Pakistan's Next Leader
| Looking at the recent posts it might look as if we, at the LUMS Alumni Blog, are explicitly supporting Imran Khan as the next political leader in the country. What we are rather promoting is the need for change - be it Imran Khan or any one else who has not yet been tried and tested in a position of high political power. |
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Benazir Bhutto has been in office twice, first from Dec'88 to Aug'90 and the second time from July'93 to Nov'96, and both times she was brought down on charges of corruption.
Nawaz Sharif has also been in office twice, first from Nov'90 to July'93 and the second time from Feb'97 to Oct'99. His corruption record is far from being clear, but is not as bad as Benazir Bhutto. First time he was brought down due to internal power struggle with the then president and the second time he was brought down because of internal power struggle with the then chief of army staff Pervez Musharraf (who is still the army chief).
More than eight years after the first military coup by Musharraf one would think that the Pakistan's political picture would have changed since then, but that doesn't seem to be the case. PPP (Benazir's party) and PML-N (Nawaz's party) still seem to gather the largest political support in the country and the International media is hailing Benazir as the "political savior" (a fact which is disgusting to say the least).
How can any rational person refuse to see that both these individuals and their respective parties have been tried and tested multiple times and no progress would ever be made if we stick with these (corrupt and incompetent) leaders forever.
There is a dire need for change and yes Imran Khan is one strong candidate in our view. We have not consciously decided to explicitly support only him and we are open to any new face. What we have rather consciously decided is to NOT support the failures of the past.
