Jibran Nasir’s Aik Awam Movement to be a stepping-stone for his future party

Social activist Jibran Nasir, who contested the General Election 2018 as an independent candidate, has announced a countrywide movement -- Aik Awam Movement (AAM) -- to assemble likeminded individuals.

The movement would aim to protect the rights of all citizens irrespective of their backgrounds and would be a stepping-stone for his future political party.

“Although the movement had kicked off during my election campaign, the announcement of AAM invites all citizens of the state, especially the youth, to come forward and become a part of it,” he stated while talking to The News on Saturday.

Speaking about the two issues raised by him in the announcement regarding the tanker mafia in Karachi and KE billing, Nasir said he was able to raise a lot of awareness about them.

“We are waiting for the parliament to be formed so we can start lobbying the political representatives to address these problems. We would be going to different cities, raising issues concerning the dwellers there so citizens can play an active role, and because we would be starting from Karachi, those two problems would be brought before the parliament,” he said.

Nasir, who contested elections in NA-247 and PS-111 but lost to PTI’s Arif Alvi and Imran Ismail, insisted that the citizens should pressurise the parliament to pick up certain issues, saying the aforementioned ones affected everyone irrespective of their class or ethnicity.

He added that legally social movements did not require a formal structure, but he would be organising the movement by reaching out to the people across the country.

“Our database is now open for people to sign up. We will be initiating chapters in different cities, and I would announce a schedule of meetings when I would visit those cities and divide the responsibilities among those who are willing to join us,” he stated. He said that in order to help those heading chapters, a team of technical experts, in different respective fields like legal aid, environment, urban planning among others, would also be formed.

“Following the pattern of our corner meetings, we would visit the people and we would not only listen to their set of problems but would mobilise them and lead them towards self-actualisation,” he said.

Speaking about the timeline for a political party, Nasir said that once the movement was in place, he would announce its details in a few months’ time.

“If I want, I can announce a party from Karachi because I have garnered enough support, but then many of my supporters outside the city would feel that it is limited to Karachi only. I want to make it a nationwide body and for that I would want to meet people individually by visiting other cities.

“By giving time to AAM, we would also be able to filter people who are there for us in the long run versus those who may retract after a while,” he pointed out. He added that he wanted to engage the youth in order to give them space to work and was not inviting electables from other political parties.

Nasir had earlier stated about the reservations raised by political parties regarding the election results that it was the Election Commission of Pakistan that had to look into them.

Speaking about the possibility of PTI chairperson Imran Khan becoming the PM, he hoped Khan would lead the country towards prosperity.

“The weightage of the statements given as a party chairperson in the past and now, as an upcoming PM, would be very different. Earlier, he used to label Nawaz Sharif as Narendra Modi’s aide, but now he is hoping for a steady relationship with the same country, which is a wise step.