The political tamasha
REGARDLESS of the credibility of the Conspiracy Narrative being built by Imran Khan among his followers after being ousted from Government through an allegedly manipulated Vote of No Confidence, one reckons that the politicians are themselves to blame for surrendering the authority of Parliament into which they allege interference by other national institutions, and for whose supremacy they do not stop crying hoarse.
The present ruckus which emanated from desertions and floor-crossing of some members of the ruling party succumbing to the acclaimed horse trading expertise of Asif Ali Zardari, also leading the opportunist coalition partners MQM to ditch at crucial moment of the ‘No Confidence Motion’ against Imran Khan’s Government, the Speaker of the NA needlessly referred it to the President who in turn sought interpretation of Article 63-A of the Constitution inviting the judiciary to interfere in the parliamentary domain, which it was categorically forbidden under Article-69.
The Judiciary has unfortunately complicated matters by dragging on the case yet opened the window to deserters upholding the right to freedom of choice and association granted to members under Privileges of Members Article-66 and allowed vote against their Party and be counted, whereas going by the candid opinion by the Chief Justice himself that defection amounted to betrayal and disloyalty to the Party and the Constitution, such a crime ought to have been pre-empted before it could create the irreversible damage it has done to the dethroned Party, and has thus contradicted the intent of Article 63-A.
All the Speaker had to do in response to PTI Government’s application against dissenting members, was to invoke Article 63-A himself, recommend de-seating them to the Election Commission and defer the No Confidence proceedings until completion of the House requiring the rebels to seek re-election before siding with their new mentors; logically the least price they should have paid for switching loyalties.
In the absence of the Speaker facing an intended vote of no confidence, the Deputy Speaker who presided, made things worse by summarily terminating the proceedings of No Confidence against the Government on the basis of a Cipher communication implying involvement of a foreign hand seeking to oust Imran Khan from power, instead of playing by the Book on reference by the PTI Chief about such members.
What has followed since is a pandemonium on the political canvas creating further doubts about the system in the Country which its adversaries look to cash on; the Army being needlessly dragged in; having to make a Statement on matters it should scrupulously avoid.
Since this scribe heard every word of what the ISPR Chief said in his comprehensive Press briefing the other day, although he pointed to the absence of the word Conspiracy in the Diplomatic Cipher message deliberated upon in the National Security Committee meeting, it did not automatically rule out the possibility.
Referring to the harsh and threatening consequential use of the language though, he categorically stated that the meeting considered the contents of the dip cable as gross interference in the sovereign affairs of Pakistan resulting in issuance of a strong demarche to that country.
The scrambled meeting of the National Security Committee, convened by PM Shehbaz Sharif, had summoned the upright Ambassador Asad Majeed who like a true professional reportedly reaffirmed the content, which at least rubbishes Imran’s opponents claiming that the Cipher was a fake drafted by Shah Mahmood Qureshi in the Foreign Office.
And although the meeting declared that it found no evidence of any conspiracy going by investigations of the security apparatus, the issue having been brought out in the open cannot be brushed aside and closed, as it will need a more comprehensive probe by a high-powered judicial enquiry to satisfy all stakeholders.
It is unfortunate that a TV channel chose to take the issue so lightly as to venture a jibe at the first Muslim American Congresswoman Ilhan Umar’s visit to Pakistan and her meeting with Imran Khan, whether to mean a threat or a conspiracy; failing to differentiate between covert foreign connections without the knowledge of the Foreign Office, and an open visit by a well-meaning legislator.
The Pakistani media ought to have played up her meetings with the cross section of leadership in Pakistan and Azad Kashmir, and projected her visit to serve as valuable support for the Muslim world from someone in the American Congress.
But coming back to the alleged Cipher-based Conspiracy which thus far is implied at best, the onus of connecting the dots to prove that there had indeed been one, rests with Imran Khan and Company, which would be damned and doomed if they don’t and merely kept relying on their rhetoric built in public gatherings which will otherwise fizzle out and badly hurt the Khan’s prospects of a come-back.
Going by the clips of various Imran Khan interviews to foreign outlets in the past after US withdrawal from Afghanistan and its spokespersons besides US President Joe Biden himself making oblique references to its future course of action in the region, as aired by one of the leading Pakistani Media Channels a few days ago, it is established beyond doubt that some feelers about the possibility of providing facilities to the US for any future military operations in Afghanistan thrown at Imran, were responded with an absolute ‘No’ by him; chastised by the lessons learnt from Pakistan’s undue past compliance.
Couple with it his visit to Russia against US wishes, refusal to condemn Putin as desired by the European Union, abstention from vote on Russian war against Ukraine, re-invigorating the Kashmir and Palestine issues besides his daring stance against Islamophobia resulting in a UN Resolution marking a Universal Day against this discrimination, and orchestrating establishment of a Muslim media Outlet to articulate issues and news of the Islamic world, certainly reflected a posture Uncle Sam and the western world have not been used to, which certainly must have placed him in focus to be contained if not tamed.
Looking at the discourses and attitude of the adversaries-turned rulers thus far, my advice to all of them would be to grow out of their Opposition mould and start in earnest realizing that they are now in the driving seat to correct whatever wrongs; in order to make a difference, rather than replicating the witch-hunt they had been accusing Imran of; continuing the familiar disaster chant against the past rulers; while saying they did not believe in revenge and yet continuing foul mouthing and making Fawad Choudhry and Maryam Aurangzeb sound alike.
—The writer is a media professional, member of Pioneering team of PTV and a veteran ex Director Programmes.
