By Mati Ullah Khan
Finally, we have proudly rectified ourselves, believing that the United States has always been an upright and diplomatic in its relations with rest of the world especially Pakistan. It would have never occurred if Prime Minister Imran Khan didn’t resort to demean the ‘respectable’ United States as part of his nefarious design to gain domestic support against ‘esteemed and democratic opposition parties’. In a bid to avert his almost ‘confirmed’ ouster from the Office as the opposition has secured the required numbers against him in the ‘Very Constitutional’ No-Trust Motion, Imran Khan has deliberately hoodwinked the people by vilifying the opposition’s ‘democratic move’ terming it a ‘International Conspiracy’ hatched by the US along with its abettors sitting in Pakistan. How ‘shameless’ and ‘pathetic’ he has been, as for his survival he not only enraged Pakistan’s all-time loyalist friend – the US – but also attempted to malign our ‘democratic’ opposition parties.
Realizing that our ‘establishment’ had committed a blunder in 2018 general elections, the opposition parties initiated untiring efforts to kick Imran Khan out of power soon after he ‘undemocratically’ usurped the power. The opposition parties had foreseen the future and knew that Imran Khan as the Prime Minister of Pakistan would be detrimental for the Country and a ‘shame’ diplomatically. So a drive was kicked off featuring sit-in, jalsa, long-marches, and building an anti-Imran Khan narrative on media. In between, they also offered to sacrifice National Assembly Memberships by tendering resignations but eventually refrained from that. Suddenly, a few months ago they realized that with a very thin majority, Imran Khan’s regime can easily be toppled if they split up PTI’s disgruntled lawmakers and allies. Initially, the dissident group of the ruling party parted away, establishing the solid basis for convincing PTI’s allies that Imran Khan’s government had turned further fragile and was unable to survive. When initially endeavors didn’t yield positive results, allied parties were directly offered as much as the opposition could to win their support. Thus, the opposition succeeded and now according to them, the departure of Imran Khan is written on the wall. It’s worth noting that the all allegations of horse-trading, Changa Manga Part II in Sindh House and buying the conscience of defectors leveled by the PTI leadership were ‘false’ and in fact everything was exercised ‘within the ambit of the Constitution’.
But the dilemma is that the power-hungry Imran Khan went on to commit something which is unprecedented and extremely embarrassing for Pakistan. No one can imagine that how the diplomatic cadre of Pakistan is feeling right now, how much ashamed and dismayed they are. In a public gathering in Islamabad on March 27, 2022, Prime Minister Imran Khan hurled ‘unwarranted’ allegations against the United States and waved a letter, saying that it was conspiring to topple his government. Our ‘democratic’ opposition parties and ‘champions of democracy’ in media abruptly denied Imran Khan’s accusations, and said that no such letter existed. Even one ‘credible’ and ‘senior’ journalist announced to quit journalism if the said letter was authentic. In the following days, a series of queries began pouring in from the opposition and journalists that why Imran Khan took three weeks to show the letter etc etc. Another ‘credible’ and ‘senior’ journalist asked that if the US was involved in conspiracy against Imran Khan, why was the US top official summoned to witness the Pakistan Day Parade? self-assuming that as Pakistan had suspended its diplomatic ties with the US. The opposition and media persons earlier demanded Imran Khan to bring the issue before the Parliamentary Committee and the National Security Council (NSC); though later they themselves refused to attend any hearing/briefing on the letter.
As per the strong demand of the opposition and media persons, Prime Minister Imran Khan conveyed the National Security Committee (NSC) on March 31, 2022 to review the threat letter/document; although he had already shared it with his Cabinet Members and the top military brass. Vindicating Imran Khan’s assertion that the letter/document was authentic and carried out the conversations encompassing the No-Trust Motion against him, the NSC without naming the offending Country expressed grave concern at the undiplomatic language used in the document, termed it blatant interference in the internal affairs of Pakistan, and decided to issue a strong demarche to the offender. However, the White House Communications Director Kate Bedingfield and the US State Department Spokesperson Ned Price rejected Prime Minister Imran Khan’s allegations.
It’s not the first time that an elected Prime Minister Imran Khan has accused the foreign powers for hatching a conspiracy against him to end his regime. The PPP’s founder Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto was the first one who propagated the same narrative. He used to explicate the OIC Conference, Pakistan’s nuclear program, pro-Arab and Russia-tilted foreign policy as the reasons for the US to stand against him. It has been imprinted in people’s minds that all military dictatorships in Pakistan were in fact the US puppet regimes and General Zia Ul Haq hanged Bhutto at the behest of the US government. Recently, the former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif drew even more interesting scenario behind his removal from the power. Soon after the Panama papers surfaced, Nawaz Sharif alleged that he fell prey to a foreign conspiracy hatched against him for launching China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). But after his disqualification by the Supreme Court of Pakistan, he launched a ‘Mujhay Kyun Nikala’ campaign, and openly lambasted the Supreme Court judges for having a prejudice against him. Later, he began to directly slam the establishment for his ouster. Even in late 1980s, Benazir Bhutto also accused Nawaz Sharif of taking a hefty amount from Osama Bin Laden – who for some analysts was a CIA agent – to topple her government.
So from ZA Bhutto to Imran Khan, all Pakistani elected leaders must seek an unconditional apology from the United States for levelling baseless allegations against it. But a huge problem lies here – for our ‘democratic’ opposition and ‘champions of democracy’ in the media industry – the US has been found truthful, diplomatic and impeccable for the first time. Prior to Imran Khan, all accusations against the United States were based on facts and the US was a usurper Country – from Afghanistan to the Middle East, all Regime Changes were a testimonial of the fact. But now Prime Minister Imran Khan is lying and bent up desecrating the US. According to his staunch critics in media, he is instigating the people against the US to bag their sympathy, and it would ultimately cause irreparable loss to Pakistan’s economy in the future. Even they are not ready to believe that it’s the National Security Committee which has also termed the US act as offensive, undiplomatic and an interference in Pakistan’s internal affairs. But for them, it was Prime Minister Imran Khan who was undiplomatic in his approach and whatever the White House is saying in its defence is justified and factual.
Though, Imran Khan’s position in the Parliament is bleak now and hatred & prejudice for him among a section of media is on the rise but the common people in Pakistan are believing in Imran Khan as they are thronging to all his public gatherings and voting him in local government elections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa – and that’s the real democracy.
In the end, I need to put forward a few queries for the opposition and their sympathizers in media;
- How can the opposition deny US’s involvement in Pakistan’s internal affairs when Washington has a history of causing Regime Change?
- How can the opposition brush aside the US’s interest in removing Prime Imran Khan when his relations with the US President Joe Biden has been sour since the beginning?
- What makes them believe that the US won’t react after Imran Khan’s Absolutely Not stance, excuse to attend US-hosted Democracy Summit, visit to Russia, and refusal to condemn the Russian aggression in Ukraine?
- Why the opposition took three years to table the No-Confidence Motion against Imran Khan, knowing that the former had a thin majority from the beginning?
- Is it a coincidence that the opposition turned so desperate to topple Imran Khan’s government after ‘Absolutely Not’?
- What made the PDM Chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman say ‘Khazan Jae Bahar Aye Na Aye’?
- What has triggered the opposition now to reach to any extent to overthrow Imran Khan’s regime by even offering Punjab Chief Ministership to PML-Q and PTI’s Aleem Khan?
- If the US wasn’t concerned with Pakistani politics, why the opposition leaders felt anguish and uttered back to back statements in favour of the US against Imran Khan?
- Is it a coincidence that the PML-N leaders Shahbaz Sharif & Maryam Nawaz held separate meetings with the US Charge d’ Affairs to Pakistan Angela Aggeler in October 2021 while the PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari also met her in September 2021, and just a few months later they announced to bring the No-Confidence Motion against Prime Minister Imran Khan?
- In the intimidating document which authenticity has been vindicated by the NSC, why the US Officials said that if Imran Khan is removed, all would be well without mentioning that the future Pakistani leadership’s behavior would also be under observation to determine Pakistan-US ties. Is it a coincidence that the opposition leaders never speak against the US and since Imran Khan-US tension rose, they have always backed Washington?
- Why the opposition retreated and against their own demand decided not to attend the Parliamentary Committee meeting?
- Now do the opposition and their sympathizers in media fraternity also believe that Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto’s allegations against the US for dislodging his government and Nawaz Sharif lamenting that Panama leaks was an international conspiracy against him to ruin him for standing by China in CPEC were false?
- If nothing was wrong in Bhutto’s act of waving a foreign letter in Rawalpindi jalsa and tearing Bangladesh resolution or his own notes at UN General Assembly, then how Imran Khan’s act was undiplomatic or uncharacteristic?
- Why is it so that when Imran Khan took over in 2018, the opposition alleged that it was the establishment behind him but never presented any evidence to vindicate their allegations but whenever they return to power, it’s purely democratic and legitimate?
Note: The writer Mati Ullah Khan has been working as the News Editor for Dispatch News Desk (DND) news agency since 2012. He did his Masters in International Relations (IR) from International Islamic University Islamabad (IIUI). He can be reached at matiullah.pk@gmail.com.
Disclaimer:
The views and opinions expressed in this article/Opinion/Comment are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the DND Thought Center and Dispatch News Desk (DND). Assumptions made within the analysis are not reflective of the position of the DND Thought Center and Dispatch News Desk News Agency.
