Is
Imran Khan a good leader?
A good ruler is supposed
to have many good qualities. He should, above all, be humble and honest. He
should be truthful. In the west, there have been many instances of ministers
and politicians being disqualified for telling lies. Can the great Imran Khan
be called a good leader? Let’s see.
Machiavelli said: “The
first method for estimating the intelligence of a ruler is to look at the men
he has around him.” Among the Dear Leader’s ministers are some who make you
wonder if they’re living in the twenty-first century. There is the water minister
who publicly said he would like to hang five thousand people to rid the country
of corruption. And not to forget, he’s the same person who predicted that in a
couple of weeks there would be so many jobs there wouldn’t be enough candidates
to fill the posts. He was seen prancing about when the Chinese Consulate was
under attack, pretending that he was leading the counter-attack against the
terrorists. And who can forget him near the downed Indian plane in February,
apparently trying to convey the impression that he had shot it down?
Another of the Great
Khan’s ministers is supposed to be running the railways, but he often says what
should be said by others (if at all). Consider, for example, his statement that
the country has small atom bombs that can be carried in one’s pockets. One
could understand an illiterate person threatening to use atom bombs, but anyone
can see it’s not the railway minister’s job to do it. Such statements, by the
way, give a bad name to the country. We have enough problems already without
being labelled a trigger-happy people who wouldn’t think twice before dropping
atom bombs here and there.
The chief minister of
Punjab is another example. People have often wondered why the Dear Leader has
so much faith in him. Perhaps he wants an absolutely compliant man running the
largest province, as in the past, some chief ministers of Punjab have
challenged the prime minister. Whatever the reason, the Punjab that was ruled
so efficiently in the past no longer exists.
Then there is the Special
Advisor to the Prime Minister for Information, the very able and learned Dr
Firdous Ashiq Awan. We got some idea of the poor state of medical education in
the country when she claimed that the fall in Nawaz Sharif’s platelets was due
to ingestion of blood thinning medication (aspirin). Even a layman like me knows
there is no connection between the two.
Again, a good leader is
supposed to be humble. From his utterances on the container, where he
frequently spewed venom against the previous government, we know that the Dear
Leader is anything but humble.
In fact, he distinctly
comes across as arrogant. The other day, even though his ministers were trying
to persuade the JUI-F to postpone their long march, he used the word ‘Diesel’
while referring to the JUI-F chief. At this point, it was vitally necessary to
refrain but apparently, he did not have the vision to foresee that it would
further inflame the situation.
We also saw him sacking
one of his able lieutenants, Justice Wajihuddin, when the latter pointed out
irregularities in intra-party elections. A really humble man would have ordered
an inquiry to determine the truth.
Integrity is another
quality that separates a good leader from the masses. But Imran Khan takes
pride in making U-turns. He has frequently done the opposite of what he said he
would do to turn Pakistan into a welfare state like Madina.
He boastfully announced
many times that he would soon sack those of his ministers who are not
performing well, only to forget about it the next day. Doesn’t it remind one of
the boy who cried ‘wolf, wolf’?
A person of integrity
would not have Jehangir Tareen around him, as the latter has been disqualified
from holding public office due to corruption. In fact, one wonders why no PTI
politician is being tried by NAB and accountability courts despite there being
enough evidence of corruption.
The foreign funding case is proceeding at a snail’s pace, and
his request to hold the hearings in camera make people suspect that he has
something to hide.
So
how should we judge Imran Khan? Is he a good leader? I leave it to my readers
to decide.
The writer is an engineer, a former
visiting lecturer at NED Engineering College
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