samy99 said:
imran khan if you want to survive in politics just organize your party on grass roots level and then think of becoming something otherwise forget it .You have to get out of the image of I,me,my and let someone also join you and speak on behalf of your party.What i see is you all the time on tv talk shows,what happen you dont have anyone else to come on tv and talk about the different issues.Appoint some good educated and honest people and let them come to the tv talk shows also like other party's members,just dont stand alone by yourself.This way you will be going nowhere.Think like z.A.bhutto how he organize his party and how he became the PM.Open up and be more gracious with your party workers,just you alone are not the party.You are talking on the good issues but you need lots of support from your workers,let them join you.You are wise enough to understand what i mean.Get out of the image of "tanga Party".
Agreed. Although I admire IK the cricketer, I have many reservations about IK the politician. It is 13 years now since he entered politics and people were expecting great things from him but his party still has no grass roots support. I still only know of two people (the other being Shireen Mazari who joined his party btw only last year) in PTI. Imran had the golden opportunity in 1995/6 to translate his immense cricket fame into popular votes. He could have persuaded influential people (not everyone is dishonest or corrupt!) from different provinces to join his party in order to give it a wider appeal instead of just going for clean doctors, lawyers and engineers (not a bad idea per se but it does not win you many votes at the end of the day) but perhaps the idea that someone from his own party could one day challenge him or his policies was just too much to bear for him...Why does n't he let other people in his party come on talk shows etc. Are they all media shy or phobic? And as you rightly mentioned his main problem is his big ego... IK must learn to deal with people who differ with his opinion with tact and diplomacy rather than launching into a tirade every time he is challenged by someone. Appearing on Capital Talk shows etc. is ok but he needs to go into the field as well...he needs to go into rural areas of Sind, NWFP, Punjab and Balochistan to gather support of the masses for his party. Why does Imran have to appear on so many Capital Talk episodes? Hamid Mir is certainly no intellectual or the voice of reason. He comes across as a khushamadi to me if anything
I still admire Imran because despite his shortfalls he is better than the corrupt Zardari and NS but at the same time it hurts and pains me to see him not learning from his past mistakes and uttering the same nonsense about Taliban and other religious fanatics over and over again. Even if Mush was wrong to invade FATA how can any sane person not feel an instant aversion to the barbaric Taliban reaction - the beheadings, suicide bombings, blowing up of schools are completely indefensible - and condemn them unconditionally. How could anyone oppose Swat operation in such circumstances? This was the time to not view everything through a rigid ideological prism. No honest conservative, or liberal, can see the death and destruction in the North-West and only issue cookie cutter responses. Only someone who has his head buried in the sand for some reason can. This was the time to show real leadership and behave like a true statesman. Most political leaders in Pakistan have reservations about MQM (and not without good reason) but do we ever hear them bashing MQM on every programme, talk show or in every gathering. Imran needs to break this monotony. He needs to understand that he cannot define himself by that issue. That is what its come down to now.
Among his many positives Imran is a philanthropist par excellence. As a cricket all-rounder he has few parallels in cricket. Maybe only Sobers was better than him but then Sobers was a batting all-rounder and Imran was more of a bowling all-rounder.
If Imran likes someone he will cosy up to them so much that it starts looking odd. Qazi and Hamid Mir are classic examples of that. Imran has suddenly forgotten all about NS's corruption (the very people who he accused of massive corruption along with BB and with good reason) and the fact that the Sharif brothers caused him so much distress in public by needlessly bringing up the Sita White affair on the eve of the 1996 election.
Time is running out fast for Imran who turns 57 next month (Nov 25). When the hell is he going to translate his popularity into popular votes? The next election in 2013 may be his last chance to redeem himself as a politician. Unless Imran is able to turn things around quickly, he risks becoming the next Nawabzada Nasrullah or Asghar Khan of Pakistani politics who were both clean and untainted with corruption but failed to make much of an impact in successive elections