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Tuesday March 19, 2024

The shadows of neo-imperialism

By Raoof Hasan
May 13, 2022

There could be multiple projections about where a foreign-instigated and locally collaborated mess that Pakistan is engulfed in today is likely to lead us, but there could be little doubt about the reality of what has caused this and the actors who contributed to bringing it to this pass. It makes for an awfully humiliating and painful story. Though never a secret, a key factor of the downfall relates to how successive leaderships bartered away the sovereignty of the state in exchange for securing their illicit assets stashed in foreign lands which were accumulated through gross misuse of their positions in power.

Pakistan’s subservience to American interests has been a subject debated often at public platforms, think-tank gatherings, television talk shows and countless volumes authored by those who occupied key positions in their respective countries. Despite suffering enormous losses and enduring substantive setbacks, the subject was never debated as thoroughly as it has been in the last few months. Instead of acknowledging the sordid reality and engaging in a productive debate to craft remedial measures, erase the stigma of the past and chisel a course that would guard Pakistan’s freedom and sovereignty in the future, the ones adorning the criminal ruling concoction would prefer to live in denial, wearing proudly the medal of infamy. They have gone a step further: they have launched a vicious campaign to further strangulate the shackles of servitude to the US hegemony. Ironically, the principal target of this vituperative campaign is the person who is spearheading the movement for resurrecting Pakistan in the image of its foundational principles and ethos.

Imran Khan’s ascent to power had disturbed the deeply embedded traditional beneficiary elite who thought that ruling this country was their and their progeny’s exclusive right. Khan was an outsider who they thought would knuckle under their pressure. But, instead of that, when Khan tried to uproot the mafias and hold them to account for the merciless spree of loot and plunder they had perpetrated upon the country, he was subjected to a scathing and venomous campaign to tarnish his character and damage his integrity. But their surprise knew no limits when, instead of caving in, he fought back with verve, vigour and conviction. The parties of the opposition were only used to a friendly banter, not a dug-in encounter. The fact that he did not have stacks of files containing mega-tonnes of incriminating materials on him made his political opponents more desperate. They were lost for ways to handle him. Their despair made him even more determined to liberate Pakistan from the clutches of servitude and corruption.

When Khan started denying routine privileges to those that had been used to them in the past, traps were laid to unseat him with the help of local actors who became willing partners in advancing this sinister plan. Influence, money, gratifications and promises of positions in power – nothing was spared to win over the support of some parliamentarians to jump the fence for facilitating the passage of the vote of no-confidence against the sitting government.

It was not a discreet affair either. The charge of the concerned country held a sequence of well-advertised meetings with the leaders of parties who joined hands with the master planner in the avowed conspiracy. She openly engaged with some members of the (then) ruling party by calling them to the embassy to secure their support. The threat to remove Khan through a vote of no-confidence was also conveyed by Mr Donald Lu, US assistant secretary for South- and Central-Asian Affairs in a meeting with the Pakistani ambassador in Washington. The contents of the conversation were contained in a cipher sent to the Foreign Office; the cipher also spoke of the prospect of Pakistan suffering grave consequences if the envisaged plan was not successful.

This reflected a transition to the use of neo-imperialist tactics in preference to the traditional display of brute power to subdue the target country. The strangulation of Pakistan would come, as is already amply evident, through exercise of a subtle combination of the instruments of containment encompassing legal agreements, economic enfeeblement and cultural and financial assault. The World Bank, IMF, FATF and such other institutions are veritable manifestations of the exercise of the neo-imperialist power over the besieged country which Pakistan has been subjected to in the distant to recent past.

While colluding with the prime instigator against the interests of their own country, the local cronies and collaborators thought that their government would be rescued once the devious plan had succeeded. Not only did they expect political support in the international arena to salvage some respect, they also hoped for an economic package to bring benefit to the people. Instead, they have been hanging on the tenterhooks ever since as the economic conditions have continued to deteriorate with inflation at 14 percent shooting through the roof. The strategic reserves have depleted by over $6 billion in one month and the downward trend continues. The treasury bills rate has risen to 15 percent. As the rupee value plummets, the prices of basic commodities continue to soar.

On top of that, Khan has hit the election trail with mammoth crowds following him wherever he goes. These rallies are studded with emotion-soaked scenes of support. With each fresh outing, the numbers continue to grow. Khan is riding the wave of a popularity upsurge which has few parallels in the annals of domestic or international politics. He pleads for national honour to be restored. He wants Pakistan’s sovereignty and dignity to be rehabilitated. He proclaims what the impoverished millions of this country have been hungry to hear. He has forged a link with them that is unbreakable: a link of trust and respect which is only growing stronger with time.

Khan has promised to give a call by May 20 for a Freedom March to Islamabad. The question is: with political unrest growing and economic conditions worsening rapidly, will the band of alleged criminals hustling together as an unconstitutional government be able to sustain the pressure that long? To make further mockery of the government, the convict-absconder Nawaz Sharif summoned government representatives, comprising alleged criminals, to his hideout in London to deliberate a retrieval plan. While it would remain a matter of unmitigated shame for the state to be ruled by this criminally compromised band of bandits, will this actually sound the death knell for the contrivance which is tottering on the brink?

With the illicit edifice crumbling under the shadows of neo-imperialism, its local collaborators will soon make a beeline for the airport to escape the fallout.

The writer is a political and security strategist and the founder of the Regional Peace Institute in Islamabad. He tweets @RaoofHasan