The truth is stranger than fiction. As a born again Muslim in the sufi tradition, Imran Khan is a deeply religious and superstitious type even if his antics as a notorious playboy are sometimes in conflict with that reality. This means he is susceptible to all sorts of manipulation and suggestion. For years now, his spiritual advisors have been telling him what to do and what not to do in order to become the Prime Minister of Pakistan. Bushra Manika, better known as Pinki Pirni, is the latest of these advisors. She was married to a civil servant Khawar Farid Maneka who had a bit of reputation when it came to corruption but he and his wife became devotees to the Sufi Saint Baba Farid Ganj Baksh. A couple of years ago, she is rumored to have tried to hitch up Imran Khan with her sister but that did not work out. Reham Khan, the dignified former wife of Khan who was married for precisely one year, swears by the fact that her marriage was sabotaged by Pinki Pirni. The dogged insistence by Imran Khan that he should both marry and divorce Reham on 31 October seems to lend credence to this. The story then goes, and it remains unchallenged by the Manikas, is that Pinki Pirni is said to have had a dream where the most holy personage in Islam told her that for Imran Khan to be Prime Minister, she must marry him and if she does, both Pakistan and Islam will truly prosper. Pinki Pirni then narrated this to her husband who agreed to give her a divorce for the sake of the cause of Islam in Pakistan. References: Imran Khan’s desire to seek signs to guide his life seems more like a mental illness 20 February, 2018
Just as he began as a cricketer, dismissed as without talent who would never bowl fast, in politics too Imran Khan was dismissed with nothing but prejudice and contempt. He took each humiliation, insult and used it as a stepping stone to that ultimate triumph that now is only a matter of time. History, dear readers, is replete with such examples of persistence and courage; Jinnah being the last example from our recent history. Reference: OP-ED Why progressives should support Khan NOVEMBER 6, 2011 (Daily Times) Not that Imran Khan needs me to defend him but the intemperate attacks on him by certain quarters leave me no choice but to attempt to set the record straight. I can assure you, dear readers, that the impression created by some writers is nothing but a warped caricature of the only person in politics who is not just incorruptible but a selfless first rate humanist, one that this country is lucky to have at this critical juncture in its fragile democratic evolution. Anyone
familiar with my writings in this newspaper and other places knows that I stand for a secular liberal Pakistan as envisaged by Muhammad Ali Jinnah. I, therefore, do not quite agree with Imran Khan’s analysis of why Pakistan was created but I also understand that a debate about history is often lost in semantics. So is the case with politics. I support Imran Khan.
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