Unity brought back to Karachi

Much has been said and much has been written about the PTI’s Peace convention on 25^th December 2011. I didn’t get a chance to physically go there and become the part of the history, because history was in the making. With no suspicions that gathering was one of the biggest in the history of Pakistan. I have got several reasons to stamp this event in my memories and I would surely like to tell my next generation about that as well.

I personally like Imran Khan right from my childhood days. When I grew up, like any other Pakistani boy I started to love Cricket. My interest in cricket developed from the famous sixer hit by Javed Miandad and it didn’t seek for respite after that. The 1987 Pak-England series and World Cup 1987 further ignited the fire. I saw Pakistan Cricket in serious business. I on no account found that team losing hope till the last ball of the match. Win or lose didn’t matter to me a lot that time, only thing that mattered to me was the way my team fought. Soon I realized that a man who has got control of this team spirit was the captain of Pakistan Cricket Team and that man was Imran Khan (the then captain of Pakistan Cricket Team).

Imran Khan the man I got lots of inspiration from. I always love to see him speaking about Cricket, Current affairs and other matters. I read his book “Imran Khan Pakistan a personal history” more than twice; I read it word by word. I always reckoned him as man of his words and true leader within. When he started his political party in 1996, I wished he could come in to power. But our shady political and electoral system doesn’t allow a noble person to come in to power. Imran Khan and PTI were never measured as sturdy political force by anybody not even by Imran’s party members and lovers. But I always wished that somehow he should come in power.

I saw his protest against drone attacks in Peshawar (dharna) earlier this year and found people’s response very positive about him. Then Lahore Convention on 30^th October changed the direction of the wind and recently in Karachi what everyone has witnessed has become the part of history.

When I grew up I saw MQM as the strongest political party in Karachi. We all were the supporters of MQM. I don’t want to go into the details of how MQM lost its mainstream support but I saw people of Karachi were attracted by some magnetic force towards Imran Khan. They were not only present in the convention but also they exhibited emotions and passion. They had hope in their eyes that Imran Khan will surely bring a change in Pakistan.

Other people like me are also confused about the recent inclusions in PTI, especially after 30^th October Lahore Convention but we want to give Imran Khan a chance. The reason is very simple, for us PTI is Imran Khan and for us it doesn’t matter who is in the party but the most important thing for us is the existence of Imran Khan in the party. We pray for his success and for the bright future of Pakistan.

Now let’s come back to Karachi convention. The flair and infatuation that was prominent in the crowd really charged up and electrified the whole environment. I saw people from various ethnicities there and that made me feel like a Pure Pakistani. Previously I never thought like that (as right from my childhood I always supported MQM and loved to call myself a Muhajir rather than a Pakistani). We Pakistanis are “A Nation” with in a nation and that’s what political parties have been doing in Pakistan for decades. Some parties alienated the nation in the name of religion and some divided on the basis of provinces. But on 25^th December 2011, I saw a Pakistan there in the convention. People were together like a nation, I saw Pathans, Punjabis, Sindhis, Balochis, Muhajirs there. But the most beautiful part of the whole event was that they were holding Pakistan’s flag as well.

Latest inclusion of Javed Hashmi in PTI also gave a big heart to the PTI followers. Because Javed Hashmi is a brand name for Sincerity and Selflessness as far as politics is concerned. He really charged up everybody when he said “Mein Baghi hoon” (I am a Rebel). Unlike other conventional politicians he conditioned his association with Imran Khan to the actions that Imran Khan supposes to take after coming in to power. He said to Imran Khan that he will remind him his promises after taking the role. Every word of Javed Hashmi was pure and coming from the heart.

Finally when Imran Khan came to rostrum, he was greeted and hailed by huge crowd. Majority of them like me supports PTI only because of Imran Khan and his selfless services. His speech was balanced as he avoided criticizing different politicians. He focused on discussing his policies and agenda. He strongly emphasized on three major areas: elimination of corruption, implementation of uniform education system and enforcement of better law and order situation. Currently these three are the major problems areas for the country. He specially talked about people of Balochistan and the unfair behavior that different governments did with that province, he also showed his intentions of doing major development work in Balochistan.

For me that convention was more than a success, not even for PTI but also for the residents of Karachi. Because in Karachi we didn’t see anything other than target killing, fearful environment and lawlessness. The party that emerged from Karachi, that has its roots in Karachi i.e. MQM (they are governing Karachi), but they are least bothered about this wretched situation of the city. They are hushed in front of their political requisites. MQM does misuse of powers, they disturbed the city within hours and claimed that they have full control over the city. No doubt MQM has lost the support of people of Karachi. That’s why they are eyeing Imran Khan as an option. This huge attendance in the 25^th December convention will surely be translated as votes in the next election.

And in the end I would like you to listen this beautiful song composed by PTI student wing that charged me up a lot, specially the word PYARA PAKISTAN (Beloved Pakistan)