WHY PAKISTAN NEEDS IMRAN KHAN
BY KAREN COLLIER
FOR KEY ISSUES IN PEACE & CONFLICT STUDIES, JUNE 2009 CENTRE FOR PEACE & CONFLICT STUDIES SYDNEY UNIVERSITY This paper will explore and analyse a series of crucial defining points in the recent
events that have brought Pakistan’s internal conflict to its zenith. The recent cricket
attack in Lahore in January 2009 rang true to the tune that things must get worse
before they get better. Conversely, this incident brought Pakistan’s deep-rooted
conflict to the surface and defined a potential turning point.
In a prelude to the current events - The suspension and reinstatement of Supreme
Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry, and the unprecedented Lawyers’
Movement that followed in 2007 – was described as a “vanguard for democracy,” a
defining moment in Pakistan’s history since the partition from India in 1947. The
momentum of these events will serve to argue why such a movement has altered the
course of Pakistan’s destiny and how through this chain of events, and in the words of
Imran Khan––“a revolution is irreversible.”
Additional to the tracing of critical events, this paper will analyse the nature and
context of the current conflict in Pakistan, building on theories to explain and analyse
the root causes of conflict and perpetuating cycles of violence, identifying possible
strategies for change which might achieve an outcome of transformative peace with
justice, long overdue in Pakistan.
Imran Khan and his political party – Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (Movement for
Justice), are potentially one of the greatest assets to Pakistan at this critical juncture
if only Pakistan, the US and the world would realise the rationality and legitimacy of
his solutions and heed the warnings now confronting not only the nation, the whole
world. Imran Khan’s party are laying the groundwork in a final bid to save Pakistan
with the interests and aspirations of the nation at heart––before it’s too late. This
paper essentially, argues why now more than ever before––Pakistan needs Imran
Khan.
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