May 9 and the cult of Imran Khan

On May 9, the militant cult-followers of a ‘political’ leader waged war against the state of Pakistan, violently attacking symbols of the state and dishonouring monuments put up in memory of our martyrs. The nation expects that the law will take its course and those responsible for these heinous acts will face the consequences of their actions through the due process of the law. As we all are recovering from the incidents of May 9, it is important to critically analyze the underlying causes behind the day’s incidents and do some self-introspection as a state and society. We must ask how and why we allowed one individual – Mr Imran Khan – to put his own petty vested interests above the people and state of Pakistan.

Imran Khan joined politics in the 1990s; he was a cricketing celebrity/star at the time. But before 2018 he did not get a major electoral victory at the national level. What allowed Imran Khan to become a cult-leader in Pakistan?

The rise of Imran Khan cannot be explained without acknowledging the policies of the few segments of the previous mil-judicial establishments. A group of people in the army and judiciary did not only provide him political and financial support but also helped him with media management. They cleared the way for him by ousting Mr Nawaz Sharif from the arena.

From 2011 onward, ‘Project Imran Khan’ bombarded people with two messages. One, everyone except Imran Khan is corrupt; and two Imran Khan is a messiah and an angelic honest leader. Imran received positive press while his political rivals were maligned through concerted media campaigns. Hate was injected in people’s minds against old parties and the path to victory was created for Imran Khan. The results of GE 2018 were manipulated and rigged in favour of Imran Khan to bring him into power. In short, with the help of his benefactors in the military and judicial establishments and with the support of a large section of Pakistani media, Imran Khan became a ruthless cult-leader.

What does it mean to be a cult-leader? A cult of personality arises when a leader is represented as larger-than-life through uncritical praise and flattery. Propaganda is a common vehicle used to help create personality cults. Leaders are often depicted as superhuman, courageous, wise, and incapable of error. If a leader is viewed as superhuman, it is less likely followers will criticize or question his policies or challenge his power.

It is not surprising to see many educated followers of Imran Khan blindly follow and defend him, no matter how ridiculous, contradictory or irrational it is. No matter what Imran Khan does, his core support base tends to justify and romanticize his every action. In other words, it does not matter what policy position Imran Khan takes; his cult-followers will blindly follow him. Historically, this is not new in Pakistan. Religious-spiritual leaders tend to have a cult-following in Pakistan but what makes Imran Khan extremely threatening for pluralistic parliamentary democracy is his political agenda of neo-fascism and totalitarianism in Pakistan.

I would like to outline six salient features of Imran Khan’s cult-politics which stand in contradiction to constitutional democratic rule. One, Imran Khan has projected himself as a cult of a redemptive, ‘infallible’ leader who never admits his mistakes. We as human beings are prone to making mistakes. What makes us strong and courageous is our ability to accept our mistakes and take responsibility for our actions. For example, Mr Nawaz Sharif and the late Ms Benazir Bhutto publicly acknowledged their mistakes of the past when they signed the Charter of Democracy (COD), which has allowed Pakistan to move forward as a parliamentary democracy.

If Imran Khan was serious about rule of law and democracy then after his ouster from the PM Office, he should have publicly apologized to those who were politically victimized and imprisoned during his term. On the contrary, whenever he is confronted on this issue, he does not even acknowledge that anyone was politically victimized during his term. In other words, he never admits his mistakes because he is a cult-leader who is solely motivated by narcissism.

Two, loyalty to Imran Khan is paramount and more important than competence. Imran Khan cannot stop talking about ‘meritocracy’ when it comes to critiquing his political rivals. But he totally disregarded merit in his own appointments. For example, he nominated one of the least qualified MPAs in the Punjab Assembly as chief minister; the same was true in the case of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Imran Khan wants absolute control, and he appoints the least competent individuals so he can dictate them. His kitchen cabinet was full of such sycophants.

Three, to undermine his political opponents, Imran Khan endorses myths, conspiracy theories and promotes lies. Imran concocted the conspiracy theory of ‘imported government’ after his ouster from the PM Office. First, he blamed the US for his ouster and then he started blaming others. He had previously also accused – without any evidence – Najam Sethi of rigging 30 seats in the 2013 general election. When Mr Sethi sued him for defamation in court, he backtracked from his words. In short, Imran will say anything he thinks politically benefits him and hurts his opponents. Ideology and morality have no standing in his world.

Four, Imran Khan frames his political rivals as ‘enemies’/evil who must be crushed. Instead of seeing politics as an arena of debate, dialogue and deliberations, Imran Khan frames politics as ‘jihad’ in which he is ‘pious’ and his political rivals are forces of evil. He can’t stop talking about ‘rule of law’ but he is the one who used state institutions to victimize his political opponents. For example, it was under Imran Khan’s term when a sitting MNA – Mr Rana Sanaullah – was illegally framed in a narcotics case because he was a staunch critic of Khan’s policies. Former DG FIA Bashir Memon has made public how Imran Khan asked him to arrest opposition leaders on flimsy cases.

Five, Imran Khan scapegoats his political opponents for all the woes of the country. Instead of acknowledging the structural issues faced by Pakistan’s economic and legal systems, Imran Khan has scapegoated his political opponents for every problem faced by Pakistan – when in reality, the economic crisis that Pakistan is currently facing is largely an outcome of the reckless policies Imran Khan had pursued in his term. He derailed the IMF programme for his petty political interest and the whole nation has paid a hefty price for it.

Six, Imran Khan publicly maligns the credibility of intellectuals and journalists who raise critical questions on his politics. If you promote Imran Khan’s narrative you will be declared an honest and credible journalist. If you dare to question him, you will be labelled as a sell-out. It was under his regime that journalists were beaten up (Asad Toor), kidnapped (Matiullah Jan), shot at (Absar Alam) and banned (Hamid Mir, Talat Hussain, Nusrat Javeed). Not to mention, the chief editor of the Jang/Geo Group was imprisoned during Imran Khan’s regime because his editorial policies were independent of Imran Khan’s wishes. Then there were the troll armies that Imran Khan introduced on social media platforms and which bullied anyone who criticized his policies.

These characteristics have allowed Imran Khan to inject hatred among his supporters against anyone who disagrees with his politics. Imran’s cult-politics is captured by their famous slogan that ‘Imran Khan is our redline’. What does it mean for an individual to be a red-line? It implies that if law-enforcement agencies would arrest Imran Khan, his supporters would violently retaliate. In this regard, Imran Khan created a militant violent group within his party that can fight against law-enforcement agencies.

Thus, when law-enforcement agencies acted upon court orders, they were violently attacked by cult-followers outside Imran Khan’s residence in Lahore.

Therefore, May 9 cannot be seen as a spontaneous reaction but as an inevitable outcome of the neo-fascist cult politics of Pakistan. Therefore, the primary contradiction of Pakistan’s politics is the fight against the neo-fascist cult-politics of Imran Khan versus the multi-party parliamentary democracy in Pakistan. History is taking note of those who are still protecting the neo-fascist cult-politics of Imran Khan versus those who are putting up a resistance against neo-fascist politics of Imran Khan to protect the pluralist character of Pakistani politics.

Imran didn’t only attack this multi-party pluralistic democratic system but also attacked the foundation of Pakistan by attacking the country’s military installations and those who sacrificed lives for this country. But as a nation we came together after May 9 because Imran Khan grossly overestimated the power of his cult-following. This larger-than-life syndrome has destroyed many in the history and we are witnessing another episode before our eyes.

The writer is the ministerfor planning, reforms and special initiatives. He tweets

@betterpakistan and can be reached at:

betterpakistan@gmail.com