'Dreams of reform for Pakistan are in ruins with hero Imran Khan thrown in jail'

08 August 2023 , 21:05

701     0

Imran Khan (Image: AP)

Pakistan is about to turn 76 years old but with one of its few honest politicians just jailed for corruption it doesn’t feel as if there is much to celebrate.

Former cricketing legend turned Prime Minister Imran Khan took the reins of the beleaguered nation in 2018 and it seemed that, after decades of cronyism, nepotism and intense corruption, the country was finally in a safe pair of hands. Immensely popular, Khan is adored by his countrymen and overseas Pakistanis who see him as a beacon of honesty in a sea of self-serving depravity.

In this poor, hot, humid country, he was more than a breath of fresh air. He was a lifeline. But now those safe hands have been handcuffed and he is languishing in a small, dirty prison cell, his party disbanded and his dreams of reform in tatters. Khan naturally fears for his life – he’s survived two assassination attempts and is now surely a sitting duck.

Khan was more than a breath of fresh air, writes Anila Baig (Jawad Jalali/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock)

Yet he remains extremely popular. Elders admire him, women go to the mosques to pray for his release and he is worshipped by the young. My cousin’s five-year-old son has three heroes – Spiderman, Cristiano Ronaldo and Imran Khan. Khan has compared himself to imprisoned political greats. But to me he is more like the mythical Icarus than Mandela.

Instead of flying to safety, Icarus got overly ambitious and flew too close to the sun where his wings melted and he fell into the sea and drowned. Khan is no good to anyone in jail and his naive mistakes have cost him, and the country, dear. Seemingly honest himself, he had people around him who behaved like the corrupt dynastic families that looted Pakistan for decades.

Teachers, civil servants and train drivers walk out in biggest strike in decade

On the eve of the war in Ukraine he seemed to be cosying up to Vladamir Putin. He might have been showing that Pakistan was no longer America’s puppet but it backfired spectacularly. Like Icarus, he was flying too high and he crashed and burned. So as Pakistan’s birthday approaches it is not so much a case of many happy returns, we just want him to return to politics.

Anila Baig