Imran Khan's Rebellion

It is in human nature to rebel against things that wrong or unjust, but all too often violence is what is resorted to. Therefore, it is interesting to see how some influential leaders, like Martin Luther King Jr. and Gandhi, could get the results they fought for with peaceful protest. One of the more recent examples of a civil disobedience leader was Imran Khan, a Pakistani government official that fought for the step down of the prime minister after he and others felt that the 2013 general elections were rigged in the prime minister’s favor. Imran Khan started as a modern-day follower of Thoreau, almost following his ideals exactly, but as the protests grew longer, he couldn’t keep his supporters behind him and on the righteous path, leading

In the book Drivers of Long Term Instability in Pakistan, it says “In 2011-2013, PTI, a party led by former cricket star Imran Khan, emerged as a vehicle for dissatisfied citizens to voice their frustration on both established political establishments and the entire political establishment.” (Blank 35) Khan put himself at a disadvantage from the start, attempting to lead a new political party, one that represented the hope for the government to improve, with very little political experience. Khan attempted to create the political party wanted and it initially worked, as Blank later says “According to 2012 IRI poll, PTI was more popular at a national level than any other political party (31 percent support versus 27 percent for PML-N and 16 percent for PPP).” (Blank 35) Thoreau says in “Civil Disobedience” “All men recognize the right of revolution; that is the right to refuse allegiance to and to resist the government when its tyranny or its inefficiency are great…” (308) Khan was following Thoreau very close at the beginning, using the PTI to let the people voice their frustration against the current government. After the election, in a speech Khan himself gave, he said “At the moment, I'm afraid we're being resisted, but we are determined, even if it means a street movement. We will go on the streets to insist that there should be an investigation and that

Lao-Tzu says in his Tao Te Ching, “When the will to power is in charge, the higher the ideals, the lower the results. Try to make people happy, and you lay the groundwork for misery. Try to make people moral, and you lay the ground work for vice.” (211). Khan, as briefly mentioned earlier, built his party up as the end to all the Pakistani people’s suffering. Khan said in the speech mentioned earlier, “I’m ready once I go back to provide a proper opposition in Pakistan, which we haven't had. More importantly, the one province - Khyber - Pakhtunkhwa - where we have a Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government is a golden opportunity for us to show what good governance is all about.” (“Wounds From a Hard Campaign”) Khan is trying to build up his supporters morale after defeat, using the few seats they did win as an opportunity to govern the way they want to, raising the supporters expectations. Later in the same speech, Khan says “Every political party that participated claimed that it was rigged. With each election, the rigging has increased because no one ever gets caught.... At the moment, I'm afraid we're being resisted, but we are determined, even if it means a street movement.” Khan is putting the second part of Lao-Tzu’s warning into effect, as this statement is Khan’s way of showing the people that the PTI party are the morale ones, and the ones that were oppressed during this election, even