Former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan was replaced on Saturday, Dec 2, 2023, as head of the party PTI he had founded in 1996.
Khan was locked up in August this year and has been awaiting trial in several cases. He also faces among others a charge including an allegation of "leaking state documents".
Imran Khan (till he was in office) readily became 'captive' of the cantonment shenanigans, but once differences emerged, he was opted out of office and also later put behind bars. It's true Khan's exit as Pakistan Prime Minister was a messy affair and followed a typpical un-cricket-like approach.
Well, as you rise, so shall you fall, one has heard !
One must have heard such a maxim with some variations here and there. Imran Khan had promised the moon to Pakistanis. The helpless citizenry believed him. But the fact of the matter is Pakistan's "Prime Minister till midnight of April 9, 2022" had banked and exploited a lot of his cricket field image and the making of a cancer hospital.
"Imran Khan worked relentlessly for decades at self-promotion. His growing cult swallowed story after story: corruption would end in 90 days; the national treasury would overflow ....and never again, would Pakistan see the dirty politics of horse-trading," said a piece in the 'Dawn' newspaper. But all that had failed.
Imran even could not ensure a cordial and formal bilateral relationship with India despite being a popular 'cult'-like figure among thousands of cricket fans in both countries. Some Foreign Ministry officials in Delhi did not mind confessing that a few of them grew up trying to emulate Khan's bowling gestures. Others preferred Kapil Dev but there was no dearth of Khan's popularity.
He had promised a 'Naya Pakistan' and at its best, it remained a mirage.
Imran Khan trying to exploit his popularity from cricket launched the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party in 1996 but failed to win a single seat in an election the next year.
But in subsequent period he grew close to cantonment and also could emerge as the leader of the biggest bloc in the National Assembly following the 2018 vote. He became Prime Minister and as they say, the rest is history.
How 'elections' within PTI began?
The ECP had on Nov 23 annulled the PTI’s intra-party polls held in June last year, terming them “highly objectionable”.
The commission gave the former ruling party 20 days to hold afresh election, if it did not want to lose its electoral symbol — cricket bat.
“In case, the respondent party failed to…hold its intra-party election within the prescribed 20 days which will run from today [Thursday], the date on which this order is announced, in such eventuality the respondent will suffer the penal consequences of Section 215(5) of Elections Act, 2017 accordingly and would be ineligible to obtain an election symbol for election to Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament),” reads the ECP order.
The order came at a time when general elections are about two months away and political parties are ratcheting up their poll campaigns across the country.
The PTI, however, has complained about an uneven playing field and termed the ECP’s ruling an attempt to keep Imran Khan and his party away from polls.
No less than Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi once lamented the "failure" of Khan.
In fact, on February 23, 2019, at Tonk in Rajasthan, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had dared his Pakistani counterpart (Imran) to stick to his own words as a 'Pathan' and dedicate all efforts to fighting poverty and illiteracy in the two countries.
"Aaj Pakistan ke pradhan mantri ke shabdoan ko kasauti pe kasne ki jarurat hai... (Time has come for him to prove his own words) Let me see whether he can prove to be truthful to his own words," Modi had said addressing a rally.
Recalling his first phone conversation with Khan after his poll victory in 2018, he said: "I had told him you are from the world of sports... Come let India and Pakistan get their act together and fight poverty and illiteracy."
"In response, he had told me that he (Imran) is a son of a Pathan and he will always speak the truth and also do things in the right manner... Thus time has come for him to prove his own words," Modi said amid escalated tension between two neighbours in the wake of the Pulwama attack. But all those talks came into a cropper.
Khan had failed to host the SAARC Summit and so his last-minute batting during the slog over trying to applaud India's "foreign policy" does not make much sense.
Refer an old blog, had written this for IANS :: April 17, 2022
Scratch beneath the surface, and we will discover many things new. This is often
a misnomer in politics and in diplomacy.
Come what may, whatever cricket icon Imran Khan tries to sell; not many people
in Pakistan believe in the theory that the US tried to oust his dispensation.
The Americans hardly need to overthrow any government in Islamabad.
The truth of the matter is that most rulers in Pakistan have preferred closer ties with the US.
Hence, it may not be erroneous to say that the Islamabad-Washington relationship over the years
was just led or decided by America’s needs; it was actually driven in equal measure by Pakistan’s needs too.
Of course, there is merit in putting forth the argument that the Americans have always preferred a
certain kind of government in Pakistan including the military regimes to serve its own security and
strategic interests.
But not all the time it had played any role in installing a regime. Ziaul Haq became a chosen
star for the west but only after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. So geopolitics dragged Zia
closer into Washington's lap; not any diplomatic mission of Americans.
In fact, Zia was in power before the Afghan 'jihad'. On the contrary Zia had almost a pariah status
because of the 1977 coup and the execution of an elected prime minister Z A Bhutto.
Pakistan was also sanctioned by Americans in 1979 and then Zia was in office.
But Imran preferred to play the populism card. This helped him come up the ladder in politics and
of course challenge two established political dynasties. But his ultimate electoral success came when
army backed him.
In Pakistan, however, foreign conspiracy theories are a staple diet.
"The Pakistanis revel in conspiracy theories, and the US is the favourite villain," says a former Pak foreign
secretary Riaz Mohammad Khan.
It is also given out so that the threat-cable owes its origin to a lunch party hosted by Pakistan's ambassador
in the US. This only weakens Imran's claims. Serious diplomacy do not happen during these occasions.
But like any democracy with all its weaknesses, Pakistan too has a few set of jokers - often confusing
them to be as shakers and movers. One person has been Shah Mahmaood Qureshi, Imran's foreign
minister.
Now what has been explained in more ways than one is that it was a routine cable written by the
then ambassador to the US, Asad Majeed, detailing a meeting with an American official.
The American reportedly used 'tough language'. And Imran was later convinced that
the cable could be used to stitch together "a Zulfikar Bhutto-type nationalist narrative".
A section of Indian experts too believed that Imran has fought the initial rounds like
the illustrious Bhutto.
The worst part of the story is that Imran Khan accepted such advice.
The only minister in the Imran cabinet who had 'access to the cable' was the foreign minister Qureshi.
He had a small notoriety episode in Delhi in 2008 when Mumbai was attacked by Pak-inspired terrorists.
The next day he had come to address 'women journalists' in Delhi and only at the virtual scolding of the then
External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee that he and the rest of the Pakistani delegation quickly left India.
Elements in Pakistan did not stop at that; one theory was circulated that Pranab Mukherjee had 'threatened'
the then Pak President Asif Zardari. Explaining his response in Lok Sabha, Pranab Mukherjee had said -
"diplomatic talks and phone calls are structured....it is not that India's foreign minister can pick up
phone and directly call up the Pakistan President".
Qureshi is of that calibre and hence poor luck Imran !
On April 9, 2022, during the crucial debate on No Confidence Motion against Imran Khan government,
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said - "I had warned the Prime Minister (Imran) long ago to be wary and careful about the
person who spoke before me (Qureshi) that he would get Imran Khan trapped....and Usi ne phasaya (and he has done so)".
"Qureshi not only went along with this cooked-up theory, he peddled it vociferously while all the time knowing (how could he not?) that not only was he fanning a concoction, but was doing so at the risk of great damage to Pakistan’s diplomacy and national interest," wrote journalist Fahd Hussain in 'Dawn'.
It is not my case to suggest that the Americans have given up the interference games in other countries.
As a superpower, or to prove itself so - it has to do things fingering businesses here and there.
But in the case of Pakistan, president Ayub Khan had first 'challenged American interests' in South Asia by opening up to China.
Ayub Khan fell further from the US estimation after the 1965 war adventure against India.
But he continued to rule for another four years. Yahya Khan was disregarded until he helped set up the US-China rendezvous.
Even Zulfikar Bhutto had tried his hands at rumour mongering and playing up people's passions.
He had claimed 'secret clauses' in the Tashkent accords which were never there.
In 1999 and 2000, a lot was stated that Gen Pervez Musharraf remained 'isolated' despite Bill Clinton making a one day visit after his quite engaging trip to India under Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
The US inched closer to Musharraf only after 9/11 and the Pakistani military ruler was forced to make detailed national broadcasts announcing major changes in its foreign and strategic policies especially towards Taliban.
And it ought to be remembered that the US re-engagement with Pakistan continued well beyond Musharraf.
In a hard-hitting piece, the 'Wall Street Journal' also says - "In a self-destructive move, Prime Minister Imran Khan made a mockery of Pakistan’s democratic process when he claimed that a foreign conspiracy against him was under way".
In the ultimate analysis, Imran lost the backing of the army, and this along with
his political arrogance and poor governance had cemented ties between eight opposition parties including two old rivals PPP and PML(N). The US meddling hardly was in the scene.
The truth is that Imran Khan blamed foreign forces when he actually
had lost a domestic political battle.
Sidhu-Imran -- Dildar episode bombed !!
Capt Amarinder Singh has unhesitatingly called Navjot Singh Sidhu – a pro-Imran Khan if not pro-Pakistan especially for the embrace of General Javed Bajwa.
Interesting part is there was later an attempt to explain that the ‘embrace’ was a symbol of mutual admiration and expectations about the Kartarpur Corridor.
Now, the Kartarpur Corridor too has a story for Imran Khan and the Pakistan government. The November 9th, 2019 was slated for the inauguration. Things were planned accordingly, and Pakistan had presumed to project the day as their ‘tolerance’ day – for the global media - as a country which throws up equal opportunities to religious minorities.
The hurdle came around 2000 hours on Nov 8, 2019 when it was announced that the Supreme Court of India would deliver the verdict on the Ayodhya dispute between Muslims and Hindus. Obviously, the next day’s entire media attention in India, in Asia, in Pakistan and also in the rest of the world was the then Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi-led bench’s orders.
Pakistan lost it out badly in the ‘publicity’ blitzkrieg it had thought.
Worse, they did not know whom to blame – Narendra Modi, India’s RAW, Justice Gogoi or Lord Ram himself.
But they have had their eyes in Punjab and ‘reviving’ of troubles do suit them or their agenda.
This makes India’s elections in Punjab and politics in Punjab more than critical.
ends
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