No human being is perfect.
Perfection is an attribute that Allah reserved probably for His Prophets alone. But as time and again was proved after Adam’s failure to abide by Allah’s instructions in the Paradise, Prophets of God too made mistakes. Let us be proud that the only human who was intended by Allah to be above all imperfections was our Prophet (PBUH).
This subject came into my mind last night while listening to Imran Khan answering Kashif Abbasi’s ‘hard’ questions.
The question that the ARY’s brilliant anchorperson chose to hurl again and again at IK was: “What made you go for lockdown, knowing it would not to be acceptable to the purists of Lawful behaviour?”
IK quite clearly had no direct answer. He kept on insisting that if a million or so protesters had entered Islamabad, the city would automatically have been SHUT DOWN.
Kashif Abbasi seemed to be wanting to say: “You should have allowed the protesters to enter the city in astronomical numbers, and let the resultant consequences occur, rather than to make a LOCKDOWN call.”
I want to be honest with myself. IK made a huge blunder by mentioning the term ‘lockdown’ and by raising the projected number of expected protesters to a million.
Let us acknowledge Khan was using the terms as figures of speech. But didn’t his opponents pounce upon his worlds?
In the 2014 dharna, Khan had twice indicated how imperfect even a well-meaning human’s judgment could be. He had called for ‘civil disobedience’ on one occasion, and talked of ‘the much talked about’ finger of the umpire going up, on the other occasion.
That Khan has got away with his imperfections every time is quite another story. He is a man of destiny. His Odyssey is motored by an invincible resolve that has its roots in highly noble and selfless intentions.
But history says that the scope for mistakes is not unlimited for leaders.
And Khan is a leader of consequential dimensions. His struggle is spread over a period of two decades. And not till October 30, 2011, he was able to reap the first fruits of his endless toil.
He has not looked back since then. It goes to his credit that he is the only Leader in our history since the Great Quaid, who is not a product of the SYSTEM. He can be termed as an outsider, who might have learnt the art of spirited leadership in the cricket fields and combats.
For three years before the controversial party elections the consequences of which he is still trying to neutralise, I had the opportunity of studying him as a close confidante. He is not one of those leaders who draw road-maps and think out long-term detailed strategies. He acts impulsively. And trusts his gut sense. All those exercises in consultations (mushawarat) are intended mostly to seek confirmation of his instinctive judgments. I think all great leaders do that. But in the case of IK, the consultations can sow seeds of doubt in his own mind, as has happened quite a few times. He is prone to listening to wrong people too. The controversial elections I have mentioned above was an idea that drew strength in IK’s mind from a presentation, a shrewd IT businessman called Salman Danish had made to him.
I didn’t agree with this decision. But I didn’t oppose. I simply stepped aside.
Nothing between me and Khan has been the same again.
But I continue to believe that in a RIGHT SYSTEM he is the only visible leader who can bring about a revolutionary change in the fortunes of Pakistan.
The problem here is that the system he is carrying out HIS STRUGGLES in, is wrong. Moth-eaten and decadent.
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