A comment on PTI and Imran Khan’s fund-raising dinner in New York

Fazal Rahman, Ph.D. 

 October 5, 2012

The following email was sent by the Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (Movement for Justice, PTI) to large number of Pakistanis in the US.  They are making huge general and empty claims of planning to change the political and social structure of Pakistan, without specifying what these changes would be and how these would be brought about.  Like most other candidates and politicians, Imran Khan is a rich man and is part of the capitalist class and system.  Most of the people that he has put in key positions in his party have similar upper class backgrounds.  Therefore, it would be delusionary and foolish to expect any real or radical changes in the political economy, class relations, or distribution of wealth, property, and resources, even if, by some miracle, the PTI wins political power in Pakistan.  The PTI does not have any such concrete and specific program.  In the absence of such a program, chanting Insaf and giving the name of Insaf to the movement, is empty rhetoric at best.  Like anyone else and everywhere else, the choices, goals, and decisions of Imran Khan and PTI’s top leadership are and will be limited and determined by their upper class interests.  Any changes would be cosmetic and minor at best. Moreover, Imran Khan himself has cultivated a personality cult in his party and in Pakistan.   Only the necessary politico-economic changes, which require changes in the class relations and class power, can create the real possibilities and grounds for Insaf.  Such great changes can only be brought about by class conscious mass movements, based upon concrete and effective strategy, tactics, goals, and objectives for changes in the class structure, class relations, and replacing the dictatorship of the capitalist and feudal classes-disguised as “electoral democracy”-by dictatorship of the working class and its allies, which would progressively be transformed into real economic and political democracy for everyone in the society.  Such great changes cannot be brought about even by the incomparably greater personalities than Imran Khan, who based his personality cult and popularity on the basis of his having been a competent cricket player and captain of the Pakistani cricket team.  Most of the effective revolutionary leaders throughout the world always had extensive background in political economy, philosophy, history, and social sciences, and were deep and original thinkers, as well as mentally relatively free from the domination of money and property.  They were allied with and based in the struggle of the common working class and its allies for replacing the political power of the capitalist and feudal classes with the political power of the working class and its allies.  Undoubtedly, there are such people in Pakistan too.  However, the shallow, opportunist, hypocritical, and money-and property-worshipping mass psychology and culture and the mass media in Pakistan do not allow such potential leaders to come to the fore.  To the contrary, they are blocked every step of the way by such mass psychology and culture.  And then there is the widespread nauseating hypocritical lament also about the lack of such leaders and leadership!  If Pakistanis were able to reflect honestly and thoughtfully about this great problem, they would find that they themselves are responsible for it and for the sinister politico-economic reality and history of Pakistan.

Getting back to the above-mentioned email about Imran Khan’s dinner in New York, look at the costs:  minimal is $250 (twenty two thousand five hundred Pak Rupees).  For the front row, it is double of that ($500 or forty five thousand Pak Rupees).  But for $5,000 (four lakh and fifty thousand Pak Rupees), you get to eat at the same table with the leader of the Movement for Justice!  This dinner reflects and represents the actual upper class nature, thinking, and feeling of the top leadership of PTI.  Most Pakistanis in the US are working class or students and they will not be able to afford participating in such expensive upper class gluttony, and will, hence, be excluded.   

Copy of PTI Email     

Eid Celebration & PTI Fundraising Dinner with Imran Khan on Friday, October 26th at 7PM in New York

Muzamil Anwarto you (Bcc) + 1 moreshow details

Asalam o Alykum dear brothers and sisters, 

We hope you are well.  This Eid is going to be extra special because Chairman PTI Imran Khan is coming to New York and we have arranged a fundraising dinner with him to benefit PTI so together we can bring real change in Pakistan.   The Eid Celebration & Fundraising Dinner with the Chairman will be held at Soundview Studios, Long Island City, NY on Friday, October 26 at 7:00 pm.

We have also received the news that Founding member and Ex Women's Wing PTI Mrs. Fauzia Kasuri will also be attending the event. 

Chairman Imran Khan believes that Overseas Pakistanis are Pakistan's biggest asset.  He wants all Pakistani Americans to make contributions to PTI so together we can fight the Status-quo that has brought Pakistan down to It's knees.  PTI is the only political party in the history of Pakistan running exclusively on public funding, and your support will bring real change in the next election.  All the money raised will be used to change the Political as well as Social Structure of Pakistan by implementing the Law, Rules and Regulation Across the board InshAllah.

This is your chance to have dinner with the man who has become a symbol of hope for over 180 million people and contribute much needed funds towards the struggle that will ensure a better Pakistan for us and our future generations.

Please come with your family and friends and pour your hearts and wallets out to save Pakistan's future! Please purchase your tickets ASAP because of the limited availability. 

When: Friday, October 26 at 7:00 pm

Where:
Soundview Studios
36-01 37th Avenue, Long Island City, NY 11101

Tickets:
$250 General Admission
$500 Front Row
$5,000 for a Seat on Imran Khan's Table
** Special Offer for Students: Sell 20 seats and get your ticket free!!

How to purchase your tickets:

Please send an email to: PTI.NewYork@gmail.com with the number of tickets you would like and mail the check over to the address below. 

Please be sure to make the checks payable to PTI USA LLC.  Please note that your seats are not confirmed till we receive the check. 
 
You can mail the checks to:

Diamond Dazzlers Inc. (PTI Fundraiser)
377 East Fordham Rd
Bronx, NY 10458

For additional information, please send an email to PTI.NewYork@gmail.com or contact our wonderful team below:

Mehmood Awan (New York) 321-624-8225

Ch. Akbar Ali (Washington D.C.) 703-598-3908

Amjad Nawaz (New York) 917-416-4357

Arif Sohni (New York) 917-578-5621

Yasir Ali (Westchester, NY) 646-852-0262

Basit Irfan (New York) 917-455-5463

Muzamil Anwar (New York) 914-512-8448

Abdul Qayyum Chaudry (New York) 516-551-8475

Abdul Rehman Malik (New York) 516-606-1786

Mohammad Akram (New York) 917-468-1938

Faisal Irshad (New York) Faisal.Irshad@gmail.com 

Tahir Effendi (Upstate New York) 518-369-7694

Saleem Bhatti  (Upstate New York)) 518-221-5075

Umar Mukhtar  (Upstate New York) 518-331-9593

Mehreen Saeed (New Jersey) 732-689-5864

Nauman Chaudhry (New Jersey) 732-272-5549

Shoaib Choudhry (Pennsylvania) 732-688-9552

Yaser Buttar  (Maryland)  410-206-4265

Nadia Ahsan  (Massachusetts)  (413)505-9829

Rashid Shaikh (Massachusetts) 774-641-0851

Muhammad Ishtiaq  (Virginia) 703-424-5900

Looking forward to seeing you at the event InshAllah. 

JazzakAllah Khair,