| Publication |
2012.
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| Summary/Abstract |
Karachi, Pakistan-Green and red flags line the streets. The crowd snarls traffic across the city as an estimated 150,000 young Pakistanis fill the roads and alleys to the Quaid Mausoleum-the final resting place of Pakistan's founder, Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah. Unlike the often tumultuous religious or ethnic processions here, this march is peaceful, albeit with ferocious patriotism and boisterous chants of "Yes, We Khan." Superstar cricketer-turned-philanthropist-turned-politician Imran Khan is holding a rally in Pakistan's port city of Karachi, the country's economic hub. Khan's rallies are bigger, louder, and younger than those of any other Pakistani politician. In the days leading up to this grand event, his party's computers robo-called 300,000 local phones with a simple, direct message: "Assalam-o-Alaikum. This is Imran Khan speaking. How are you? I am coming to your city to bring everyone together on December 25 at Mazar-e-Quaid for a peace rally. I hope that you can break all the shackles and take part, because at this rally, we need to make the beginnings of a new Pakistan. I will be waiting. Thank you." It was a wake-up call, doing more to convince people to attend than billboards and posters prone to vandalism. Khan drew crowds from a cross-section of Pakistani society, from the slums of Karachi to the most elite areas.
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