Youthful Imran Khan vs. Baba aka Old Imran represent what is wrong with us and our economy our social life and even in the game of cricket.
There are a number of mistakes and wrong assumptions in your comparison. The problem is that you are seeing things that are consistent with your own biases and not necessarily reality itself.
Youthful Imran Khan: Carefree, upbeat, positive, forward looking
Pakistan's economy in 60s and early 70s: Vibrant, upbeat, positive, globally linked
Baba (old) imran khan: Retrogressive, Islamist, backward looking, vengeful
Pakistan's economy in 00s and early 10s: moribund, declining, weak, anti-global
Imran came into prominence in the mid to late 70s. He is very much product of 70s. I remember reading his interview in 1980s, his favorite bad was BeeGees. I suppose you know which era they belonged to. You are forcing 60s in order to link economic performance of the era with 70s. You should know that capitalist 60s had little to do with pseudo-socialist (early) 70s. So the economy part of your comparison just dies right there. Greatest misfortune to befall Paksitan's economy was nationalization of industry in 1973. It stopped investment in industry for the next ten years.
Paksitan's economy was globally linked only to the extent of export of Cotton and Jute. We imported stuff then just like today. Today's economy is not any less 'global' than what it was then. Our business people are trying their best. But the biggest challenge is to deal with the acute shortage of energy supply for our economy. This has nothing to do with globalization; rather it has a bit to do with 1. Post-1998 sanctions, 2. Western supported corrupt governance in the last two decades, 3. Failure to complete key energy projects with chief among them being IP gas pipeline (and we know who is against it).
Mush-supporters would not forgive you for describing economy in early '00s as moribund and weak. Better change it.
Social life
Youthful Imran Khan: social butterfly, peena pilana, fun loving
Pakistan's social life in 60s and 70s: Open and inviting, destination of Western tourists, arts and culture on the rise
Baba (old) imran khan: anti-social, dry, protest lovingl
Pakistan's social life in 00s and early 10s: dead, Madrassah hojra, flag burning
Peena Pilana is perhaps OK for you, but not for most of Pakistanis. Blame Islam for that all you want. Having lived & worked in West I can tell that if we had peena pilana like that, we would have a lot more traffic accidents. The worst accident that I have been in was when a drunk driver ploughed his car into mine. So, I am glad that nobody feels it is OK to Pee & drive in Pakistan, if for no other reason than getting harassed by police.
Politics is the highest social function according to Plato and other philosopher and scholars. I do not know how you can construe IK as anti-social. Perhaps you equate peena pilana with sociability? If so, well then you must love Mush because he was exceedingly social by this standard. But there is a catch, Mush happened to have been in '00s, not '60s and '70s.
Flag burning is a form of expression. One could burn American flag in America and claim first amendment right to do so. Are you saying that Pakistanis never did anything like that in '60s & '70s. Perhaps you have forgotten the slogans of 'Ayub Kuta, hai hai' complete with a poor stray dog and a few shoes? Now I would never do that. But just saying...
I do not mind IK doing his politics. I have some reservations, but there is nobody else I would rather support. He may seem to be whatever and however to you. But to me most of his policies make sense, since I can reason his choices whether he gives a straight reason or not. You are basically upset that he seems regressive etc... But that is not how he actually is. That is how he must act in today's environment. He would not be around otherwise.
sports
Youthful Imran Khan: A captain who is fully Westernized
Pakistan's sports in 60s and 70s: Pakistan is world champion in cricket and hockey
Baba (old) imran khan: Now the team captains with beards and 5 times prayer practitioners
Pakistan's sports in 00s and early 10s: At the bottom of the heap
Pakistan's amazing record in Hockey did start in '60s. But in cricket I remember very well that we were a second string team until late '70s. It was only after 1983 that Pakistan's Cricket team emerged as a serious and dangerous opponent. Now '80s were Zia era and not your 60s & 70s. If we were to look at the great Hockey players of 60s & 70 & 80s, how many of them were Westernized? How many of them were peena pilana types? I rest my case.
Coming to today's teams, we see that Hockey never recovered from the crisis in mid 90s. The whole team was tossed to the wind so that the board could assert its authority. Our team never recovered from that shock. Also Hockey could not attract talent like it used to. Rules also changed to make our traditional Asian style irrelevant. So from where would you find space to inject your bias into this scenario? I could do a similar analysis for Cricket too and conclude the irrelevance of your opinion but this should do it. BTW the only time when both our Hockey and Cricket teams were world champions was in 1992. That is seriously off your '60s & '70s. What do you have to say about that? Need I bring in Squash as well?
You have problems with beards? Go shave your own. Just like you assert that religion is a personal matter, now is the time to put your opinion into practice: apologize for interfering into other people's lifestyle choices. Really that fact that you are highlighting Islamism, beards, and 5 time prayer, etc... one could easily conclude that your problem is not with how people ought to practice faith, but with faith itself. You object to extremism, while you are an extremist yourself. Look in the mirror before your criticize others.
And still Pakistanis fail to understand, and continue following retrogressive Baba Imran, instead of expecting him to infuse youthfulness in our next generation and make them leaders (like he was in younger days).
The only person who fails to understand is you yourself. If you can not find out why people are following 'retrogressive' IK, then that is your problem. You are responsible for your failure, not IK or his followers. Your personal philosophy is your impediment, and it is not IK's fault.
With extremism all around from militants on both ends, how can we have peace?
