By Agha Iqrar Haroon
The latest interview of former Prime Minister Imran Khan and statements of PTI leaders are creating confusion about what was the real reason behind voting out Imran Khan from his office. Truthfully, he was voted out when he lost a majority in the house and 174 members of the National Assembly voted against him.
Actually, he was instigating opposition for so long to move a vote of no confidence against him, taunting opposition that it had no guts and support to vote him (Imran) out of the Prime Minister’s Office. When it happened, he claimed that it is a conspiracy against Pakistan hatched by the United States because he wanted an independent foreign policy.
He came up with a theory rather than a narrative that the US wrote a threatening letter to Pakistan but his claims were rejected twice by intelligence agencies of Pakistan and the Pakistan Army categorically said that there was no conspiracy or no threatening letter to Pakistan from the United States.
Now former PTI federal Minister Shirin Mazari directly and categorically accused the chief of the Pakistan Army Gen Bajwa of having meetings with US authorities without the consent of the then Prime Minister Imran Khan. In a technical and calculated way, the PTI has bracketed Pakistan Army with the United States for hatching a conspiracy against Imran Khan.
I am sharing some of the latest self-contradictory statements of PTI leader Imran Khan and his party leaders for giving an understanding to readers that PTI tactfully creates confusion everywhere and abuses state institutions through the theory of creating confusion as a smokescreen in the political theatre.
Have a look at some of the latest statements:
- I got information in July (2021) that opposition is gathering against my government. (Imran Khan)
- Opposition tender vote of no confidence on March 8 while threatening letter came on March 7 and opposition gathered against me because I took an independent foreign policy line. (Imran Khan)
- I wanted to retain DG I because there were conspiracies against my government then DG I must have not changed. (Imran Khan)
- I want to retain DG ISI till winter due to the Afghanistan issue (Imran Khan)
- Our government was out because our relations had bitter with the Establishment (Fawad Ch)
- Our government was removed by foreign powers through opposition because Imran Khan took a stance against European powers and America (Fawad Ch)
- Imran Khan was removed by foreign powers because he said absolutely not to foreign powers (Sheikh Rasheed)
- Our government went home because we had bad relations with the establishment for some months and I tried to mend these relations (Sheikh Rasheed)
- The country is moving towards civil war if Imran Khan is not placed back in power (Fawad Ch)
- The country will face civil war if wrongdoing is not fixed and Imran is not placed back to power (Sheikh Rasheed)
- COAS Gen Qamar Bajwa over and above had a discussion with America about providing military bases in Pakistan (Sherin Mazari)
The dialectical conclusion of the above-mentioned statements is that Pakistan Army was directly or indirectly a partner with foreign forces to remove Imran Khan and former DG ISI Lt General Faiz Hameed was transferred to place a new DG who would not help Imran Khan to manage domestic political issues.
The statement of Imran Khan indicates that Lt. Gen Faiz Hameed had been instrumental in Imran’s political gains and had been operating in domestic politics to safeguard the former prime minister Imran Khan. This is the same claim and blame journalists, as well as former opposition, had been raising in past. Imran’s statement has ignited a serious debate that should a DG ISI be instrumental in the domestic political gains of the prime minister or his duty is to look after threats and challenges faced by the state of Pakistan rather than protect the political interests of an individual? I believe Imran Khan should have not politicized a serving Corps Commander for getting his political mileage. Lt Gen Faiz is holding a very sensitive position in the system and he should not have been dragged into politics by any group or individual.
I have already written that PTI is building a risky narrative that the Pakistan Army is behind the voting out of Imran Khan from his office and now directly warning Army to fix the situation or face the consequences that can be as dangerous as a civil war in the country.
According to PTI circles, former Prime minister Imran Khan has given a deadline to the establishment to forget its apolitical stand and come forward to remove the multiparty government or compel the multiparty government to announce fresh elections by June. Imran Khan wants general elections by August 2022. PTI circles are of the view if Speaker National Assembly would de-seat PTI members who have tendered their resignations then every by-election will be bloody and the state will watch the street power of PTI.
I have already mentioned that PTI followers believe that it is the only political party in the country and Imran Khan is the only leader available who can run the country and nobody on earth can touch him.
Yes, PTI followers are somehow or other rightly saying that nobody can touch Imran Khan because the former PMLN government had no guts to challenge Imran Khan or take administrative and legal actions against him when he announced a movement of disobedience in 2014 and even when he was allegedly involved in attacking parliament and the state-run PTV building.
Even no action was taken against Imran Khan when he was sitting as Prime Minister and was ridiculing Pakistan’s foreign policy and diplomats by saying that India had a sovereign foreign policy but Pakistan had not and he was making Pakistan Army responsible for US-sponsored foreign policy while criticizing Gen Musharraf and even Gen Ziaul Haq for their pro-US stance.
Tagging Pakistan Army instrumental to foreign powers is too dangerous for the future of the country and the PTI is excellent at building narratives and had been portraying people as thieves, dishonest, and traitors successfully by creating a situation of “approximate Truth”. I fear PTI is already on the way to defaming Pakistan Army through its time-tested propaganda tools.
Any communication can be broken into three parts: the sender, the message, and the audience. The best propaganda takes place when the audience must not only get the message but must interpret the message in the way the sender has intended.
PTI propagandists create syllogism that is logically True but Factually not true. PTI propagandists use proximate Truth to tag person A as a “traitor” because this is impossible for a “traitor” to justify that he is not.
I believe that PTI propagandists tactfully use Deductive Reasoning to reach a logical true conclusion of their own choice in the process of developing Approximate Truth because through this lethal technique their given Approximate Truth is testified through a logical process.
Deductive reasoning, or deduction, starts out with a general statement, or hypothesis, and examines the possibilities to reach a specific, logical conclusion— Syllogism. Unfortunately to say several veterans are helping PTI to build a narrative against Pakistan Army. This is too dangerous that veterans whose image was built as “right persons” by the state in media are now grabbing the neck of the State.
The PTI’s stiff head-on collision with state institutions is working well as it is still enjoying amnesty and this situation gives birth to a new political philosophy and provides a new survival kit for radical political minds.
Political observers now believe that a radical political party can not only survive rather can flourish politically by threatening the state with civil war if the party is backed by strong strata of society from urban posh areas like Lalik Chowk, Defence Housing societies, Bharia towns, and cantonment areas.
To my understanding, the PTI is dragging the country not only to anarchy but rather introducing the concept that in a country with having a population of 220 million, but a political party can also gather one percent of the total population then will it drive and subjugate state institutions.
What message State is sending to citizens by keeping quiet over the threats of Fawad Ch and Sheikh Rasheed and many more that there will be bloodshed and civil war if ever States would try to try the former Prime Minister according to State law?
If the state will remain silent then the message would be “the system fed the dragon that is now eating the system”.
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.
