Democratic governance, backed by popular mandate is the sole path towards political stability, rule of law and much needed reforms. It is a contention none has any quarrel with.
Imran Khan, who led Pakistan to a victory in World Cup cricket final in 1992, founded a new party in Pakistan and became the Prime Minister of his country in August 2018 only to be deposed and imprisoned later. This has sounded a warning about the viability of the national elections. It is scheduled to be held on February 8.
Khan has painted a bleak picture of the state of affairs of his country post elections. The man who finds himself behind the bars since August 23 last year after being accused in the Toshakhana case (National Treasury) feels the coming election would be nothing short of a farce.
The former prime minister has pointed fingers at an allegedly biased caretaker government, an election commission similarly tarred together with interferences that stretch across the borders. In so many words he raises doubts about the foundations of democracy in Pakistan.
The powers that be in Pakistan are unlikely to pay any heed to Khan’s words. After all, he had not been in the good books of his captors ever since the attack by PTI activists on public installations and the military General Head Quarters on May 9 last year.
It has also been a part of Khan’s charges that the State is using every possible tactic to stop PTI nominees filing nomination for the February 8 elections. The war of words which ought to have been engaged into the confines of Pakistan’s parliament is raging outside it.
This state of affairs is a pointer to the credibility of Khan’s charges. As these allegations are being dissected, it is apparent that Pakistan is at a cross roads. The former prime minister implicates the establishment including the army and the security agencies of acting in tandem for his government’s ouster. He discerns a hand of a foreign agency.
Imran Khan is not the first leader from the Indo-Pak subcontinent to accuse the involvement of the foreign hand. Indira Gandhi was the first to do so. But India’s first woman prime minister did not name any country directing the foreign hand. Khan whose grounding in diplomacy is nowhere in near the same of Indira Gandhi, has named America., thereby implicating CIA.
Khan citing a cryptic message from US State Department honcho alleged that termination of his Prime Ministership through a vote of no confidence has been sought. Both the US State Department and Pakistani government have denied this.
But the fact remains there is a sizeable section of Pakistani populace including a significant portion of voters who will not dismiss Khan’s charges. For Imran Khan Niazi is known to be a man of honour in his country.
Here is a man who has made Pakistan proud in the field of sports. In a country where politicians are not known for their probity, he has singlehandedly built a hospital for treatment of cancer patients. Khan’s charges suggest a labyrinth of international intrigue influencing Pakistani politics. Its implications challenge Pakistan’s political decision making.
Shadowy forces are alleged to have shaped the destiny of a nation. A disconcerting picture is presented by Khan’s dramatic narrative of the role played by former army chief general Qumar Javed Bajwa and security agencies in influencing allies and back benchers.
It delves into personal and party hardships faced during and after his tenure. The charges apart from political .manoeuvering further lists assassination attempts, abductions and legal persecution to subvert the democratic process.
Thus, the former prime minister’s charges transcend the political chessboard. He seeks to expose the dark underbelly of power dynamics by citing attacks on his party leaders and activists, media personnel and not even sparing women leaders.
The democratic process is fragile in Pakistan. It is up to its people and it’s leaders to ensure that the coming elections are not a symbol of despair but ushers in a beacon of hope navigating under currents with caution. (IPA Service)
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