Release Imran Khan, avoid destabilisation and another excuse for Marshall Law

Pakistan is at a crossroads it can either go down the path of some form of economic and social stability by releasing Imran Khan and returning him to power or face another year of social and political upheaval with millions of disgruntled Pakistanis who came out against all odds-on February 8th to give Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf (PTI) the mandate to form a government.

Anything is possible in Pakistan; if a criminally indicted ex-Prime Minister who escaped prison by living in exile but due to efforts of Pakistan’s Army Chief Asim Munir was returned, his corruption charges wiped clean with the initial aim to make him the next Prime Minister, then how easy it will be to remove trumped up charges against Imran Khan and release him.

To understand the wretched state of Pakistan Frantz Fanon’s groundbreaking study The Wretched of the Earth comes to mind. Fanon argues that decolonisation never really took place. All that took place was a “replacing of a certain species of men by another species of men,” while dependency and exploitation continued through Euro centric neo-colonialist networks like the UN, IMF, UNESCO, benefiting the West.

After achieving sovereignty some countries made attempts to escape the stranglehold left by colonizers of continued exploitation and enforced underdevelopment. However, Pakistan never did, thanks to the efforts of a small power-hungry political elite and Army generals all tied to western interests.

Imran Khan tried to break the chains of dependency and was removed because he wanted to be part of the emerging ‘Asian Century’ led by China and Russia. According to Goldman Sachs, by 2050 “four of the top five economies will come from the developing world China, India, Brazil, and Russia. The process of de-dollarisation has already begun while the renowned US professor Mearsheimer in ‘The Rise and fall of the International liberal order’ forecasts the eventual demise of the United States.

To avoid this major geopolitical shift Washington, think tanks like Rand advocated various strategies to contain the emerging multi-polar world, one is already under way, the hybrid war in Ukraine against Russia, which irrespective of what mainstream media states Russia has won.

US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken in a 2021 speech made references to the threat posed by China and a resurgent Russia stating the US was explicit about ‘maintaining its unipolarity position’. So started a flurry of activity by US officials to build a coalition of allies in South Asia, especially those already enlisted to work with China on economic projects part of the Belt Road Initiative.

Against the background of new emerging powers and the US intent on containing them, one can view the plan to destabilise Pakistan unfolding. The same destabilisation strategy carried out against Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, Lebanon and Yemen after 2001.

The only problem is Washington does not have to worry about not achieving its goals in Pakistan, because it can depend on assistance from corrupt political parties plaguing the political arena and compliant Army Chiefs and Generals who enjoy US patronage.

As was evident in removal of Khan as prime minister in 2022 by a US instigated coup in collusion with opposition parties and Army Chief Bajwa which sent the country spiralling into a state of turmoil resulting in a stagnant economy, sky high inflation and social unrest.

As Geopolitical analyst Leonid Savin explains Pakistan is going through a crisis, “a fracture or a phase of transition”. He argues “Pakistan can either choose sovereignty and multi-polarity, as it did under Imran Khan, or it can return to being a satellite of Western powers”.

The path that General Bajwa took followed by the new Army Chief Asim Munir incorporates “being a satellite of western powers” and ignoring the wishes of the people who gave the mandate to Imran Khan’s PTI.

Outcries from international media and political figures to investigate election fraud have fallen on deaf ears of the Army and the judiciary. Even after a prominent Election Commissioner stated he manipulated the vote in favour of PML in collusion with the head of the Commission and Chief Justice of Pakistan.

Under General Munir arguably the most unpopular army chief in Pakistan’s history, a new level of oppression and thuggery perpetuates, with over 10,000 PTI supporters missing, amidst allegations of torture, blackmail, beatings, abductions and sexual abuse of women.

In a Muslim country where a woman’s honour is intertwined with family honour, the Army and police have weaponised the threat of rape and sexual abuse to hinder the vast tsunami of active women PTI supporters protesting the removal and imprisonment of IK.

The US supposedly ‘champions of democracy and rule of law’, protested loudly about Russian dissident Alexei Navalny’s death, because like Washington he was anti President Putin. It also carried out a virulent anti Iran campaign after the death of Mahsa Amini, joined by Pakistan’s sweetheart Malala Yousafzai, yet both are silent about thousands of extra judicial killings and torture in Pakistan by Bidens Generals (a perfect description by journalist J.S.Ahmed).

The country is unofficially under Marshall Law where freedom of press is curtailed where outspoken Journalists are killed or abducted, where abducted PTI supporters are suffering torture, all because they support IK. No TV channel is allowed to mention the name of the man locked behind bars. Raising the question why is the Army Chief so afraid of a name?

The answer lies in the fact that Imran Khan is not just a name, his name represents an ideology which symbolises the aspirations of the Pakistani people for a progressive prosperous future, where their children have food, shelter, education and jobs.

One can argue that Khan can’t, like superman, sort out all of Pakistan’s issues, however he has come to represent the aspirations of an oppressed people who want to remove the stranglehold of the dynastic political parties who acted like parasites robbing the wealth of the country while the Army plays musical chairs installing one dethroning another, answering only to western dictates.

No democratic leader has been allowed to remain full term, the Army on behest of the US has stepped in often and established martial law. It wouldn’t come as no surprise if General Munir is itching to press the Marshall law button as is expected, because if the new coalition government consisting of politicians many with corruption and money laundering charges against them stay in power, there will be riots and social unrest, giving the Army a perfect excuse to step in.

Which again plays into Washingtons hands and their agenda of ‘constructive chaos,’ and ‘Biden’s Generals’ hands. Afterall the Pakistan Army is the richest in the world sitting on assets worth $20 billion , while its officers are trained US and UK Army schools.

It is now well documented that the US initiated the coup in Pakistan against Imran Khan’s government. According to Professor Jeffrey Sachs “US foreign policy is based on Covert operations” and states the CIA has “carried out over 80 regime change operations”. He argues Washington saw Khan’s neutral policy of being friends with the US China and Russia as “aggressive neutrality”.

The US denied claims of involvement however, The Intercept exposed not only the cable but an interview in which Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs Donald Lu, discussing Khan has to be removed because he was upsetting their strategy in Ukraine against Russia. Khan was removed just as he was negotiating closer cooperation with Russia and China and an energy pipeline project which would result in discounted wheat and gas supplies.

Khan has been given ten years in prison for revealing the cypher cable which exposed US involvement, in the same way Julian Assange is imprisoned for revealing US clandestine operations in Iraq that led to the death of thousands of Iraqis and destabilised millions of people in the Middle East.

The first lecture US National Security and Defence analyst Dr Rebecca Grant gave to the country after Khan had been removed was that "Pakistan needs to support Ukraine, stop looking for deals with Russia right now, limit their involvement with China, and stop the anti-American policies, that are part of the reason that Imran Khan got voted out of office a couple of weeks ago.”

With Khan’s PTI winning unanimously, the Army Chief’s stringent plan to remove Khan’s name from the political arena is in tatters along with his reputation, but it appears it hasn’t hindered him from supporting Washington’s original plan to continue the destabilisation process underway.

One may argue that this assumption is rather harsh, as the Army is there to protect the country’s sovereignty and people. However, evidence points otherwise, if we examine allegation made by human rights lawyer Colonel Inamur Raheem of over 9,000 enforced disappearances of people by agencies linked to the Pakistan army. Or the fact how Army Chief Pervaz Musharraf actively participated in the ‘war on terror’ and handed over hundreds of innocent Pakistanis and Afghanis to the US for hundreds and thousands of dollars sending those men to be killed and tortured in Guantanamo. Or the manner in which General Munir is now carrying out a terror campaign against his countrymen?

However, it’s important to stipulate that the corruption and decadence in the Army is taking place in the upper echelons of the Army, mainly the Generals, while the soldiers at the lower levels just follow orders and give their lives with little return. According to reports General Munir is carrying out a purge within the army, with Army personnel’s family members dragged by security services for supporting PTI.

The main question now facing Pakistan is will the Army Chief release Imran Khan, so he can continue to work with the emerging multi polar powers under the umbrella of the Shanghai economic cooperation and BRICS? Or will General Munir or whoever replaces him continue to “fracture the country, weakening central government as well as sabotaging Pakistan’s strategic and economic relations with China and Russia” as Professor Michel Chossudovsky outlines in the Destabilization of Pakistan.

In Chossudovsky’s article a “2005 a report by the US National Intelligence Council and the CIA forecasted a “Yugoslav-like fate” for Pakistan.” He argues that the CIA Mossad and British intelligence are supporting Balouch separatists carrying out covert operations in Baluchistan aiding and abetting insurgency in the province bordering Iran. The region is especially important as it borders Iran, which Israel has been targeting for decades, plus it comprises of essential oil and gas reserves and China’s BRI projects.

The concerning part of Chossudovsky’s article is the quote by the former Pakistan High Commissioner to UK, Wajid Shamsul Hasan, who stated “democratic reforms will produce little change in the face of opposition from an entrenched political elite and radical Islamic parties”. He also voiced concern questioning “to what extent is our military rulers working on a similar agenda or something that has been laid out for them in the various assessment reports over the years by the National Intelligence Council in joint collaboration with CIA?”

One can expect anything, judging by the fact that not only are Biden’s Generals in Pakistan weakening the development of strong democratic governance but also silent about the Israeli genocide taking place in Palestine where over 30,000 have died mainly women and children, many buried under bombed rubble or killed through Israeli snipers. While US and western countries are complicit in preventing food and medical aid from reaching besieged Palestinians where surgeries and amputation are being carried out without anaesthetic.

Even China which usually keeps neutral voiced outrage, China's Foreign Ministry's legal adviser, stated Israel is a colonizer and that the Palestinians have a right to resistance under international law, "including armed struggle."

One cannot assume Imran Khan can alleviate all the problems Pakistan is facing, however he was moving in the right direction before he was removed. Like the Global South he did not support the US’s war in Ukraine or want US Army bases in the country.

Today those countries who joined Washington’s war against Russia like Europe, are suffering as is Pakistan.

Khan recognised the multi polar world order emerging. This has been signified by the fact unprecedented economic sanctions the West imposed on Russia have failed and didn’t stop global south countries like China, India, Brazil, Venezuela, Iran and South Africa from trading successfully with it.