In one of my blogs, ‘Let Pakistan Live Long’, published on 23 June 2019, I predicted some horrible incidents that I believed would certainly happen in Pakistan sooner or later but before the end of Imran’s government. Read some excerpts:
‘Imran’s insipience has made it easy for it (the Establishment) to engrave its fate and become the unchallenged, all-powerful ruler of Pakistan. This it could not do with Zardari who is shrewd enough to counter its designs. Nor could it do this with Nawaz as he is, by nature, arrogant and authoritative. Moreover, as he was grown up in the lap of Zia ul Haq, he knows what tactics establishment can play and to what extent it can go to achieve its goal. In Imran it found a dim-witted and morally degraded person who can be used in any way without any fear of revolt. Imran knows that disobedience will not only deprive him of his present position but also made him naked before the people because of his moral turpitude of which establishment has ample proof.
………..Others who are known corrupt and against whom many cases are sub judice but who found shelter under the umbrella of PTI have become angels. Why? Because they were ‘electables’ and the establishment wanted Imran Khan to be elected as PM at any cost. So the devils-turned-angels were exonerated from all charges and accusations. Will they be excused and spared once and for all? Never. Once the establishment achieves its goal, all ‘angels’ will again be declared ‘devils’ and either be slain or put behind the bars. And that time is not far away as Imran Khan is being made to make mistakes rather blunders. Skyrocketing prices of the daily commodities and the unreasonable increase in taxes will soon lay Imran Khan in the coffin.’
Time has come fast for the Establishment to lay Imran Khan in the coffin and ‘to engrave its fate and become the unchallenged, all-powerful ruler of Pakistan.’ What did the Establishment do to achieve its goal? Its lust for power was evident from the first day of independence when Ayub Khan neglected Quaid e Azam who did not like his too much interest in politics. Later, all Chiefs of Army Staff followed suit and neglected their oath in which they had promised that they would never take part in any kind of politics and focus on their primary duty i.e., defence of Pakistan. The result was that they lost wars against India twice; could not save Pakistan from being divided into Pakistan and Bangladesh; started lucrative businesses and became tycoons; created hatred for the politicians in the hearts of the people so that they might snatch their (politicians’) right to form civilian govt. and seized power again and again through coups d'état. They lost Kashmir and sat idle when India merged Occupied Kashmir with India with all its courage and strong diplomacy. Even then their conscience did not awake. Now they have become smart enough to handle politics in a new way. Instead of taking part in politics directly they chose to get elected a man whose lust for power and unbridled ambition for becoming the Prime Minister of Pakistan had crossed all moral limits, and hid behind him to continue all their atrocious activities.
Imran Khan was their easy prey. Nawaz Sharif had grown politically ‘adult’. After getting humiliated in the hands of the Generals for so many years, he had now understood the real intention of the Establishment. So, when he became the Prime Minister of Pakistan for the third time, he refused to stoop to the surrogate rulers i.e. the Establishment. He did not allow the Establishment to create a state of their own choice within the State of Pakistan. His refusal to act as their subordinate or just a puppet angered the Establishment. It started manoeuvring against him to throw him out of the political arena. Panama Leaks became their strong weapon which they used so skilfully with the help of the media and the courts that Nawaz Sharif was left no choice but to step down. Imran Khan did all that he could do to ingratiate himself with the Establishment.
Elections held and Imran Khan was brought forward as a shield behind which they could play their game easily and without any hindrance. Imran Khan had enjoyed his power and position only for a few weeks, when he found that he had been entrapped. He was now helpless and in spite of all his honesty and charisma he was bound to obey the masters who brought him into power. The Establishment had already got rid of Zardari and Nawaz Sharif whom it had left no stone unturned to prove traitor, corrupt and morally degraded. Now the only person who could challenge its authority was Imran Khan. But IK, in the words of Karl Marx, was ‘lured by the fury of ambition’ and his thirst for power made him so weak that he put aside all his honour, promises and integrity and silently followed every advice coming from the Establishment. He started digging his own grave. This was what the Establishment wanted him to do. He lost all his popularity and stood in the same line where they had already made Zardari and Nawaz stand silent and slaughtered. It made him take unpopular and stupid decisions like:
• Neglecting his own party members he inducted in his cabinet such persons as had no interest in Pakistan. They were living abroad. Most of them were protecting the interests of foreign agencies and banks that wanted either to recover their loans from Pakistan are to give more loans so as to be able to interfere in Pakistan’s internal matters and thus putting its sovereignty in danger. They made economic policies that brutally shattered the promises that Imran Khan had made with the poor people of Pakistan before the elections.
• The prices of the commodities of daily use such as vegetables, fruits, pulses, meat and flour spiked so high that it became almost impossible for the people to fill their belly even once in a day.
• On the one hand, the income of the common man was decreased by unprecedented inflation, and on the other hand he was forced to pay taxes on everything that he buys. The gap between the income of the common man and his expenditures became so wide that it pushed millions of people below the poverty line.
• The prices of petrol, gas, electricity and medicines were increased many times during the past two years. This was considered a savage act of Imran Khan who pushed the poor people, contrary to his promises, into the quagmire of abject poverty. They lost all hope in Imran and gradually turned against him.
• Imran Khan was presented as a pig-headed leader full of vengeance and mean moral mores. He was left no time to pay attention to the development and progress of the country so that he might fulfil his promises he had made with the people. Instead, he was kept busy in vilifying and slandering opposition leaders. Thus the Establishment succeeded in pushing its main rivals, Nawaz and Zardari, to the wall taking advantage of Imran Khan’s lack of political sense. The Establishment killed three birds with one stone. Imran Khan’s picture became more bleak and disgusting.
• While people were bearing the brunt of their blind support to Imran Khan, flour and sugar mafias started reaping advantages by smuggling these most basic necessities of our people. They heaped up billions of rupees depriving the poor masses of their daily bread. The main culprit who was considered the right hand of Imran Khan was allowed to escape to London and all inquiries against him and his gang were thrown into dustbins. The Establishment might not be a part of this inhuman act of Imran Khan’s clique, but its silence proved that it was happy to see Imran’s close friends digging grave for Imran.
• Much more can be cited as bitter facts to prove that bringing Imran Khan to power and then making him humiliatingly infamous was a well-planned conspiracy to enter the power corridor once and for all. As we have analysed before that out of the three major parties i.e. Pakistan Peoples’ Party, Pakistan Muslim League N and Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf,
first two were viciously and unjustly threw out of power politics and the third party, PTI, was brought in defying all democratic norms. It was not because boots and guns love Imran Khan but because they wanted to prove that not a single politician is brainy enough to run the government successfully. The only choice left is, thus, the Establishment.
Soon we will hear the voice of some General addressing his dear countrymen and telling them that all three major political parties and their leaders have proved themselves dishonest, incapable and corrupt. So ‘at this time of trial’ Pak Army cannot neglect its sacred duty of protecting Pakistan from internal and external threats. For this, it has to hold the rein of power for an unspecified period.
Hoping against hope, I welcome Pak Army to the Presidency with my earnest appeal: please don’t try to be Ayub Khan or Yahya Khan or Zia ul Haq or even Mushraf; be an Atta Turk and save Pakistan.