Can Imran Khan Create a New Pakistan?
The novice prime minister has started well. But there are reasons to worry.
Promising the moon.
Photographer: Farooq Naeem/AFP/Getty Images
Four years ago, on the day Narendra Modi was elected prime minister, I wrote that India was entering its most sinister phase since independence. This was a well-grounded fear for anyone who had noted Modi’s steadfast commitment to Hindu supremacism and the fragile state of India’s economy. Today, with Modi failing to create jobs or eradicate corruption, his government has resorted to fueling violence against minorities and assorted “anti-nationals.” As Imran Khan prepares to become Pakistan’s new prime minister, it is not unreasonable to fear that South Asia is lurching into its most turbulent phase since 1947.
It is true that, unlike Modi, Khan has no tainted record of governance. Nor has he beaten the drums for a far-right ideology since his childhood. He came to politics in his 40s, after a career in sports and philanthropy; and, unlike Modi, he was known as a playboy of the Western world.