Economic condition or better management and use of natural resources is not responsible for the progress of all the growing countries in the world. Rather, these four points are responsible: the first is the status of the leader of the country, the second is the leader’s vision, the third is the support of the people and the fourth is good governance. Now, if progress is to be understood on this scale with an example, then the background of India and Pakistan is perfect for this.
After 1947, India got visionary leaders, and people reposed faith in them only, as a result with strong democracy, the foundation of good governance was laid in India and now it is at the top of progress. But the situation in Pakistan is just the opposite. Is Pakistan heading towards disaster once again? This needs to be seen not as a question but as a warning because a troubled Pakistan disturbs our peace to a great extent.
It is not that what is happening in Pakistan has never happened before. It is not that the way it is happening, it did not happen before. What is different this time is the situation in Pakistan. In Pakistan, which is heading towards famine, it seems as if everyone is thirsty for revenge. Imran Khan is daily exposing the Pakistani Army, ISI, and Shahbaz government. In return, the army, ISI, and the government are determined to slaughter Imran. The Supreme Court of Pakistan is fanning Imran’s objectives, while the Maulana class of the country is after Imran at the instigation of the government and the army. On the one hand, the helpless people of the country standing behind Imran are falling into misery every day, on the other hand, Imran, his PTI leaders and hundreds of their supporters are being severely punished by the army for violent protests against the army and the government.
Pakistan’s federal and provincial governments have sent their forces behind Imran Khan and his party workers, who are accused of inciting violence. On Friday, the army also reached Imran Khan’s residence on the pretext of searching for these supporters of Imran. Although it had to return empty-handed from there, now the National Accountability Board summoned the PTI chief on June 23 in another corruption case. In a way, Imran is being besieged from all sides.
There is also a discussion in Pakistan that the army has put two conditions in front of Imran – he should leave politics like his predecessors Nawaz Sharif and Pervez Musharraf and run away to London or stay in Pakistan and face the Army Act. In either case, Imran’s career is bound to end. If he moves out of Pakistan and is branded a coward and a fugitive by the army and the government, he will become as irrelevant in domestic politics as the then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in 2017 after his disqualification in the Panama Papers corruption case. On the other hand, if Imran stays in the country and faces the Army Act, then it is certain that he will go to jail. Then at the age of 70, he will have to spend the rest of his life in jail or he can be sentenced to death as happened with Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. By the way, the prosecution of Imran and his supporters under the Army Act is another proof of the fact that in Pakistan, it’s the condition of might is right, otherwise if Pakistan is running according to the constitution, there is an elected government with lawmakers in the parliament, and courts to implement the laws, so how can anyone be prosecuted under the Army Act? The indirect message that comes out of this is that in the present condition, even the constitution has no value in Pakistan.
Imran Khan is also aware of the situation that’s why his tone has changed after calling the surrender of the Pakistani army in the 1971 war, the country’s most shameful incident, and the atrocities of the army in East Pakistan being responsible for the partition of Pakistan. Now Imran has started saying that he has no intention of fighting the army, but the country’s ruling coalition PDM wants to eliminate PTI through the army by pitting him against the army. This U-turn of Imran regarding the army shows that he is no longer a naive player in politics. In this dispute, initially, a section of Pakistan’s army was seen standing behind Imran, but after the violence of May 9, the situation changed. Now no Pakistani army officer wants to be seen standing against his army chief and Imran has also understood this very well.
That’s why now he is fighting the political battle in a political way and playing the victim card while maintaining an aggressive attitude towards the Shahbaz government. The PPP, which is part of the ruling coalition, projects Zulfikar Ali Bhutto as its legacy. In this situation, Imran is targeting the PPP and Shahbaz government by putting Bhutto in the dock, comparing himself with Mujib-ur-Rehman, despite being in the circumstances in which Bhutto was hanged. In his verbal attacks, Imran is describing Zulfikar Ali Bhutto as a vicious leader who, in greed for power, raised the armed forces against Mujib-ur-Rehman’s Awami League, the largest party in the then elections, which later led to the partition of the country. Connecting history with the present, Imran is now projecting his opponents in front of the public in the role of Bhutto and alleging that the Shehbaz government is hatching new conspiracies every day to stop PTI from returning to power. Imran is spreading the fear of another partition of the country among the Pakistani people by calling it the London Plan.
No doubt there is not going to be another partition of Pakistan in the near future, but its rapid downfall is certain because in the changed circumstances the already deteriorated condition of Pakistan will become worse, the poor will die of hunger, the cities will become unlivable and those who are rich, will collect their money and migrate to western countries. But the current government is more interested in eliminating Imran and his party, PTI, than ending the tension spreading in the country because it is very clear that if elections are held in Pakistan today, Imran’s return to power is certain. That’s why the whole emphasis of Imran’s party is to hold general elections in Pakistan at the earliest. Whether elections are held in Pakistan or not, whether Imran Khan is able to make a comeback or not – these things do not matter much. What is important for Pakistan right now is that what has gone wrong in the last seven and a half decades should be rectified.
