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Written by Daniel Edgar exclusively for South Front
The main opposition political parties have succeeded in having a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Imran Khan passed in the Federal Parliament, assisted by a wave of defections from the governing Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party (PTI) and the decision of the governing party’s ally in the parliament to abandon the coalition. Nonetheless, to secure their victory the opposition parties and their accomplices must garner a majority in Monday’s parliamentary session in support of their own candidate, and even if they can form a government they will have less than a year before the government’s term will end and they will have to face the electorate.
Over the last few weeks Prime Minister Imran Khan had warned about the setting in motion of a foreign-sponsored plot led by the united States, with most attention focusing on a letter sent by US officials to their counterparts in Pakistan warning of dire consequences if a no-confidence motion was not passed.
Much more significant than the official not-so-diplomatic letter, however, were the observations made by Khan when he filed a petition with the Supreme Court to investigate the indications that there was a foreign-sponsored coup plot under way. The statement commented that several months ago the opposition parties and elements in the media began to coalesce and intensify their efforts to delegitimize, destabilize and overthrow the government.
According to the statement, ever since the inception of this government a number of ill motivated/undemocratic attempts were made by inter alia the opposition within the parliament to cause collapse of the lawfully elected federal government.
“The pivotal personalities, who during this tenure tried to conceive and mobilise these conspiracies are the leaders of the opposition which includes Mian Shahbaz Shareef as the leader of the PML-N, Moulana Fazalur Rehman, the leader of JUI, as well as Bilawal Bhutto Zardari/Asif Ali Zardari as Chairman and Co-Chairman of PPP. These MNAs along with other minor political personalities/parties within the parliament constantly aimed to destabilise the government of PTI.
These ill-conceived, in fact criminal efforts, failed for one reason or the other; the fundamental basis was lack of consensus among the participants thereof, individual motivations and selfish interests; the last but not the least being lack of their appeal to the public at large. Despite repeated attempts, these political parties were/have been unable to muster public support, so as to transform their efforts in a local indigenous opposition viz the democratically elected government headed by the answering Respondent.
“However, it was only during the last few months when a titanic move was made to implement the political vision of the federal government, within the arena of foreign affairs. These included positive remedial measure to end the Afghan war, exit of foreign forces from Afghanistan, the permanent resistance and refusal to provide any foreign bases/assistance to countries who desired hostile/inimical posture towards Afghanistan. Besides the same, cultivation and promotion of friendly relationship with the neighbouring countries, particularly those of the Republic of China and Russia, created hostilities in the international and well as local arena. In this regard, the visit of the answering Respondent to Russia during the initial days of the breakout of war between Russia and Ukraine proved to be an event which ignited adverse attempts with the domestic politics of Pakistan led by the Opposition.
“All of a sudden, the opposition found a new life. This time they mobilised in a manner which was utterly unusual and created concerns within the government circles as well as the security institutions of Pakistan that something was amiss. The opposition on a war footing mobilised extensive negotiations inter se, within and outside Pakistan; they were now constantly contacted by representatives of foreign states who felt that the federal government of Pakistan, headed by the answering Respondent was not in line with their perception of the global affairs. This movement, within days, initiated opposition activities within the parliament and manifested unnatural strength despite the fact that there was no populous support. Newspaper articles, comments by senior journalists/anchors within the electronic print and media as well as on the social network started issuing predictions/assessments that the federal government was to collapse with a short time… LINK
All efforts by the now former PM to initiate an investigation into the possible existence of a foreign-sponsored regime change operation and actions of high treason by elements within the opposition parties (and elsewhere) have been thwarted. While the Supreme Court held rushed proceedings to nullify Khan’s attempt to dissolve the parliament and call elections so that the people of Pakistan could decide the matter, the magistrates refused to hear evidence of a foreign-sponsored plot to overthrow the government.
While any substantive conclusions on the matter must await a comprehensive investigation – should one ever be held – there are many indications that preparations for a carefully orchestrated ambush of the PTI government entered their final phase a couple of months ago. While other factors cannot be ruled out, it seems that Khan’s refusal to break with Russia and China and uncritically and unquestioningly support ‘the West’ in the aftermath of the escalation of the war in Ukraine was the final tipping point that persuaded the coup-plotters to act.
Students of coups d’états and regime change operations will notice many similarities among the recent political developments in Pakistan with other US and/or UK-led regime change operations, such as the overthrow of the Whitlam government in Australia in 1975, the spate of ‘colour revolutions’ in Eastern Europe and the Middle East, or the series of ‘parliamentary coups’ or traditional military/ corporate coups that have occurred in Latin America since the ouster of Manuel Zelaya in Honduras in 2008 (including in Paraguay, Brazil, Bolivia, and the numerous failed attempts to overthrow the Venezuelan government).
Amidst the deluge of media reports eulogising the valiant, patriotic and courageous efforts of the opposition to overthrow the government and condemning all actions of the PTI government, one analyst noted the anachronism of the democracy and constitution-loving regime-change advocates stampeding to hold the no-confidence motion and install a new government while at the same time denouncing and obstructing all efforts to investigate the many indications that it is indeed the culmination of a foreign-sponsored coup d’état.
India had been for a long time a British colony ruled by viceroys who exercised their power on the greatest and the richest empire of the world on behalf of the sovereign – Great Britain. The imperial viceroys governed us because we were enslaved, weak and not free to make our choices. But what is wrong with us now? Are we still not sovereign – free to rule ourselves? Are we still colonised? Is another imperialist power yet again trying to extend and spread its power and influence through its protégés and selected deputies to meddle in our internal affairs? The ‘letter-gate’ is an ugly political scandal that has taken this country by storm. It was on the basis of this scandal that the no-confidence motion against the prime mister was dismissed by the deputy speaker of the national assembly. What is strange is that the highest court in the country has unanimously decided to restore everything but hasn’t said a word about this scandal.
Despite knowing that politics in Pakistan today is clearly divided into two political camps – pro-Imran and anti-Imran, the supreme court still gave a judgment that is clearly tilted towards one camp. This judgment has needlessly created two most unfortunate openings. The first one has opened up democratic wounds of the followers of PTI – wounds that are forcing the supporters of PTI to express fearlessly their bitterness against the institutions that they held very close to their hearts not long ago. Apparently, it seems that these wounds would now take a very long time to heal. The other opening relates to who qualifies to rule this country – not a prime minister but an imperial viceroy who is a deputy of some other sovereign. At least that’s the popular public impression.
The real question that every self-respecting Pakistani is asking today is: are we still not liberated? And this question will remain unanswered if the letter-gate is not investigated. Lord Clive was the creator of the British Empire in India and was famous for buying members of the British parliament and parliamentary seats with the sole purpose of ensuring that East India Company could be backed and supported by the state power that it needed to rule India. The Lord Clives of our country also needed a sovereign’s backing and support to come to power through this no-confidence motion. The colonial history re-lived itself when based on the backing of such a sovereign, many members of our azad parliament allowed themselves to be purchased and dishonorably switched their loyalties.
Listening to the Prime Minister’s address to the nation on Friday night, it is clear that he is not going to back off. His decision to go to the public is a democratic decision and on Sunday he will be able to demonstrate how huge all around the country is his public following. Drawing political control and influence over society is the desire of every political party. Imran Khan out on the roads will extend that control and influence much more than Imran Khan who was looking after the responsibilities of the prime minister office.
The nominees for the position of prime minister of the country and the chief minister of Punjab – the father-son duo face serious charges of corruption. much like the story of East India Company and Britain’s viceroys which was filled with personal enrichment, creation of private fortunes for officers and rich dividends for the entire company, the Sharifs and Zardaris are also famous not only for ensuring family enrichment but for rewarding all those that become part of their scheme of things. Nothing ever gets proven in Pakistan but both domestic and foreign press is filled with stories of how both political families are reputed to have executed orderly and methodical corruption in this country in the past.
It is not merely the stories in the press but every time one of these families ruled Pakistan it registered cases of corruption against the other family. For many common Pakistanis, it is deeply unsatisfying to know that their fate will be back in the hands of the political leaders who have not been able to clearly break away from these charges of corruption.
Palace intrigues and military coups we are all familiar with, as they have been a regular Middle Eastern and South Asian phenomena that mostly have been domestically generated. But this democratic coup that Pakistan is experiencing is an indelible blot on the democracy of this country because it is allegedly foreign-sponsored and is thus an attack on our sovereignty. Had political and personal greed not been the case, the entire parliament should have asserted itself to first challenge this deadly attack that had taken place against our democracy. Since that is not the case, it gives credence to prime minister’s allegation that there are deputies of a sovereign as well as contenders for the position of an imperial viceroy who may have ended up selling their souls to achieve personal benefit, grandeur and glamour… LINK
While it appears that the coup plotters and their collaborators (whether willingly or unwittingly) have succeeded up to now, their final victory is far from assured. Even with the support of a tranche of defectors from the governing party and the sudden switching of support of the governing party’s coalition partner, the no-confidence motion was passed by a bare majority (174 votes, with 172 the minimum required to secure a majority vote).
Moreover, even if the opposition parties can secure a majority in the vote scheduled to be held on Monday (11 April) to complete their overthrow of the sitting government and take over the prime ministership, there is less than a year before the term of the current parliament expires and the people will eventually have their opportunity to pronounce their verdict.
A particularly well-informed analyst once commented that the history of Pakistan’s government has been a sequence of military regimes with an occasional commercial break. Many Pakistanis had hoped that this unfortunate reality may have finally been broken following the arrival of the PTI government, and it is highly unlikely that even a comprehensively orchestrated and massively financed campaign of propaganda and stigmatization will persuade them to abandon the PTI party and Imran Khan. No matter how much they search, they will not find any illicit offshore accounts in the name of Imran Khan in London, Switzerland, New York, Panama or the Bahamas, and the respective track records of the Khan, Sharif and Zardari governments provide clear and incontrovertible testimony as to their intentions, motives, loyalties and objectives.
Notwithstanding that the multitude of ‘fifth columns’ and willing or naïve dupes of the traditional Establishment elites will do everything they can to perpetuate the rule of the modern political dynasties of Pakistan and return the country to the US orbit, if they try to remove Imran Khan and the PTI from the political chessboard completely they risk provoking a major popular uprising and triggering an existential crisis for the country which their enemies will not hesitate to exploit to the fullest.
