Famous Cricketeer Detained in his home while Bush plays Cricket/Pakistan

[liveoaktx]

http://www.imrankhanfoundation.org/

I was reading Think Progress today and looked to see if this was the same man I made a video clip of the other day, who said he was going to protest Bush when he came to Pakistan. I didn't know who he was and the news announcer only said it was a "Leftist"- Video of Imran Khan saying he will protest Bush in Pakistan- It is the same man, very famous in Pakistan and probably all over the cricket world.

Anyway, that is ironic, isn't it? While Mush decries how Pakistan is a democracy, bloggers are shut down and WHILE BUSH IS PLAYING CRICKET, this famous cricketeer is imprisoned in his home lest anything happen to allow people to legimately protest in Pakistan's "democracy"

[mrfrapp]

1. Khan

The blog you linked to describes him as a "leader of a Pakistani leftist group". This is horribly misleading. He's the chairman of a legitimate political party, the Tehreek-e-Insaf and is a Member of Parliament for Mianwali. This mainstream press would have us believe that this is about a famous cricketer being inconvienced. The real story here is that a democratically elected representative of the people was incarcerated because of his opposition to Bush and the incumbant rulers of Pakistan.

[liveoaktx]

2. Boy, that's even worse. First, the Indian television doesn't even

say who he is but only calls him a leftist, then the next articles emphasize his cricketeer celebrity.

My disgust with Mush is growing by the minute.

[tenshi816]

4. I can kind of understand why Indian TV would do that though.

There's no love lost between India and Pakistan.

The entire incident - Khan's "house arrest" (because that's really what it is, isn't it?) - is disgusting.

[muriel_volestrangler]

7. It's difficult to overemphasise his cricketing celebrity

He's probably the most famous Pakistan cricketer ever. He led Pakistan to victory in the World Cup in 1992, and it's the national game. As someone said here, it's roughly the equivalent of Michael Jordan entering politics. The only political equivalent I can think of in the USA is John Glenn.

I'm surprised to see him called "leftist". "Opposition" is nearer the mark, from what I've heard - he's freely critical of the people in power, but he's no firebrand socialist.

[tenshi816]

3. Imran Khan isn't some deranged "leftist",

as it appears he's being painted as. Like another poster said in this thread, he's the leader of a legitimate political party (Tehrik-e-insaaf in Urdu, which means Movement for Justice).

Khan is an anglicized Pakistani, an Oxford-educated, intelligent man with political ambitions and a social conscience, in addition to being a fine athlete. He was formerly married to Jemima Goldsmith (now Hugh Grant's girlfriend), daughter of billionaire Sir James Goldsmith. Jemima Khan embraced Islam, took the name Haiqa and she and her Imran threw themselves into charity work (particularly Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital & Research Centre in Lahore).

Imran Khan has more credibility in his little finger than George W. Bush does in his entire body. No wonder Bush is feeling threatened by him. This incident is a disgrace.

Edited for typo.

[malaise]

5. The incident is a disgrace but

what made it worse was locking him up while teaching Bush to play cricket. Cricket followers know that was Imran who put Pakistani cricket on the world map by winning the world cup. I am quite embarrassed that the Pakistani captain showed up for this farce although I'm not sure he knew Imran was under house arrest.

Here's a great article from Common Dreams about Imran's thoughts in October 2001
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines01/1011-01.htm

Imran was also involved in protests re the desecration of the Koran at Guantanamo Bay.
<snip>
# May 6 Reuters story: Imran Khan, a legendary Pakistani cricket player turned politician, demanded an apology on Friday from the United States following a magazine report that U.S. interrogators in Guantanamo Bay desecrated the Koran.

<...> "This war on terrorism is self-defeating if, on the one hand, you are demanding that we help them (the United States) and, on the other hand, they are desecrating the book on which our entire faith is based. The entire world knows that; even the Americans know how sacred that book is," Khan told a news conference.

Khan said he had called on the National Assembly to take up the issue. Khan is his party's only member of parliament, but his standing as a successful former Pakistan cricket captain gives him a high profile.
http://www.underreported.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=1450

[Gogi]

6. That's our pretzeldent!

There's an ap story about the Hindu shrine to Mahatma Gandhi being purified after his visit because of the bomb sniffing dogs the Secret Service ran thru the place. Winning friends and influencing people all over the world, idiot.