Comments on Imran Khan’s Interview by Dr. Farah Adeeb of Perth

Last week on Dateline, I saw a revealing interview on SBS with Imran Khan. Khan presented his opinions about the proposed Australia-India uranium deal and the potential impact of an extended arms race in the region. He also said that Pakistan has changed a lot over the past decade, with notable things being a free media, more television channels and as a result of that more awareness among the people about what is going on. He reiterated that it is not so easy to fool the public anymore because of increasing awareness due to the greater freedom of the press. He also showed his satisfaction over the win of the judiciary in the recent Iftikhar Chaudhary case. He stated that it would be difficult for Musharraf to win the next month election as he cannot attempt to effectively re-elect himself (for example by declaring a state of emergency) as that directly contravenes the constitution. Anything which is unconstitutional can now be challenged by the public in the Supreme Court.

Khan also stated that most of the political parties are "joining hands together" against the military rule. In his view the current military leader has little public support. Khan asserted that Musharraf is too closely aligned to Washington policy, quoting the volatile situation in the Northern Western Frontier Province as being too delicate a situation for a simple strong-arm policy. He also seemed surprised that the same people were called Mujahadeen in the era of President Ronald Reagon. They were brought from all over the world and garlanded by USA government to fight against Russians at one time. That is how they got training. Now the same people are called terrorists is simple cynical and beyond his understanding. He said that there is no border along the two countries in Pushtoon area and there is free movement of people in this area. Now to destroy them by military powers is not the solution. Because some of these past-mujahdeens (now terrorists) are local heros among the communities and if USA launches war in NW Frontier region, it is going to create more crisis for the country.

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