a country that has a history of keeping its economic and political relations aside. Iran has a great animosity with Turkey but it is exporting its electricity to Turkey. Iran vis-à-vis United States, is the same. Iran is still allowing US to pass through Strait of Hormuz.

Iran has been trying to get cozy with Pakistan in the recent years by enticing it with several offers including its gas and electricity and it has been able to seduce Pakistan, to some extent. It is better for both the countries to keep going with their economic relations as both countries need each other despite ‘soft pressure’ from western powers.

Iran, isolated by the world, needs partners with which it can trade and has been able to find solid ones including the likes of India and Russia. On the other hand, Pakistan is starved of virtually everything – from peace to energy. And there is no better place than Iran for Pakistan to get both peace and energy, but can it find both simultaneously is the million dollar question.

Pakistan and Iran are currently on a honeymoon period. Romancing economically.

But when it comes to political issues, Iran and Pakistan are poles apart. There are a host of issues keeping the two countries apart.

Gwadar port is an asset that Pakistan values a lot but Iran has serious reservations on Pakistan’s port as its functioning would dent the Chabahar port of Iran, resulting in all the trade to Central Asia routing from Gwadar rather than Chabahar.  Iran would never ever want to lose that precious strategic asset, it has in the shape of Chabahar. And this is the very reason for the theories floating that Iran has been active in Balochistan to destabilize the province and jeopardize the Gwadar port.

Apart from the Gwadar port, Afghanistan is another utmost priority of the two countries. Current regime of Afghanistan, headed by Northern Alliance’s Hamid Karzai, is known to be pro-Iran.

Pakistan, on the other hand, hasn’t had a good relationship with Northern Alliance. The problem will arise when the US will withdraw and the talks for a new regime will begin. Pakistan will always favor Taliban instead of Northern Alliance and Iran will want the exact opposite, though Iran has started to increase its ties with Taliban. Still Iran would fancy Northern Alliance over Taliban.

Peace in Pakistan is directly linked to Afghanistan and Pakistan would never want any regime in Afghanistan that has any hostile intentions – North Alliance is not very much cordial with Pakistan. This is another issue, where both the countries do not see eye to eye.

Obviously, when one sees the relations of Iran and Pakistan, one must also keep the wishes of United States in mind, as it is one of the main string-pullers in the region.

United States may beat the drums of being anti-Iran but from inside, the rogue posture of Iran serves the purpose of US in the region. A rogue Iran keeps Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Israel dependent on United States. Plus Iran is also helping United States in not letting the regime of Bashar Al-Assad fall.

Regarding Pakistan, US would definitely want Iran and Pakistan to be on the same page when it comes to formation of a new set-up in Afghanistan. So, apparently, there won’t be any ‘substantial’ eye brows raised by US over Iran and Pakistan trade relations. But there may well be problems when the issue of Central Asia will be on table, but that is a totally different ball game.

It is difficult to ascertain how Iran and Pakistan will work together politically but one thing is for sure that both Pakistan and Iran has so much to offer each other. For me, economically Iran can be Pakistan’s darling but politically, I see them as foemen.

Published on Saach.TV

IK’s Sex Tape & Personal Life of Leaders

By: Muhammad Saqib Tanveer (@SaqibTanveer)

Writer is a News Producer with Saach.TV and an avid observer of International Relations

Media is once again abuzz with a new scandal – an impending leak of sex tape of a politician – probably Imran Khan. If leaked, this video can tear the already doomed hopes of Imran Khan taking a hot seat in the upcoming elections.

I do not know if there is any foundation to this rumor but judging from the behavior of our media, I can safely assume that someone must have seen this video or knows about the contents of this video because same happened with Arsalan Iftikhar – Malik Riaz thing. Media, social media in specific, behaved the same way and helped in uncovering the real story of that ‘storm’.

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