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Tuesday March 19, 2024

The phoenix shall rise

By Raoof Hasan
April 01, 2022

The persistent denial of his stellar achievements on the one hand, and demonising his will, capacity, honesty, sincerity and an ingrained potential to change the course of history on the other hand make for a sinister combination which has pursued Imran Khan most of his life in things he attempted to do. Being the prime minister of Pakistan has been no different.

Having trampled upon the mafias’ widespread financial and political empires, this phase has elicited the most venomous reaction from a string of players arrayed right across the national spectrum. As predicted a long time ago by none other than Khan himself, these evil forces have now joined hands in the singular task of ousting him from power and restarting their factories of crime and corruption, only with increased greed and ferocity. The chessboard is laid out and a gruesome game of trading in parliamentarians’ souls is being played out in full view of the people.

There is another factor which makes the current battle even more significant than all the previous ones that he has fought and won. This time around, it is not just the visible adversaries that he is contending with. These local players are being supported by international interests with money and propaganda tools to hasten his fall. It is this factor which makes the game so much more daunting and so much more substantive for safeguarding the sovereignty and security of the state which, if left at the mercy of the traditional mafias so desperate to sneak back into power, will be grossly dented, compromised, even forfeited.

There are many grave mistakes that Khan’s adversaries made in their current bid to outwit him. They misread his political acumen and underestimated his growing popularity among the people he cares about. When the propaganda against him was at its peak, instead of engaging in the usual crass intrigues, he opted to connect with his people who provide him not only with his support base, but also the will and energy to fight. They did not disappoint him. From one public meeting to the next, huge crowds were in attendance to listen to him.

There was one marked difference though: they were more charged than ever before. This quelled the propaganda that, because of the rising inflation, he had lost his support base. In this hour when their leader was being challenged by local and foreign thugs, all their personal grievances were forgotten. What mattered for them was to reiterate their absolute faith not only in Imran Khan as their leader at this hour but, notwithstanding the adversities and challenges of the times, he would remain so in the future also.

When the call for ‘Amar bil Maroof’ went out urging people to gather in Islamabad on March 27, what a crowd it turned out to be! There was an unending sea of people as far as eyes could behold. And there were so many more of them who could not make it to the venue because of the excessive rush of caravans. Bubbling with passion, they were there because they trusted the person who stood before them.

Khan talked to them from his heart. He spoke about the myriad achievements of his government which remain couched in false propaganda unleashed by the opposition and their anointed ones in the media industry. He spoke about how he would bring relief to people who needed it the most. He dilated on the conspiracy unfolding with the facilitation of foreign hands by using their local ploys to destabilise his government. He accused the opposition of having hatched the plot with the support and financial assistance of powers which did not want to see Pakistan gain genuine sovereignty and exercise its freedom for its own advancement.

He challenged his adversaries to try as hard as they may, but he would not give in. He did not care about his life, but he would not let his people be enslaved by inimical interests with the help of local mercenaries masquerading as political leaders.

He also spoke of a letter relating to the tabling of the vote of no-confidence (VONC) against his government. Scripted before the date of moving the VONC, it was directly linked with it. The letter also spoke of dangerous consequences for the country if Imran Khan was not removed. The conspiracy was hatched outside. The funding was provided from outside. Local political thugs were hired as paid pawns to execute the project.

The contents of the letter have since been shared with the cabinet and a group of journalists. It had earlier been shared with the military high command. The government also plans to bring the letter before parliament in an in-camera session. It has also been offered that the letter could be shown to the chief justice of Pakistan to verify its contents.

Notwithstanding the numbers game, this VONC is irremediably infested with two grave maladies: one, it is foreign-inspired and foreign-funded which is rooted in blocking Pakistan from pursuing an independent foreign policy that would serve its inherent interests and, two, it is being executed on the basis of purchasing parliamentarians’ souls through inducements, both of the cash and kind varieties.

On the basis of the first, and because of the threat of “dangerous consequences” for Pakistan contained in the letter, the VONC would be construed as contrary to the security interests of the state as the move is inspired by forces which are inimical to its cardinal interests and, on the basis of the second, the move is in violation of the letter and spirit of democracy and constitution. The Supreme Court is already hearing arguments in the context of the presidential reference asking it to interpret Article 63A whereby a member can be disqualified if he or she votes against the directions of the head of the parliamentary party. So, in the present context, the VONC is devoid of both legality and morality which are integral in defining and establishing the credibility of the governing edifice.

As for the future, the support base that Imran Khan always had, and which he has enhanced manifold through the last few weeks, will pave the way for a mammoth victory in the next elections with a likely two-thirds majority and an unambiguous mandate to help change the current system that perpetuates power in the hands of the beneficiary mafias. If Pakistan is to prosper, this stranglehold has to be dismantled.

The opposition may regret it, but Pakistan appears to be gradually inching towards the cusp of a monumental change that will see the end of the hold of criminal mafias which has rendered the country vulnerable before the forces of exploitation.

The writer is the special assistant to the PM on information, a political and security strategist, and the founder of the Regional Peace Institute. He tweets @RaoofHasan