Despite nationwide unflinching support among millions of young citizens, expatriate Pakistanis and albeit the blessing of the military hawks of Rawalpindi, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan had to bow down to a decision of the National Assembly ‘no-trust’ vote had to return to the pavilion.
Following the parliament’s no-confidence vote, the Express Tribune in a screaming headline writes“Back to the Pavilion” and The News International headline says “Imran Cleaned Bowled”. The vibrant media in Pakistan were able to read the pulse of the citizenry.
The flamboyant cricketstar, Khan shot up as a ‘game changer’ politician andwas elected in 2018 was ousted after he committed a series of mistakes to implement his electoral promises.
What was most humiliating was that the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf(PTI), a minoritypartyenjoyed a stint ofa four-yearsterm. The coalition which held PTI in power, suddenly the soil under their feet began to tremble and suddenly abandoned the charismatic leader.
Khan for the first time in Pakistan extensively used social media and public songs to allure the new generation– and they swallowed his ‘Naya Pakistan’ bitter pills.
Political columnist Prof Pervez Hoodbhoy writes in Pakistan’s leading premier newspaper the Dawn that “for his devotees, he is the only honest and sincere politician in Pakistan and must be followed.”
Political observers noted that he miserably failed the nation. The corruption vines in bureaucracy, law enforcement agencies, judiciary and utility services caused widespread resentment among the general public.
His ‘Naya Pakistan’ electoral pledge included that corruption would end in 90 days; the national treasury would overflow with milk and honey,once the ‘looted dollars’ stashed by political rivals in clandestine overseas banks would be returned.
During Khan’s tenure, Pakistan could not escape the trouble with ‘Anti-Terror Funding’ of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) which grey listed the country for years to come.
Some observers believe his merry-go-round with the military hawks soured when the army chief General Qamar JavedBajwa defended Khan’s visit to Moscow on the brink of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, but he did not hesitate to state that the invasion “must be stopped immediately”.
On the other hand, the Rawalpindi GHQ did not appreciate extending political support to Russia. Traditionally Pakistan’s military since 1948 has been tilted towards America for defence training, deployment for peacekeeping and military hardware. Pakistan has been atime-tested friendin the “War On Terror” during the US-led invasion of Afghanistan.
Pentagon has always overlooked the rampant corruption and abuse of power by the Pakistan military. In fact, Washington often rebuked Islamabad for failing in deleting -both covert and open relationships with Islamic terror networks and providing a safehaven to jihadist leaders.
Pakistan’s spy agency has been blamed for facilitating money laundering and terrorfinancing, especiallythe several terror outfits fighting the jihad war in Indian administered Kashmir,and deems India, Israel and the United States as enemies of Islam.
No political government dared to hold the military hawks accountable for abuse of power and interference in civil and political affairs.
Manypredicted that Khan’s tenure was numbered. As Aljazeeraexplains that last Octobera simmering civil-military tensions exploded when Khan tried to retain Lieutenant-General Faiz Hameed as the chief of the dreaded spy agency ISI, rejecting the nominee of General Bajwa.
Eventually,Bajwa’s nominee, Lieutenant-General Nadeem Anjum, was appointed as the new director-general of Inter-Services Intelligence, but the month-long standoff was very ominous.
Meanwhile, General Bajwa’s second term as army chief will come to an end in November and he decided not to piggyback Khan in power till the scheduled elections in October 2023. The reason for dumping Khan was deliberately to avoid a row over the new army chief’s replacement of General Hameed.
The simmering civil-military relations further surfaced when Rawalpindi scuttled Islamabad’s attempt to restore trade and commerce with its rival India. Thus he fell off the grace of military hawks.
Well, his cult sympathisers will be out to create chaos in the weeks and months ahead, which “can be long-lived and deadly dangerous,” predicts Pervez Hoodbhoy, an outspoken critic of the former cricketer.
TheDawn newspaper in an editorial writes that the former prime minister (Imran Khan) will be remembered for his follies and not for his “successful handling of the Covid pandemic, the multifaceted ‘Ehsaas’ programme and a new public health insurance scheme made a positive difference in many citizens’ lives.”
Saleem Samad, is an independent journalist, media rights defender, recipient of Ashoka Fellowship and Hellman-Hammett Award. He could be reached at <saleemsamad@hotmail.com>; Twitter @saleemsamad
