Pakistan: Protégé turns against patron

Imran Khan is organising the march as a show of strength to pressurise the army and paralyse the govt and make them accept his 2 demands

Avinash Mohananey is a former Intelligence Bureau officer, who served in Pakistan.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf on November 10 restarted its ‘Haqiqi Azadi’ (real freedom) march to Islamabad, after halting it at Wazirabad in Punjab in the wake of an assassination attempt on its leader and the country’s former prime minister Imran Khan. The march is now being led by former foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi. Khan, who underwent surgeries for bullet injuries, will lead the march after about two weeks when it will reach Rawalpindi.

The cricketer-turned-politician is organising the march as a show of strength to pressurise the army and paralyse the government and make them accept his two demands – dismissal of Shehbaz Sharif’s cabinet and early parliamentary polls.

Khan was shot at by Mohammad Naveed, who was angry because, in his perception, the PTI chief had compared himself with Prophet Mohammad. Naveed believed in the religious ideology of Sunni Barelvi organisation “Tehrik-e-Labbaik Pakistan” of Mohammad being the last Prophet. He did not like Khan’s repeated claims to establish “Riyasat-e-Madina” that was set up by the Prophet.

Who would not be scared after listening to the chilling disclosures of Naveed about how sad he was that he could not kill Khan? The ‘Kaptaan’ would not have thought even in his wildest dreams that the religious narrative that he was weaving to recapture power would come at himself.

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The attack has further exacerbated the tension between the Pakistan Army and Khan, who was once its former protégé. What angered the army was Khan’s insistence on registration of a case against Major General Faisal Naseer, Deputy Director General of Inter-Services Intelligence in charge of political cell, besides Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and his interior minister Rana Sanaullah for their alleged involvement in the attack on him

As such, the army was already angry with Khan’s anti-Americanism during the withdrawal of the United States from Afghanistan. The army realised that without the US nod, it was not possible for Pakistan to secure another International Monetary Fund programme to avoid a default and get out of the grey list of the Financial Action Task Force. Left with little option, the Pakistan Army sided with the opposition for the success of a no-confidence motion against the Khan Government in parliament earlier this year. Sharif’s government, which came to power riding on the shoulders of the army, is now fast losing political ground to Khan.

On the other hand, once out of power, Khan launched a massive political campaign drawing huge crowds. He mainly targeted the present army chief, General Qamar Javed Bajwa, who would retire on November 29. The appointment of the next army chief is crucial to the political fortunes of Khan as well as of Sharif and his brother Nawaz Sharif.

Hence, Khan’s protest march will remain fruitless till he succeeds in pressing the army and the government either to defer the appointment of the next army chief or at least do so in consultation with him. It is well known that Khan wants Lieutenant General Faiz Hameed, commander of XXXI corps based in Bahawalpur, to be the next army chief.

Pakistan is in dire straits as economy continues to be in doldrums. While the masses continue to suffer the back breaking inflation and massive unemployment, top political and military leadership is busy in power struggles. However, if Sharif’s government doesn’t succeed in politically and administratively dealing with Khan and the situation arising out of his long march, the army for sure must be keeping its plans ready for any eventuality.

(The writer is a former Intelligence Bureau officer, who served in Pakistan.)