Imran Khan: The Urban Middle-Class Wet Dream
In the year 1284 a mysterious man appeared in Hameln. He was wearing a coat of many colored, bright cloth, for which reason he was called the Pied Piper. He claimed to be a ratcatcher, and he promised that for a certain sum he would rid the city of all mice and rats. The citizens struck a deal, promising him a certain price. The ratcatcher then took a small fife from his pocket and began to blow on it. Rats and mice immediately came from every house and gathered around him. When he thought that he had them all he led them to the River Weser where he pulled up his clothes and walked into the water. The animals all followed him, fell in, and drowned.
Now that the citizens had been freed of their plague, they regretted having promised so much money, and, using all kinds of excuses, they refused to pay him. Finally he went away, bitter and angry. He returned on June 26, Saint John’s and Saint Paul’s Day, early in the morning at seven o’clock (others say it was at noon), now dressed in a hunter’s costume, with a dreadful look on his face and wearing a strange red hat. He sounded his fife in the streets, but this time it wasn’t rats and mice that came to him, but rather children: a great number of boys and girls from their fourth year on. Among them was the mayor’s grown daughter. The swarm followed him, and he led them into a mountain, where he disappeared with them.
The Children of Hameln, Jacob, and Wilhelm Grimm
Sounds too familiar, right? Well, at least the first part because, unlike that story. The rats went into River Weser but emerged back after three and a half years.
In 1996, a (not so mysterious) man appeared and promised his countrymen that he’d get rid of the corrupt ‘rats.’ Almost fifteen years down the lane, project Imran Khan started taking shape. After securing 10% of the vote in 2013, he finally secured up to 30% to form his coalition government in 2018.
Political parties worldwide have been institutions, unlike Pakistan, where historically, it always has been about individual leaders. So would you vote for PTI if Imran Khan takes a step back? No, because your belief in a democratic party isn’t as strong as your messiah complex. You need a Pied Pieper to come in for a decade and free yourself from the plague. However, the plague is the ‘corrupt’ Bhuttos, Zardari, Mazari’s, and the list goes on.
What the middle class doesen’t realize is that they still stand at 20% and growing in a country of 220 million. That is roughly the number of votes Mr. Khan got in 2013, and if we add up the jet load full of electives he got on a silver platter, the number may make up 30%. The middle class is angry, and rightly so because they can’t stoop so low to vote for the religious parties, nor can they accept dynasties, so where do they go?
For them, Imran Khan was the Hobson’s choice, a charming young fellow who had delivered on winning the world cup and creating a state-of-the-art cancer hospital, not to forget a university in his town Mianwali. But what happened later was the project started to crumble, allies left, courts came knocking on the door, and those thriving for Pieper to get rid of the rats struck a deal with the same rats to get rid of Pieper, who was turning into being a liability.
Now, the same middle class is frustrated and angry. They feel betrayed and don’t want to live with the rats again. But the fact of the matter is, unlike them, 70% of the country voted for those, ‘corrupt, ‘rats,’ ‘chor,’ or whatever they call them.
The significant public outcry and massive urban rallies show that they are not ready to accept defeat. Most of them have little or no knowledge of how the parliamentary system works. Yet, ironically, most of them live in secular, western, liberal democracies worldwide. I never saw them protesting when Cameron, May, or might as well Trump left office? But when their messiah was voted out of office, they went all guns blazing against the same system.
What happens next is contingent on how far they want to go? Will they stand up with their messiah when western governments reject their ‘green card’ or ‘passport application’? Will they stand with their messiah when their visas are refused? I am not sure, but history tells us they won’t.
