Thread by @HashUrTag

The Outsiders’ blind spot for Imran Khan 🧵

Many ppl outside of Pakistan, especially non-Pakistanis in the Muslim world, are curious and worried about developments in Pakistan. I was moved to do this thread by some conversations I had with this group of questioners.

I picked a recurring theme with foreigners trying to grapple with what is going on in Pakistan - their window into Pakistani events is mostly through Imran Khan’s political narrative. My objective here is not to enlighten you about the chronology of how & why Pakistan got here.

My objective here is to impress upon the reader an involuntary bias that has developed as a result of having little access to Pakistani politics. It is important to acknowledge this and discount this bias if you want a true assessment of what is going on in Pakistan right now.

To start off, you’re late into the game. We’re (hopefully) at the fag end of this circus. What you already know is probably entrenched and very little time remains to reset or have a change of heart. I will attempt TLDR brief of events later in this thread, though.

Imran Khan (IK) has amassed a whole lot of good will both inside and outside of Pakistan. His celebrity and philanthropic aura is well-known so I won’t rehash that. But part of his goodwill, in the Muslim world especially, has been built over 2003 - 2008.

His stance on Afghanistan, US drones, Afia Siddiqui etc, all available in his own verbiage in English (and therefore accessible to the target demographic of this thread), has earned him trust. He is seen as a genuine voice with a penchant for taking correct stands.

However - and this is where this thread starts challenging some of the ‘involuntary biases’ that have developed w.r.t. Imran Khan - this is just one part of who Imran Khan is. There is another, much larger part, of IK that is the foreigners’ blind spot.

And since IK is the foreigners only window into what is going on in Pak, foreigners will often forget that IK wont tell you his own shortcomings and the other part of his persona that is problematic on so many levels. So, unwittingly, you’re consuming a sanitized version of IK.

Take the recent example of IK’s claims on international media that he was being arrested illegally and that he had protective bails till the 18th of March - lies! (To know the truth about this matter of his bail read this thread of @reema_omer)

https://twitter.com/reema_omer/status/1636015952864092163

So, clearly, Imran’s version is not just one of many versions of what is going on in Pakistan, but very often the blatantly wrong version. After all, why would he parrot anything, but positive vibes about himself and his cause? So when you hear him discount his lies.

Discount them because you probably don’t have access to the other side. IK has a head start by decades over any of his rivals when it comes to image and narratives by virtue of his global stardom status. His halo effect in other fields gives him capital in his political image.

Capital that he spends smartly to curate an image that makes outsiders trust everything he says. After all, he spoke up for Afia Siddiqui on intl. forums (btw, he hasn’t ever since he became a real aspirant for PM office circa 2017) against the state & a military dictator!

But few can know, nor would IK ever tell them, that he and Musharraf were great buddies. So much so, that they exchanged dogs between them as gifts. Musharraf’s supporters and political capital all was transferred over to IK.

So here is the chronological TLDR of IK’s politics:

- Military brass sick of the 2-party political establishment is busy building a narrative for a third force throughout 90s.
- Khan starts political career in late 90s.
- Certain quarters of military establishment co-opt IK.

- 1999 army (Musharraf) takes over Pak
- IK is still in infancy of political career so allies with Musharraf
- IK backs Musharraf’s alliance with US in late 2001/early 2002.
- Musharraf refuses to make IK Prime Minister in first elections held under his dictatorship.

- IK & Musharraf have political fallout in late 2002.
- IK now jumps in corner of 2-party political establishment against Musharraf
- Musharraf is ousted after long struggle in 2008
- Military now has to bite bullet and accept 2-party political establishment.

- Military is restive and plotting return. Nothing working.
- Military quarter that co-opted IK finally finds its opening.
- IK is new 3rd force circa 2011
- Military renews propaganda against 2-party political establishment & props IK as savior.

- Military systematically wipes out 2-party political party figureheads (Benazir 2008 and Nawaz 2017).
- IK is brought to power 2018.
- IK project soon turns sour.
- IK ousted as PM in 2022.
- Here we are in 2023.

In between, IK & his military handlers have brainwashed 3 gens.

Notice that the military head, Bajwa, who brought IK to power had to retire as chief of army at the hands of same 2-party political establishment that IK accuses Bajwa of bringing to power - another glaring example of his blatant lies.

IK’s version of events is incredibly flawed. A Twitter thread can’t capture it all. But remember that the madness you see now is hardly what he is positioning it as. He is not the resistance. He is an embarrassed reject trying to sail on 2 boats.

Boat 1: Oppressed political lone warrior against big bad military establishment.
Boat 2: Run with same lies against the 2-party political establishment that he inherited from the big bad military establishment.

He’s trying to steal everyone’s thunder. In truth, he is neither.

Addendum: A lot of ppl think that IK is the voice of conservative Muslims and that his opponents in Pakistan are all secular liberals. This is false. Some of the most vehement opposition to IK is from the conservatives in Pakistan. All religious parties are allied against IK.

As such, IK’s biggest problem right now is that while he is popular, he is not allied with any political party because of his extreme, exclusivist form of politics. He does not tolerate any other voice inside Pakistan and wants it to be about himself. This doesn’t help cohesion.

And here is Zalmay Khalilzad coming out to bat for Imran Khan. Are you really sure that Imran Khan is the savior you think he is? Or is he on someone’s agenda?

https://twitter.com/realZalmayMK/status/1638259460953997312