News Desk: Yesterday, he sported the victim card. And thundered against the United States accusing the global cop of conspiracy to unseat him. Today he is on the lookout for the sympathy card. Well, Imran Khan, the hero of the game of glorious uncertainties (cricket) has to blame himself for his miseries.
The Supreme Court has delivered the keenly awaited verdict that has ended his dreams of being the new helmsman of Pakistan.
He could have saved the ignominy had he put his act together after the Gallop polls said a vast majority of the Pakistanis-some 64 per cent do not subscribe to his US conspiracy theory.
He did not.
NO MORE HIGH MORAL GROUND
And this failure meant he has lost the moral high ground he has been trying to occupy ever since the writing on the wall became clear more than a month ago.
Four years of his rule has pushed Pakistan into an economic crisis. And his political brinkmanship in pursuit of survival politics has plunged the country into an unprecedented political circus.
The Supreme Court with its 5-0 verdict has delivered an unadulterated message, politicians of all hues, Imran Khan including, will not dare to ignore – that the doctrine of necessity stands buried forever in Pakistan. No Musharrafs anymore!
Khan, who still basks in the glory of his decades old World Cricket Cup win, believed in this very doctrine.
So dared to thwart the Opposition plans to table a no confidence motion against his hugely unpopular government. Also tried to take on the mighty permanent establishment, the military, which had ‘selected’ him for the job of the chief executive of the land of the pure.
Both the Deputy Speaker, Qasim Khan Suri, who is from Imran’s party, PTI, and President Alvi, who was no less a PTI man before his elevation to the high office, now stand ridiculed before the bar of the nation.
The five-member bench headed by Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial in its short order termed the rejection of the no trust motion by Suri as unconstitutional.
The Judges have restored the National Assembly dissolved by President Alvi on the advice of the beleaguered Prime Minister Imran Khan.
This is no less a slap to the Presiding Officer and the First Citizen of the country.
Justice Ijazul Ahsan, Justice Mohammad Ali Mazhar, Justice Munib Akhtar and Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhel will go down in the pages of history along with CJP Bandial as the saviors of democracy that refuses to take roots in Pakistan even seven decades after it was carved out of British India.
BIGGEST SET BACK TO IMRAN
The biggest setback from the verdict is Imran Khan’s.
He is at the centre of the storm, some dub it as circus he has himself staged. He is the Prime Minister and the chief of the Pakistan Tehreek -e-Insaf (PTI). Moreover, he has been peddling lies and half truths in a calibrated campaign to lampoon the Opposition – PPP, PML-N and Jamaat leaders, and to win over public sentiment.
The Supreme Court has demolished all his defenses with the ruling that the Prime Minister “could not have at any time advised the President to dissolve the Assembly as contemplated by clause (1) of Article 58”.
“In consequence of the foregoing, it is declared that the advice tendered by the Prime Minister on or about 03.04.2022 to the President to dissolve the Assembly was contrary to the Constitution and of no legal effect,” said the order.
From this assertion came the declaration that “the (National) Assembly was in existence at all times, and continues to remain and be so”.
Now, if Imran Khan wants to refurbish his democratic credentials, he will have to appear before the National Assembly, when it reconvenes as per orders of the Supreme Court on April 9 and face the no confidence motion.
He must do so mindful of the court direction that the no member will be barred from casting their vote.
In the pre-disolution scenario, Imran might have had his way in marshaling the police in the way he desired which interalia means ensuring depletion of the Opposition ranks in Parliament.
In the changed circumstances, such a feat appears beyond the realm of possibility, unless, of course, the Army wills.
MOOD IN GHQ– BAJWA SPEECH
The mood in the GHQ is clearly not to Imran’s liking even if the generals are divided on taking over the reins of the country at the present juncture.
Even in its apparent ‘neutrality,’ the Army has shown that it will not allow Imran Khan to cross certain “red-lines.”
So, while Khan has openly criticised the US and even claimed the role of a senior US diplomat in the ‘conspiracy’ to unseat him, the Chief of Army Staff, General Qamar Jawed Bajwa, has done some damage control. Thus cemented Army’s role as the final arbiter of Pakistan’s destiny.
Since he is aware of the economic and foreign policy implications of blaming the US for the political crisis in the country, Bajwa used the forum of the Islamabad Security Dialogue (April 2) to send a clear message that ties with the US matter very much for Pakistan. He also openly criticised Russia by characterising its actions in Ukraine as an ‘invasion’, thereby taking a pro-US position.
Bajwa’s speech is a signal that the security establishment cannot allow a civilian government to ruin the Pak-US ties under any circumstances. He knows that Washington could hurt Pakistan’s position at the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), which has already placed the country on its grey list. Also, force the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to suspend its $ 6 billion bailout package which has been in the works for a while.
It will be interesting to watch how the Army will act/react to forthcoming political events.
Its ‘neutrality’ may not last long if Khan ‘survives’ the trust vote, the court has ordered now.
He has significantly proved to be a political liability for the Army with his economic mismanagement and diplomatic embarrassment.
So, the establishment may look for a civilian arrangement without Imran Khan in the picture.
CRYSTAL GAZING
If the Opposition has its way?
It will open up a new ball game, since the Supreme Court in its order said: “…if the no-confidence motion against the prime minister succeeds, then the assembly will appoint the new prime minister”.
Who will be bear the cross?
Too early to crystal gaze though in popular perception Shehbaz Sharif has all the credentials to be the new Army approved mascot.
How long will such a regime last?
Difficult to predict.
But one thing is certain.
Early elections are round the corner.
The Election Commission of Pakistan has set the ball rolling in a way by saying it can hold polls in October itself.
Source: poreg.org
