Even before imran’s started

Even before imran’s started

He’s on the wrong track. Turkey and the US are having a spat. Both are ruled by mercurial, dictatorial rulers (in the mould of which Imran himself is), so it wasn’t surprising that these two Nato allies would be going at each other. The US has since time immemorial been a friend of Pakistan. But Imran is taking the side of Turkey, just because it’s a Muslim country.

No wonder Donald Trump hasn’t called up as yet to congratulate Imran. But Narendra Modi didn’t waste any time. And where was the need for the Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan gifting Imran a bat signed by Indian cricketers. This after Imran spewed vitriol against India on the campaign trail. This after Imran supported the ridiculous blasphemy laws that are so often used to woefully persecute Hindus and Christians in Pakistan. This after Imran denounced Nawaz Sharif as Modi ka yaar. How quickly has India forgotten Nawaz Sharif, its true friend and well-wisher.

This after Imran promised not to victimize his vanquished political rivals. So what is Nawaz doing sitting in Adiala jail in Islamabad, escorted to court in an armoured vehicle like a dreaded terrorist, with his daughter Maryam rotting in C-grade facilities with common criminals in the same jail. What kind of janaaza (scene) is Imran, and of course the ghazis of Rawalpindi, showing to the world. If Nawaz is charged with corruption, let him have a proper civil trial, with he and his family out on bail defending themselves.

Kashmir is on the boil once again. Imran keeps referring to Kashmir as something India must resolve. His onus is on India to resolve the dispute, while Pakistan keeps fanning the flames there. Such talk is anathema to India, which considers Kashmir to be its atoot ang (integral part).

Canada and Saudi Arabia, led by its upstart, immature crown prince, are having a spat. Once again Imran is taking the side of Saudi Arabia, the same Saudi Arabia that Pakistan spurned when the kingdom asked for Pakistani troops in its fight against Yemen. Now suddenly Imran is kow towing to Saudi Arabia. He forgets that there are tens of thousands of people of Pakistani origin living in Canada. How would they feel if their leader is spurning the land that they have made their homeland.

Talk about spurning. Imran says that Pakistan should stop fighting America’s war in Afghanistan. Funny, it was the same Pakistan that propped up the Taliban, which cosseted Bin Laden, who launched 9/11. The Taliban would not hand over Bin Laden to America. In hindsight, the war in Afghanistan looks like a mistake, but right after 9/11, what other options did America have but to go into the graveyard of empires that is Afghanistan. Since then Pakistan has been playing a double game: supporting the Taliban in Afghanistan, hiding Al Qaeda and sundry Taliban leaders in its own territory, while seeking American aid, arms and ammunition to purportedly support the Americans in Afghanistan.

Hillary Clinton told Pakistan that if you grow snakes in your backyard, they will bite you. The Afghan Taliban morphed into the Pakistani Taliban, which started laying Pakistan to waste. But even within Pakistan there was widespread support for the Pakistani Taliban from the powers that be. And then the official numbers of Pakistani killed by the Pakistani Taliban keeps rising to unfathomable levels: from 40,000 to 60,000 to now 70,000. And the toll on the Pakistani economy too. From a few billion dollars to over 75 billion dollars now. Heaven’s, the whole Pakistani economy may not be that size!

Imran is pandering to Pakistan’s victim complex. He needs an immediate infusion of $12 billion dollars to rescue his economy. The two big sources he has are the Chinese and the IMF. But he is already in deep hock to the Chinese. The IMF is controlled by the Americans. Imran has nowhere to turn to but the IMF for a bailout. Why then does he have to needlessly needle the Americans by coming on the side of Turkey.

Pakistan’s general elections in 2008 and 2013 were seen as generally free and fair. These elections of 2018 are being seen by many as rigged by the ghazis of Rawalpindi to install their laadla (favourite), Imran, as prime minister. But now, much of Pakistan, and much of the rest of the world has accepted the result as a fait accompli. The ghazis of Rawalpindi are exulting. Their nemesis, Nawaz, is being humiliated. Their boy, Imran, is in the saddle.

The ghazis may be puffed up, but Imran should not be. He should not try to bite the hand (IMF-US) that feeds him. He should tone down the rhetoric on Kashmir. The ghazis of Rawalpindi have displayed adroit brinkmanship in Afghanistan to seemingly come out on top there, but too much brinkmanship and it could all go wrong for them. Imran needs to serve as check on their ambitions, not feed into them.

Nawaz tried to counsel the ghazis, and see where he is. Imran by temperament is a risk-taker. Even if he wants to curb the ghazis, he will look to what happened to Nawaz and perforce toe their line. Pakistan is not some world power as yet that he can hector the world. It is close to a failing state. A close look in the mirror will help Imran a lot. And a big dose of humility. But that he’s never been known for.