Recommended Article on offloading of Rehman Malik from PIA, written by Jehangir Baig

Recommended Article on offloading of Rehman Malik from PIA, written by Jehangir Baig In the wake of the PIA offloading incident, an interesting allegation surfaced suggesting that PTI and its ‘bigoted supporters’ claim ownership of all good things that happen in Pakistan. Hilarious as it may sound, the assertion led me to conduct an in-depth analysis to understand why I support PTI. For starters, neither do I come from a political family nor wish to land an MNA ticket any time soon. Most of us PTI supporters who were born in the 90s spent our teens witnessing the rise and fall of a military dictator who as most would agree, was accountable to none and lost his moral authority only after he used administrative and coercive measures to tackle political(plus judicial) opposition. That’s when we learnt to appreciate the true essence of democracy; of being able to engage opposition politically and condemning violence as an unacceptable means of enforcing social order. Lo and behold, our democratically elected leaders turned out to be no different. The Coalition of Corrupt ruled the roost for 5 years eventually making way for Badshaah Salamat holding whom accountable is equivalent to the cardinal sin of maligning democracy itself. So why do we support Imran Khan? It’s because over the many years post the advent of private (NOT free!) media, Khan has slowly but gradually convinced us that his cause is Pakistan’s cause. Electoral reforms, unprejudiced judiciary, structural makeover, tax collection, reclaiming our wealth from Swiss banks, opposing foreign intervention and advocating a system of transparency make for Pakistan’s cause. Isn’t it terribly simple for an average middle-class Pakistani to relate to PTI’s cause as his/her own? And that too sans any barriers of ethnic, sectarian or regional divide? More often than not, we see Khan being criticized for his foul language and rightly so. Reckless and fearless, he doesn’t fit the textbook definition of politician by any means. Yet we love and support him, why? Because he advocates Pakistan’s best interests. Are we blind followers? No, most criticism for PTI’s Taliban policy came from within. As a matter of fact and also to put the record straight, it wasn’t PTI that stood against electoral fraud when all hell broke loose on May 11, 2013. It was ordinary people like us; the residents of NA-250, NA-251, NA-252, NA-253, NA-256 and countless other constituencies. We hit the streets of Karachi & Lahore in protest much earlier than any PTI leaders, let alone Khan who was on a hospital bed. PTI had to jump the bandwagon officially because public pressure demanded so. And boy were we disappointed when Khan called off protests in pursuit of legal action! In hindsight though, wouldn’t you want to support a political entity that feels compelled to respond to your grievances and take them up as its own? PTI is a reflection of public sentiment, not the other way round. Similarly, dear compatriots, PTI does not influence or hijack any Pakistani’s moment of individual glory; it can’t. Those are moments to be celebrated, and celebrate we did as average Pakistanis against a fast eroding status-quo. Make no mistake, if ever a PTI official notoriously causes a flight delay, we’d not think twice before shaming him. The reason is simple enough: Above and beyond any political inclinations, we define ourselves as Pakistanis. If Imran’s PTI begins to smack of detachment and indifference like Bhutto’s PPP, we’d waste little time in finding/creating a better alternative. Until then, the best available forum for Pakistanis to express resolve is Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf. Love, Pakistani