Imran Khan is no stranger to controversy. The man who started off with great promise in PTI has landed himself in troubled waters more than once – either due to his actions or the actions of his party members. Every now and then he’ll say something that doesn’t go down well with Pakistanis.
And that’s happened once more.
Recently, this snippet of information was shared on social media where Imran Khan was seen calling Pakistani liberals the greatest threat to the nation.
Much like many of IK’s statements, this one got some pretty mixed responses as well.
While some highlighted the context of the statement…
…and thought he raised a valid point…
…others had counter-arguments.
And some people believed that Pakistan ko har jagah se hee threats hain.
Chalo, IK. Let’s say liberals ARE khooni and ARE a threat to Pakistan. For argument’s sake, we’ll humor you for a bit. But really? The BIGGEST threat? Hmm. Okay.
Guess we’re forgetting all the following factors that are a much more immediate threat to Pakistan:
More than a third of the country’s population is undernourished.
Jeez, IK. That sounds pretty alarming, no? See, as reported by Huffington Post, around 60 million people in Pakistan are undernourished. Is a hungry population a happy population? Let’s leave Khan sahab to be the judge of that.
Oh and around 77 million Pakistanis are straight up going hungry, according to the World Food Program.
Liberals hee kha jaatey honge saara khaana.
A third of Pakistanis lack access to clean water.
Damn those liberals. Absorbing all our water.
Oh, and waterborne illnesses kill about 1.2 million Pakistanis per year.
This includes 630 children every day.
Educational problems exist in Pakistan too, just in case we forgot this little nugget of information.
An estimated 40 million school-age children between the ages of 5 to 19 are actually not in school. And education is pretty key to tackling the very mindset that encourages everything we’re fighting against today.
Acha, aur population increase ka bhi masla hai.
Are we forgetting how the census showed a whopping 59.7% growth in solely Karachi’s population? Or the 116% growth in Lahore’s population since 1998?
How can we leave out ALL the environment-related issues?
Global warming. Climate change. The flash floods and droughts caused by the same that cripple our economy each time and claim numerous lives. The recent smog in Lahore, that was basically poison being inhaled by Lahoris. Guess they’re not such huge threats. Okay.
What about domestic violence and sexual assault?
We can’t have the whole “if-it-happens-behind-closed-doors-it-doesn’t-concern-us” attitude to such matters, can we? The founder of Madadgaar National Helpline 1098 and national commissioner for children, Zia Ahmed Awan, did state that 70% of women and girls experience sexual violence in their lifetime by their partners. Moreover, 93% women experience some degree of sexual violence in public places. And, according to an investigation by the Associated Press, 2 million children in Pakistan are at risk of sexual assault.
But maybe that’s not a threat worth considering.
And IK, Pakistan did just get listed as the fourth worst country in the world for women.
A study was conducted, after which The Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace, and Security placed Pakistan on the 150th rank among 153 countries. Yikes.
Now I’m not a politician, but these threats seem VERY real and VERY immediate. And they seem to be a lot more pressing too. They tie in directly with our citizens, their needs, and Pakistan’s image as far as the rest of the world is concerned. But hey, I could be wrong.
What do you guys think? Comments main batao, friends.
Cover image via nation.pk
