Captain Imran’s last match

Imran Khan
Imran Khan

The military in Pakistan rules in two ways. They are either on the seat of power, or they stand behind it, guns aimed and ready. They may not be taking the seat for themselves this time, but they are placing their political ‘blue-eyed boy’ Imran Khan in the seat. In Turkey, Erdogan may be the autocrat, but he has managed to keep the military in control. Meanwhile, Pakistan continues with its penchant for stepping into the military snare.

And now Imran Khan is all set to take the office of prime minister, with the backing of the armed forces and by virtue of his own political acrobats. The army too need the ‘captain sahib’. Muslim League (N)’s Nawaz Sharif has Indian leanings, so he’s out. Neither do they trust People’s Party leader Bilawal, grandson of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and son of Benazir Bhutto. And so Imran Khan’s Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) is the party of their choice.

The latest update is that Imran’s PTI has bagged 113 seats, Nawaz Sharif’s Muslim League 65 and Benazir Bhutto’s son Bilawal Bhutto 43. Results are still coming in. However, there is no doubt that Imran is emerging the winner. How did this happen?

After being defeated in the two previous elections, this time Imran needed an empty field. In the first step, Nawaz Sharif was removed from power. The names of Nawaz Sharif’s family appeared in the Panama Papers, making it easier to remove him. A joint investigation team (JIT) was formed. Its members included, among others, open supporters of Imran, members of Pakistan’s military intelligence ISI and MI. Based on their report, Nawaz Sharif was ousted from power. It would take long to prove him guilty through normal legal process. This would give him time to regain his clout. So they simply used the Supreme Court to remove this thorn from their path.

As for Zardari, besmirched with his ‘Mr Ten Percent’ image, there was no need for any talisman to ward him off. And the army wasn’t too irate at him either, as he was the limping horse on the racetrack.

It was only Nawaz Sharif and his Muslim League that posed as a challenge to Imran, that is, the army. And so just before the election, he and his daughter were placed behind bars. The media, facing death, abduction and other threats, remained silent observers. With the leaders and activists of the two main parties facing death, jail and harassment, Imran Khan had not a worry in the world.

On top of that all, the election was held under military supervision. They had powers of magistracy and a fat budget of a billion rupees, more than they had ever been allocated for elections in the past. Journalists could not enter most of the centres. So even if Imran wanted to lose, that simply wouldn’t have been possible.

Imran may win, but will Pakistan? Or is it the victory of the country’s powerful military? The responsibility of all of Pakistan’s woes falls on the military’s shoulders. It was because of Ayub and Yahya that they lost both democracy and Bangladesh. They faced ignoble military defeat and gained a barbaric image.

Pakistan’s exiled writer and activist Tariq Ali had written that the Pakistan army didn’t just consider themselves defenders of the nation during war, but the only organised and disciplined institution of the country. They thought they were the only one’s capable of running the country, though they created chaos every time. The writer held Ayub’s autocracy responsible for the break-up of Pakistan. He said that said that General Zia’s autocracy simply reinforced Islamic extremism.

In the eighties, as contractors for the US, they created the Taliban and exported war to Afghanistan. Then after 9/11, under Parvez Musharraf, they joined the US war against terrorism in the name of destroying the Taliban. As a result, Tehreek-e-Taliban is now a threat to the country’s stability. Pakistan’s former army chief Raheel Sharif is now the head of the so-called ‘Muslim NATO’ force in Saudi Arabia. And it is this Saudi Arabia that is responsible for the devastation and famine in Yemen and the present predicament of Syria.

The politicians are no less responsible for harming the country. And when it comes to corruption, there is hardly much difference between the Sharifs and the Bhuttos. They have criminalised politics with their corruption and mafia-rule. While they were busy making money, the country simply slipped into China’s economic empire. Meanwhile, with every failure of Pakistan, arch rival India smugly belches in satisfaction. At the end of the day, India remains America’s darling, while Pakistan is left with a frontier fraught with trouble.

Imran’s victory is the victory of the third force. He is the third force, a representative of the army which is the state within the state. He has strength in image. He wants to move Pakistan away from America’s war on terror and set it on China’s Belt and Road. He may not be all that compromising where India is concerned. He is willing to negotiate with the Taliban to bring them to the ‘right path’.

Armed with integrity, political strategy and patriotism, he perhaps can bring change to Pakistan. If he is to do that, then he’ll have to play his last match with the military. He will have to take at least one of Pakistan’s influential political parties on board. He may extend a hand towards PPP’s Bilawal Bhutto to form the government.

Imran’s Achilles’ heel may be the cantonment, but he has some strengths of his own. He is not a product of dynastic politics, in fact has opposed it. He is at a distance from America and India, though he has fans in both countries due to his image as a cricketer. He hasn’t had the chance to gain a corrupt image. His leadership has always pulled the reins on the Taliban and corruption. Even after rigging in the election, there is a chance for him. The voters look for a confident new face.

Though there is no last word in politics, there’s a last game awaiting captain Imran. On one hand there is the armed forces, war, corruption, militancy and autocracy. On the other hand there is the way for a democratic, stable and economically successful Pakistan. Let’s see which side Imran chooses to captain.

*Faruk Wasif is a writer and journalist and can be contacted at [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>.

*This piece has been rewritten in English by Ayesha Kabir.