Mr. Khan, or Kaptaan as I like to call you, I am one of those people who think very highly of you. Born in the 80s, I began following you as soon as I started to understand cricket and philanthropy. For the last 7 years, it has been my routine to turn on the TV, browse and settle on the channel where you appear. In fact, you do not know but I was one of those 100,000 people who made your 30th October jalsa taarikhi. What I have for you is immense respect and admiration. In fact I would go so far as to say that I am proud to be living in a country which homes the great Khan.
Despite all this, I am a tad-bit disappointed in you and I am going to complain to you because I have heard that, unlike other leaders, you do listen to constructive criticism calmly. And while I am sure you will never get enough time to read me, I will continue writing these lines hoping my message gets through one day.
Kaptaan, do you know that your amusing but careless referrals to other politicians have led to a terrible social media scourge? Your supporters cling to each word you say and use it as a pretext to spill immature and juvenile non-sense here and there. Although I am sure not all of them are genuine, I have personally come across a few of your supporters who have been titled PTI Trolls by many columnists and bloggers (sometimes unjustifiably though).
Now what really hurts me is the stream of diatribe aimed at you by people who bracket you and your supporters (read: troll) together. A troll is an idiot and we are not that, Mr. Khan. We are your genuine supporters who want you to leave a good example. Let me start with my complaint #1.
While calling Shareef brothers Dengue Brathran may sound amusing to your ears and reflect your sense of humor, it certainly doesn’t leave a good taste in the mouth. Likewise, we would rather anyone else call Moulana Fazl-ur-Rehman a munafiq and not you because when you say it, it sounds extremely bad. If you are not getting my point, let me be clear.
We think highly of you. We do not want you to stoop to the dangerous political levels. We envision you as a brave, honest and educated leader who would rise above such personal spat and name-calling sprees. Leave mocking and scoffs for people like Rana Sanaullah who are enough to make themselves look like political jokers.
Kaptaan, you are a politician of national stature, such language is not becoming of a leader that we hold so dearly.
My second disappointment with you is your smug and somewhat complacent attitude. Why do you have to say it over and over again that you will sweep the next election? Do you know that it is the butt of the joke on social media? So we have heard it umpteen times from you and we really hope you sweep the next election but please do not be so complacent and smug about it.
My third question to you, Mr. Khan, is why did you have to make such a careless speech at Tank, Waziristan? What you said there was not nothing new and could have easily been said in Lahore or Karachi. You went there for a national cause with huge media coverage where you were supposed to unite the entire nation that already looks up to you. But no! Instead you chose to speak about someone as unimportant as Moulana saab to have a round of cackle and applause from the audience. If this is called political wisdom, I do not know what next to expect from you.
Personally, it does hurt me when pseudo-liberals picture you as Taliban Khan twisting your message of peace and hurling immense unfounded criticism at you while sidelining (and sometimes blindingly ignoring) your practical efforts at bringing forth Energy, Education and Health Policy but all this is incomparable to the feeling I and thousands of your supporters get when they refer to your party and supporters as ghundo ki jamat. Your supporters are learning and maturing with time and will stop chiding and name-calling only when you stop. My question is when are you stopping?
