Imran Khan defines Pakistan

Saba Naqvi

Be it meeting him as a teenager in 1979 or as a journalist during the 1997 elections in Pakistan, the cricketer-turned-politician always left me awestruck

Saba Naqvi

Let me confess: Imran Khan got me watching cricket. In those days, father, uncles, their buddies used to hog the precious black and white TV set and watch Test matches ball to ball. I was mostly bored like many girls I suspect, till one day we spotted this amazing specimen of good looks and athletic prowess run down with a ball in his hand. We started to watch a bit, and as I entered my teens many girls had Imran's pin ups in their rooms.

Saba Naqvi Columnist and author

 Then came the year 1979, when the Pakistan cricket team came to India. Between 1962 and 1977 the two countries did not play each other, so this visit was huge. My parents were invited to a reception for the team at the Taj Man Singh hotel in Delhi. I tagged along with a sister and a friend, all awkward teenagers whose main mission was to sight this God-like man and take an autograph. We waited patiently: no Imran; but a short chap who introduced himself as Javed Miandad asked us in broken English if we wanted to go to a disco in the hotel.

From the beginning this was his position and the stock line was: “Pakistan is the only country in the world that was made for Muslims. Egypt is for Egyptians, Iran for the Iranians, but Pakistan is for Islam.”

I should be ashamed of myself for Miandad went on to make 421 runs in the Test series from November 1997 to February 1998, that India would win. Imran, on the other hand, took just 12 wickets, his teammate Sikander Bakht, who took 25, did better while our Kapil Dev took 32 wickets.

Anyway, I was stupid back then so we gave this person called Miandad the brush off and waited for Imran to arrive. He made a late entry and the whole party turned to stare. In the course of the evening Imran had a long conversation with my indifferent but very beautiful mother, who summoned us and said, these girls want to meet you. We were tongue-tied as Imran asked us kindly if we were the same girls who had come to the hotel in the day (apparently hundreds had surrounded the hotel since the team's arrival). We just stammered some answer and were the epitome of gawky star struck school-girls.

Eighteen years later, an adult, in control of my senses, I covered the 1997 election in Pakistan, a wonderful experience back then when my main focus was Nawaz Sharif, who would eventually win. I travelled with Sharif in his chopper and he was hospitality personified for the sole Indian, squeezed in with several Pakistani scribes. He made me sit next to him through the journey and chatted amicably about politics, the army's attempt to subvert democracy, and about Hindi films (declaring Dharmendra his favourite actor). He reminded me of my neighbourhood friendly Punjabi businessman, who may watch Hindi films for relaxation and know all the old songs!

Imran had just launched the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf so I went to Mianwali district, the region he comes from that lies between Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. He was very helpful but, alas, married to Jemima by then. He went to great lengths to tell me that the money for his campaign came from contributions and not his rich father-in-law, being described by his rivals as the Jewish lobby.

I also remember his first election motorcade moved with loudspeakers blaring songs about the Tehreek-e-Insaf, set to the tune of the popular Madhuri Dixit song “Ankhiyan milaon kabhi ankhiyan churaon” from the Hindi film Raja.

He was still then the most handsom man I had ever met, but the halo evaporated as I heard him position himself as a leader whose destiny was “to return” Pakistan to its Islamic roots. From the beginning this was his position and the stock line was: “Pakistan is the only country in the world that was made for Muslims. Egypt is for Egyptians, Iran for the Iranians, but Pakistan is for Islam.” In his first political outing he spoke in a similar vein: “Pakistan was created in the holy month of Ramzan, the World Cup was won during Ramzan and these elections will be held during Ramzan. Show the corrupt leaders that you can turn your destiny around in the month of Ramzan.”

At that time Pakistani people did not take him seriously and, in hindsight, I believe he was an asset that the army gradually developed. Travelling to Mianwali also gave me an opportunity to recognise that Imran Khan came from a particular ethnic stock. All the men were tall with narrow lean faces, sharp noses and close-set eyes. In the case of Imran, it all came together wonderfully; the cricketing talent only adding to the aura.

I never got to see women in those parts. In chadors on the roads, none was present in the political rally. I had to be up on the stage with Imran, the sole woman with her face showing. By

the end of it all, thrilling as the journalism was, I was ready to head home and move between both men and women, head uncovered.