MTK is thought of in learned circles the world over as an “intellectual giant,” and least of all for his formal academic qualifications. Of his reputation as an intellectual, he stated in an interview a few years ago, “[That] it is a direct outcome of my conscious efforts to expose myself to as many facets of life that the human race has deemed most important to indulge in.” Meaning, that he does not believe in narrow specializations alone, and according to him, his real accomplishment is the amount of quality contemplative reading, learning, and retaining that he has managed.

Whatever his past accomplishments may reflect, MTK distinctly articulates that his real passions are and always have been politics and philosophy, and that striving for excellence in these two areas has always been his well-defined objectives for educating himself. With all the incomparable formal academic excellence that he has attained, MTK intolerably dismisses all decrees and degrees as any indication of superior intellectual ability. He says that degrees are not only meaningless, but are in-fact counter-productive when it comes to all those people that will bring about great change. “Even in such highly formalized fields like medicine, there is a preponderance of evidence of unschooled prodigies á la Leonardo da Vinci. In other words, I have never let my schooling affect my education. The entire use of my degrees so far has been so that my honourable mother can claim her son to be educated.”

MTK further clarified his position on the methods of learning and discovery: “A great memory alone means nothing. It is only a tool, albeit the most consequential tool required. But great powers of retention, united with immeasurable periods of contemplative learning, multiplied with the concentrated desire to produce great and consequential results—now that—could lead to something.”

The VOICE: Before we talk about the future of Pakistani politics and your future in Pakistani politics, let us discuss your past. For politicians in Pakistan, it still is and almost always has been important to have a strong family background. What is your family background?

MTK: I am a Pathan, a Gandapur, both from my father and mother’s sides. My father is a renowned physician (Mohammad Tariq Khan) who was in the Army, and both my paternal grandfather (Abdullah Jan Khan) and maternal grandfather (Aman Ullah Khan) were exemplary lawyers educated at the Aligarh Muslim University. My paternal great grandfather (Mohammad Zafar Khan) was a Sessions Judge who settled us in Bannu in the 1920s. My maternal great grandfather (Ata Ullah Khan) was also a lawyer educated at Aligarh, and whom many believe was the very first man to conceive a straight separation and a free Muslim Pakistan.

This is a part of our history that has so far eluded the general public, but the relevant historians will confirm this fact. Ata Ullah Khan was a profound thinker who expressed his ideas through Persian poetry in the great tradition of Attar, Rumi, Hafiz, Saadi, and Allama Iqbal. His entire writings revolve around the themes of Islam, nationalism and patriotism.

Persian scholars hail him as a legend, and Iftikhar Arif—when Chairman of the National Language Authority of Pakistan—single-mindedly announced to me, and I quote, that: “Ata was the greatest Persian poet of the 20th Century.” He said this well aware of the obvious fact that Iqbal too, was a Persian poet of the 20th Century. And then such a shame that neither him (Iftikhar Arif) nor any of his myriad fellow bureaucratic pseudo-literati have ever arranged for translations of Ata’s oeuvre into Urdu or English; or at the least have been nondiscriminatory and unbiased enough to show as much as a verse to remote Persian scholars á la Annemarie Schimmel—who rely upon such spokespersons and the like to honestly cull out the paramount of whom they represent as their paid-for duties. By his (Iftikhar Arif's) own confession—his, now in contrast: inferior works—she and infinite others, were and are ad nauseam being stuffed with.

As to his role in Pakistan’s creation—in 1923, seven years before Allama Iqbal did the same in 1930—an official inquiry headed by a Sir Denis Brey heard the testimony of a Sardar Gul Khan Gandapur, the president of the Islamic Anjuman of Dera Ismail Khan and the spokesperson chosen by many because of his stature in the community. In his presence, my great grandfather being younger asked his close companion Sardar Gul Khan to convey his idea of giving the Hindus the portion from Raskumari to Agra and the Mohammedans the portion from Agra to Peshawar. In clear words, he suggested an exchange, a trans-migration between these areas.

In the years that followed, my great grandfather was occupied raising a large family, finding only time to find expression for his ideas and philosophies in his writings.

Are you trying to claim the very conception of Pakistan as your family background?

I am not trying to claim it—I am claiming it. The Brey’s Committee Report claims it so. Former Prime Minister Chaudhri Muhammad Ali claims it so in his book The Emergence of Pakistan. Former President Ghulam Ishaq Khan, who happened to do his law apprenticeship directly under my great grandfather, claimed it so in a speech while still the President. And Quaid-i-Azam himself agreed with my great grandfather after he recounted to our Quaid the factors that he believed had brought about the conception of Pakistan. Our Quaid’s exact words to Ata Ullah Khan were: “I agree with you.”

But their efforts did actualize. Did we not achieve independence in 1947?

If it were only so. I believe we have still not achieved our independence. We would be in a state of independence only if we are not affiliated with any larger controlling bodies, if we do not rely or require someone else, if we are not easily influenced, you notice I used the word ‘easily,’ if we can and do refuse and dislike looking to others for help. Keep in mind that this is not a utopian view of a manner in which a country should govern itself, especially for an Islamic country whose leaders have as their primary source of guidance, the Holy Qur’an and Sunnah. Our heads of states have the IMF, the World Bank, and the U.S. as their sources of guidance.

All said and done, what factors in your mind would then bring us this national independence?

One factor alone: the strength and ability in our leaders to make our own independent decisions—right or wrong. I do not want to get into a discussion about the current conundrum of Afghanistan, but taking an example from it, we have been terrorized to concur with Musharraf because he says it was the only ‘wise’ decision to make. What would be wise for us in the mid- to long-term would not be acceptable to others, especially dominating governments such as the U.S., as by default—it would not be good nor wise for them.

What do you envision as the driving factors in the future of Pakistani politics and the success or failures of Pakistani leaders in it?

The potency in our leaders to think independently. Indulge me a moment while I impart an evaluation. At the peak of the British Raj in the sub-continent, only 10% of the administrative force was British, 90% of it was comprised of us locals. They never recruited captains, majors, or colonels into their army from amongst us. Rather, they recruited Naiks, Havaldars, and Subaidars. They put into service these ranks like the collars on a dog. One dog was called a Naik, another Havaldar, and a third a Subaidar. Their most ferocious dog was a Subaidar Major as he took orders from the British and endured them out on his fellow locals. A Naik or Havaldar merely took orders from one of his own kind and administered it downwards. Now we would hope that after more than 50 years of independence—the Chiefs of Army Staff, the Presidents, and the Prime Ministers of our country would take orders from our own kind, meaning simply the hopes and aspirations of our own people, and dispense them through their interactions with other countries and organizations. But instead, our leaders have always and without fail, taken orders from the IMF, the World Bank, and the U.S. and others, and administered them to us. There is, and never has been any difference betwixt our leaders and the Subaidar Majors of the times when we were brutally ruled by the British. And that—is the dilemma of our so-called ‘Independence.’

It is well known in certain circles that you aspire to lead our country one day. How soon do you foresee making the rumors official?