Imran Khan and PTI: Fascist and Proud of It

Source: Economic Times

Every time you think Imran Khan cannot get any worse to shock people with his worldview, he goes on to outdo himself. If his hilariously idiotic Medina State rhetoric were not enough, he further embarrassed himself on his recent visit to China.

In his own words, he paid a tribute to the authoritarian Communist regime in China by offering a fresh glimpse into what kind of Medina State he envisions for Pakistan.

Wish I could follow President Xi’s example and put 500 corrupt people in Pakistan in jail.

This is not fiction and it is the kind of statement that his liberal defenders would otherwise attribute his detractors to have come up with. However, many people obsessed with him often forget that it is precisely reckless rhetoric like this which has helped him mobilize the worst of the urban middle-class vote in the country. People who are fed on the false narratives of ARY News and DG ISPR are the ones who will actually cheer for this visionary comment made by their handsome Messiah. Presenting yet another ignorant address by the self-proclaimed statesman.

Imran Khan represents the fascist mindset of the authoritarianism that conservative Pakistanis represent who idealize the Iranian revolution and people hanging in public squares but only demand selective accountability for civilian leadership. These slave-minded people across the nation, but particularly concentrated in Punjab, Karachi, and urban Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have been fed this narrative for decades by the military. They either believe that the military should be in power or their puppet leaders like Imran, who many of them also see as a divinely sanctioned Messiah.

I hope his Nawaz Sharif-hating liberal defenders in the urban centers of Pakistan would be thrilled with the “improvements” and “reforms” he has in mind for the judicial and political system in Pakistan. He is already acting on it. Perhaps, this fascism is what his farcical Medina State is all about.

Not only does he ignore the plight of the Uighur Muslims in China, he further proves his idiocy and authoritarian leaning by minimizing the democratic struggle of the people of Hong Kong while he sheds  crocodile tears for the people of Kashmir. Well, who’s not surprised.

I am puzzled as to how international media continues to give headline coverage to Hongkong protests but ignores the dire human rights crisis in IOJK – an internationally recognised disputed territory illegally annexed by India with 900k troops imposing a siege on 8mn Kashmiris

— Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) October 11, 2019

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Clearly, a leader who made such an outcry for years about the treatment of detainees in Guantanamo Bay by the US military must feel offended by this. Especially because it concerns the “Muslim Ummah” he claims to champion the rights of. Will he discuss the plight of the Uighurs in the new propaganda channel that is supposed to address Islamophobia that he plans to launch with fellow fascists Erdogan and Mahathir Muhammad? Or has he been conveniently skipping this part of the news just like his party followers live in a parallel universe?

Unfortunately, this shameless leader which many urban conservative nationalists sympathizing with the military establishment, which is corrupt and incompetent in its own right, proves to be a disgrace for the nation time and time again. But he truly represents the ugly worldview of his regressive nationalist conservative followers.

Imran Khan and PTI, along with their malicious voters, are fascists and they are proud of it.

We must call them out and ridicule them for it.

The Bigger Butcher is the Bigger Patriot

Source: Arif Ali/AFP/Getty Images

We should have no illusions in our minds about the moral standards prevalent in Pakistan.

“Civil rights” is an expression hardly ever heard in public discourse in Pakistan. And those who try to somehow, unconsciously mention a reference to it, are forced to make an apology and elaborately explain how they never meant any harm. Or any good, that is. And we get reminders from time to time of the appalling state of our morals.

The election legislation pushed by the ruling PML-N has somehow raised alarms, led by McCarthyists such as Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed and his able patrons, who cried foul play with the country’s law regarding “The Finality of Prophethood.” Since then, officials such as Law Minister Zaid Hamid needs to recite the testimony to faith and the finality of Prophethood every time he makes a public appearance.

This has since started a renewed oath and reiteration of organized, institutionalized bigotry against Ahmedis, a relatively new sect of Islam of Punjabi origins which appears very reformist in its approach to many. Whatever their theology may be, the state of Pakistan has basically taken upon itself since the election of Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto to wage war on them. They had apparently “settled the Ahmedi question” by introducing the Second Amendment, formally excommunicating them from the faith of Islam by the decree of the Government of Pakistan.

Of course, the Pakistani public does not see it this way, but the Ahmedi population of the country and the diaspora considers this policy as discrimination of extreme proportions. It might be an exaggeration but some Ahmedi activists have even compared the national policy to Apartheid laws in South Africa. Others have compared it to the Nazi Germany, considering the tacit public approval of murdering Ahmedis, and how the state has singled out the community in the process of national identity registration.

And there is no way out of this vicious circle for them. The brilliant thing about the anti-Ahmedi Apartheid laws in Pakistan, which are also known as the “Namoos-e-Risalat” or the “Honor of the Prophethood” are that in order to prove yourself a supporter, you need to denounce Ahmedis and endorse the very basis of state persecution. Even blogging voices raising dissenting thoughts such as this one are only confined to very limited circles as openly questioning this policy implies treason and heresy.

So effectively, the bigger butcher is the bigger patriot. The harsher, more brutal you are in your hate toward the Ahmedis, the more loyal and moral you will be deemed in the Pakistani social and political world.

Take our Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif for an example, who had to explain how true a Muslim he was after he was accidentally photographed with an American Pakistani who happened to be an Ahmedi. He had no choice but to deconstruct and explain the situation in the show of a morally constipated anchor.

To makes matter even worse for the ruling party alleged to be sympathizing with Ahmedi, which they later proved that they are certainly not by calling for worsening the discriminatory laws, Captain Safdar spoke out in the parliament. The son-in-law of the former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif called for the ban of Ahmedis from the military service, oblivious of the proud history of the service of Ahmedis in the military, perhaps one institute which had not been as invasive in its discrimination toward the community. Hopefully, the move must have worked convincing a lot of bigots in PML-N voters of his innocence following the corruption charges on him.

However, even the record of the military cannot undo the Constitutional dilemma of discrimination and inequality in Pakistan. Something which is growing even worse considering the rhetoric and the affirmation from the DG ISPR that the military will remain to be the guardians of the Honor of the Prophethood. We all know what that means. The discriminatory constitutional amendment is going nowhere.

Even the military seems to be helpless in undoing the damage in terms of the civil rights for minority religious groups in Pakistan. Actually many will argue has been one of the political contributors, if not the source, to the mess along with orthodox mullahs.

What are you to do when the national ethos consists of isolating and even butchering fellow citizens who tend to have a different philosophy and viewpoint?

What are you to do when the bigger butcher is the bigger patriot?

 

The post was originally published in the Dunya blogs.