One more Khan column
Adiah Afraz
Just a few weeks ago I had the pleasure of being introduced to a fellow columnist. When he heard my name, he stood there with glazed eyes for a few minutes and finally exclaimed: “Oh! The girl who writes about the Khan!”
Now, happy as I was for having been referred to as a “girl” in the almost middle part of my life, the label “who-writes-about-the-Khan” sort of caught me off guard.
I mean, c’mon guys; I do write about stuff other than the Khan, don’t I?
But then I should have seen it coming. For although I have written only five or six Imran Khan columns in the entire history of the world, I am often told not to do this, or people will stop taking me seriously.
Well, for everybody’s kind information, nobody takes me seriously anyway. While on the other hand my last Imran Khan column generated more than nine thousand hits on the internet, and there are no prizes for guessing why.
Actually, if written with conviction, an Imran Khan column can launch you, put you on the map, and make you famous. You are splashed all over the social media, distant relatives call you to enquire about your health, you get candid emails from PML-N bigwigs and, the biggest of all achievements, your colleagues across the hall give you printing paper for free.
Now, if you don’t know what that means in today’s world of budget cuts and cost controls, then you’ll never know the power of an IK column.
But on a serious note, I don’t write my IK columns for the free printing paper or the nine thousand hits. I do this because this is what opinion writers usually do. They opinionate on things they feel strongly about.
And you know what I really feel strongly about these days? Well, it’s the fact that the name of Shaukat Khanum Cancer Hospital is being dragged in the mud of Pakistani politics, and it physically hurts me to see that.
So here I am with another Imran Khan column which, by the way, is not as much an Imran Khan column as it is a Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital column. Because SKMH is the only cancer hospital in the entire world that treats 75 percent of its cancer patients for free. And before I say some more, just think, how many good things does Pakistan have which qualify for the phrase “the only in the entire world”?
Shaukat Khanum hospital is an asset for the people of Pakistan, and regardless of our partisan associations we are all proud of it and take ownership for it. And why not? Haven’t we all helped build it? A state-of-the-art cancer facility for the poor and the rich alike, a sanctuary for those who have to suffer the terrible fight with a terrible disease and hope to do so with dignity and respect. More than a hundred patients walk into that hospital every day, and for a large number of them it’s the only hope for survival.
So what could a bunch of politicians possibly be thinking by maligning the name of this extremely successful and necessary welfare organisation? They know pretty well that the credibility of Imran Khan cannot be shaken easily. For a long time he was the biggest donor of the hospital himself. So what is this attempt all about?
If you ask an expert, he or she will tell you how the allegations being levelled against the hospital trust are not even logical. Daud Munir, an MBA from Yale School of Management and a PhD candidate, has recently done an excellent analysis of the whole issue. “Bad homework is worst than no homework,” he says, referring to the so-called evidence presented by the accusers against the SKMT. “Give any first-year student of law, finance or politics two hours and access to the Internet, and he or she will be able to tell you the erroneous nature of the allegations,” he further elaborates.
But, hey! the truth is that if somebody talks about trusts and endowment funds to a layman like me, then chances are that the layman would either be confused or want a simplified version of it.
And this is what the accusers are doing. They start an allegation drive in the mainstream media with a string of technical, financial terms and then they take the squabble to the meta-media, the roadside graffiti, the social forums and the evening newspapers, and confuse a layman’s mind with crudely translated slogans and statements based on half-baked lies. Their discourse doesn’t even connect with the real issue, but only attempts to malign the name of Imran Khan and Shaukat Khanum Cancer Hospital.
Because, after all, who knows it better than the champions of mudslinging that if you say anything loud enough and often enough, it does eventually become the truth. Or at least shakes the foundations of the real truth.
But what these people keep forgetting is that Shaukat Khanum Hospital’s fundraising model is a unique model, based on the generosity and the trust of the people of Pakistan. The most successful part of this model was the fundraising done by the children of Pakistan in the initial years. Little school-going kids went from door to door, stopped cars on traffic junctures, held bake sales and talent shows, pestered their parents and relatives, and collected huge amounts of money just to become Imran’s Tigers.
And guess what? Those children of Pakistan are now all grown up and have become the official voters of Pakistan. They are the ones who made the hospital, and they are the ones who’ll save it too.
So, haters, pull up your socks. Vows have been made to make this year the most successful zakat year for the hospital, and all you have on your face is an uphill struggle with no easy victories.
It ain’t gonna be easy, pals. It ain’t gonna be easy.
The writer teaches at LUMS. All opinions expressed here are entirely her own. Email: adiahafraz@gmail.com
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Disclaimer: This blog is not an official PTI webpage and is run by a group of volunteers having no official position in PTI. All posts are personal opinions of the bloggers and should, in no way, be taken as official PTI word.
With Regards,
"Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf FATA Volunteers" Team.
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