On Sunday Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif made a stunning revelation through a tweet claiming that Imran Khan was using the proxies to threaten the Army Chief with an assassination attempt and stands exposed as a result of a continued vile, sinister and malicious campaign against him. Referring to the campaign to this effect on social media he tweeted “Imran Khan continues to engage in a vile, sinister & malicious campaign against COAS General Syed Asim Munir. His trick of using the proxies to threaten the Army Chief of an assassination attempt has been badly exposed. After his methodically planned attack on the state symbols failed he is clearly desperate & wants to coerce his way back into power, little knowing that the time of his politics of intimidation, violence & hatred is over. Through such highly condemnable antics, he is only exposing himself, the core of which is defined by putting his personal interest (power grab) over everything else. The people of Pakistan and the political parties stand behind their Army Chief & the armed forces like a rock & will thwart any attempt and conspiracy at undermining their prestige, honour and integrity.”
This revelation coming from the chief executive of the country cannot be dismissed lightly. He could not come out with such a sweeping and alarming statement without credible evidence and intelligence available to him. Circumstantial evidence also lends currency to what the Prime Minister has said. Ever since his ouster from power Imran Khan has been consistently engaged in heaping flak on the Army and its leadership and building a hostile narrative against them, particularly General Bajwa. Of late the trend on the social media has been to malign General Asim Munir and hold him responsible for the prevailing situation in the country. After May 9 this campaign has gained momentum and some of the Pakistani journalists who have fled the country and those already living in the western countries are leading this smear campaign against the COAS and the state interests. This latest dimension to the smear campaign is indeed a very worrying development.
A similar campaign to build an anti-Army mindset was carried out which led to horrendous happenings on May 9 when military installations and memorials of the martyrs were attacked and damaged. In view of the audio and video leaks concerning those regrettable incidents and the statements given by some arrested individuals, there is hardly any doubt about the fact that it was a well conceived and planned effort on the part of the PTI and the mastermind was none other than Imran Khan himself. The disintegration of the PTI in the backdrop of May 9 itself is a clear proof of its terrorist credentials.
The Prime Minister in a statement after his tweet has justifiably condemned the social media campaign against the Army Chief and ordered the concerned authorities to take legal action against those involved in such malicious plots. He noted that similar minds were involved in the conspiracy of May 9, warning the May 9 planners, facilitators and handlers that the conspiracy against Pakistan and its institutions would be crushed. He also emphasized that the media drive against the armed forces and its chief did not fall within the domain of freedom of expression but was only a conspiracy and it was a legal responsibility to eradicate such a tendency with full strength. He also expressed the nation’s resolve not to allow the disappointed and panicked elements to create new crises in the country.
Nobody in his right mind can take an exception to what the Prime Minister has said regarding the exposed conspiracy and the way it would be dealt with. In my view the delay in action against Imran Khan and his accomplices who enacted the dastardly incidents on May 9 has provided the PTI chairman and its social media warriors yet another opportunity to carry on their sinister campaign against the COAS and the overall interest of the country.
When Imran Khan was shown the door through a constitutional process, he should have not left the National Assembly and should have chosen to stay in the parliament and fight his case politically. He could have made a formidable opposition and contributed to the continuation of the political process uninterrupted. But he regrettably preferred to foment a political crisis in the country which has also badly affected the economy. Polluting the minds of the youth and preaching violence is not the way of politicians.
What happened on May 9 was clearly an attack on the symbols of the state authority and rebellion against the state. Those who conceived and planned these attacks obviously did it for the fulfillment of their narrow political agenda, not realizing that by doing so they were sending a very wrong message to the world. Their acts not only lowered the prestige and credibility of the country’s armed forces, which unquestionably are guardians of our ideological and physical frontiers, notwithstanding their past interference in the political affairs of the country. The May 9 incidents also re-ignited fears about the capability of the armed forces to protect the nuclear assets of the country. The PTI and its supporters in a way played in the hands of the enemies of the country. The enemies had a good laugh at it.
What Imran Khan and his party have done is not politics but terrorism against the state. Regrettably, the PTI is also guilty of making attempts to thwart the IMF deal and a campaign against GSP Plus status granted to Pakistan by the EU which are clearly meant to undermine state interests. No genuine leader and politician would ever go to such an extent to achieve his political objectives.
This country has witnessed great tragedies for which mostly the military dictators were responsible, but nobody ever thought of attacking the military installations and memorials of the martyrs. The outstanding example of this utmost restraint and sagacity was exercised by PPP after the hanging of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, the most popular leader ever after Quaid-i-Azam. The removal of Nawaz Sharif from power through a conspiracy involving establishment, Imran Khan and some pliable judges of the apex court, is another recent example of the injustice meted out to a political party and its leadership. But nobody resorted to any violence. Former Army Chief Gen Aslam Beg in his biography has said that Nawaz Sharif was removed through a conspiracy. Nobody, not even the judges who punished Nawaz Sharif, ever contested his claim.
When Imran Khan was shown the door through a constitutional process, he should have not left the National Assembly and should have chosen to stay in the parliament and fight his case politically. He could have made a formidable opposition and contributed to the continuation of the political process uninterrupted. But he regrettably preferred to foment a political crisis in the country which has also badly affected the economy. Polluting the minds of the youth and preaching violence is not the way of politicians.
Under the prevailing circumstances it is desirable that the government should accelerate the process of bringing to book all those who are responsible for the May 9 mayhem so that nobody ever dares to declare war on the state. As far as the allegations of assassination threats to COAS are concerned it would be advisable to immediately form a judicial commission to probe the issue and action taken in the light of its findings.
