I have remembrance of a few special moments regarding my interaction with Imran Khan who is fondly called the Captain the alternative to which is the Skipper, which was a term associated with Pakistan’s first Cricket Captain Abdul Hafeez Kardar.
I have followed cricket since my early school days when the names Hanif Mohammad, Fazal Mahmood, Khan Mohammad, Imtiaz Ahmad Maqsood and most significantly A.H. Kardar meant NATIONAL PRIDE. I was too young to understand the intricacies of Cricket when Fazal Mahmood as a bowler and Nazar Mohammad as a batsman had trounced India in the famous Lukhnow Test. But I had an addicted player’s knowledge of cricket when A.H. Kardar’s team destroyed in Oval, Len Hulton’s mighty England that included such illustrious names as Peter May, Collin Cowdrey, Tom Graveney and Dennis Compton. Express described the famous moment in memorable words: England Fazalled Out.
And Times wrote: This is Skipper KARDAR’s moment of glory.
In these words the SKIPPER’s role in the fortunes of a team was summed up.
Skipper Kardar’s next moment of glory came in 1956, when Pakistan trounced New Zealand at Lahore and then outclassed Australia in the National Stadium Karachi.
The phrase Kardar’s team became a dictum. Pakistan had many Captains after Kardar— like Fazal Mahmood, Javed Burki, Intikhab Alam, Mushtaq Mohammad, Asif Iqbal and Javed Miandad— all great players but the term CAPTAIN had to wait for Imran Khan to win back its lost MAGIC and PRIDE.
For a decade after Imran Khan first put on the Cap that A.K Kardar had worn with great PRIDE, Pakistan’s cricket was Imran Khan and Imran Khan and Imran Khan all the way till his team repeated the Oval feat of 1954 at Melbourne in 1992 when the Skipper, bowling his last over in International Cricket, ensured that his country would be the World Cup holder.
The word CAPTAIN became synonymous with the term Leader and the name IMRAN KHAN.
When the PTI was formed, the world-cup winning CAPTAIN had added a new feather in his cap, by transforming into reality his dream of building the country’s first world class Cancer Hospital that would provide free treatment to 70 percent of its patients. This impossible-seeming feat was accomplished by the CAPTAIN as a befitting homage to the woman who had given birth to him, raised him as a person of honour, dignity and pride he was to become— the great woman who carried the name Shaukat Khanum— and who had died of cancer for want of adequate facilities in the country to fight and overcome the deadly disease.
Last night the Captain as he was narrating the causes that catapulted him into the orbit of Politics, had visible tears in his eyes.
He was trying to say without saying: MY DEAR COUNTRYMEN (AND WOMEN) I COULDN’T STOP MY MOTHER FROM DYING OF CANCER— BUT I WILL FIGHT TO MY LAST DROP OF BLOOD, TO KEEP MY NATION FROM SUFFERING SIMILAR AGONY AND FATE FOR WANT OF RIGHT DIRECTION AND RIGHT LEADERSHIP.
I at the start have written about a few special moments in my 2-decade relationship with Imran Khan.
One is a dinner at Kabul Restaurant Jinnah Super Islamabad in February 2007, Apart from the two of us Akbar Babar, then the PTI’s Information Secretary, too was present.
Imran Khan wanted me to prepare an awareness campaign for Widespread MEMBERSHIP of the PTI. This was the time when the Black Swan event of March 9, 2007 hadn’t yet occurred, and General Pervez Musharraf was as secure in his office as a WHALE in the deep seas.
Frankly speaking I was not persuaded into returning to my ADMAN role (which I had said goodbye to) because I was not convinced that the PTI had any role to play in ‘the near future’.
During the course of the arguments, I happened to say: “Hadn’t you made two destructive mistakes Captain, you would by now have been the main contender for POWER.”
“Which mistakes?” was his prompt question.
“Number one— without taking into account that you had huge following in both the political camps, you launched your assault on both the key parties. In my view you should have attacked one word— one affliction— one disease —one practice – CORRUPTION, and built your political popularity among your fans in both the camps.”
“I don’t agree”, he said. “I believe in calling thief a thief. Any way the other mistake?”
“Promise you won’t get annoyed,” I said.
“I promise,” he said.
“You should have married in our own society and refrained from committing the only mistake our Quaid committed in his life,” I said.
Captain’s face turned red with anger but he was quick to recover his composure: “ I don’t agree to this too,” he replied.
Our three-hour long dinner ended with no fruitful result.
Our next interaction occurred accidentally. There was a stopover for me at Dubai airport in my journey from London to Islamabad. We simply bumped into each other.
“So you believe there is nothing beyond the PPP for our country?” Captain said in a sarcastic tone. “I will prove you wrong.”
“Firstly I have nothing to do with the PPP any more Captain. Secondly nothing will delight me more than your success in your resolve”, I said.
We exchanged our telephone numbers with a commitment to remain in touch.
My third encounter of this nature occurred at the Lahore airport as we were checking in for Islamabad flight.
“I am sure you are not comfortable with Zardari leading this nation,” said the smiling Captain. “You have only one option—Imran Khan.”
“I told you ago and I am telling you again. I have nothing to do with the PPP. And nothing will delight me more than your cause gaining momentum,” said I
“I will wait for you to join my party. I don’t need good wishes. I need men like you to join in my struggles— body heart and soul,” was the smiling Captain’s bitter reply.
Then came the day when I announced to him when we were alone in his office in G-6 Islamabad. “My dear Captain, you can treat me from today a member of your party— bound to treat you as my leader— also to obey you and follow the discipline you prescribe for me.”
There was a visible joy on his face. “I am so happy Akbar Bhai. Men like you need to be in the playing field — rather than in the gallery, watching the match.”
For the next three years I was a member of the Captain’s playing eleven. His preferred choice as the party’s Information Secretary. A key member of the Central Executive Committee. Also of the party’s Core Group.
The climactic moment of this phase of my life was the morning of the 31st October 2011 when I received a two-word message from the Captain on my Blackberry.
“THANK YOU”.
It was the morning after the epoch-making night of October 30, when Lahore went berserk in the Captain’s support— and the PTI was born as a strong contender for POWER in the country.
About six and a half years later on the night of the 29th of April 2018, Lahore went berserk again— catapulting the Captain well ahead of all others in the race for the Country’s Leadership. I don’t know when my active role in the PTI ended — and why. But I do know for certain that despite my fiercely Independent Spirit and the Captain’s inescapable constraints as Leader of a party that is growing in a monumental way— our personal relationship will remain rooted in a common goal— the emergence of Pakistan in the spirit its Founding Fathers had created it. Pakistan cannot be Pakistan without greatness. Pakistan cannot be Pakistan without the elimination of the terms POVERTY, INJUSTICE and INEQUALITY from its dictionary of politics. There is no room for Mians and Zardaris in a country that was born with Madina as its role model.
At the end of the speech, the Captain delivered to the tumultuous Lahore crowd on the 29th night, I sent a CONGRATULATIONS message to the Captain.
His reply came promptly.
“Thank you Akbar Bhai. Insha Allah we will make it happen…..”
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