Establishment’s only chance

If Imran Khan can come to power riding on the shoulders of the establishment, why can’t the establishment ride on the shoulders of Imran Khan and restore its lost credibility?

It is both a question and an answer. The current chaos and uncertainty can end only if Imran Khan’s role as a spoiler is eliminated, and replaced with that of a stakeholder. There should be no shame in admitting that the ‘regime-change operation’ has failed miserably. The possibility that there might have been an urgent need for this operation, and that it was necessary to do it in the country’s interest cannot be ruled out. But the way it was done was bound to fail. And fail it did.

It was necessary to learn from this failure, and if it were so inevitable to remove Imran from the system, it could have been done with wisdom and prudence. However, the current handling of political affairs has further augmented Imran’s public stature, and he has become the most popular leader in the history of Pakistan. If he is put in jail, he will become more popular.

Let’s suppose he is assassinated like Benazir Bhutto, regardless of the actual perpetrator, all the blame will be labelled against the establishment, which will result in creating a vast gulf between the people of Pakistan and its armed forces. It will then not take long to make Pakistan a country like Syria, Iraq and Libya. The armed forces of these three countries were very strong and powerful; however, when public support vanished, these strongest armed forces were destroyed by their own people.

It is essential that the establishment leaders change their approach and engage Imran Khan positively. If you can shake hands with Nawaz Sharif and Zardari, why not with Imran Khan? By joining hands with Nawaz Sharif, Zardari, Maulana Fazlur Rehman etc., you will get nothing but more disgrace and destruction of the country. But if you join hands with Imran Khan, you can get much more. The top priority at this time is to restore the army’s reputation, which General (retd) Bajwa and General (retd) Faiz destroyed. To restore this reputation, the support of a significant political force is necessary.

Some indicators suggest that powerful quarters are looking at Pakistan Peoples Party as a ‘significant’ political force that could help restore our armed forces’ public image. Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari is perceived as an alternative to Imran Khan. What should I call it? Naivety or shortsightedness? I don’t have the words to describe this approach. Everyone knows about Asif Ali Zardari’s popularity, and the reasons for it too. This ‘operation’ will be another blunder after the ‘regime change’ one, and will add fuel to the fire.

Currently, Imran is the most significant political force in Pakistan, and the establishment should use his shoulders to restore its lost credibility. Some personal disliking or grudges, if any, should not bar you from reaching out to the most influential political leader of the country to sail the sinking ship out of troubled waters. He demands only one thing: immediate free and transparent elections. Such an election is only possible under the supervision of the army, because after the recent local elections in Sindh and the large-scale public rigging, it is futile to expect the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) alone to have the capacity to hold free and fair elections across the country. The ECP has to rely on the district administration and the education department, all of which are under the influence of the ruling political forces. Therefore, in the current political environment, the army’s role is crucial to make the general elections non-partisan and transparent.

The military leadership has to stay behind the scenes and hold talks with everyone. The fear that Imran will take revenge on the establishment if he comes back in power is unfounded. This is because, at present, Imran is the only politician who supports the establishment’s positive role in politics, while the rest want to clip the wings of the army and lock it in the barracks.

Imran is fundamentally and ideologically not against the military, while the other major parties are ideologically against it. The Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) is enjoying the fight between the establishment and Imran. Whosoever loses this fight; the ultimate winner will be the PDM. Therefore, these forces will continue to fuel misunderstandings and provocations between the establishment and Imran. He broke the political status quo with the help of the establishment, and a third political force emerged in the country. Now, if this alternative political force is strangulated due to some stupidity of Imran’s, or some incompetence on the part of the generals mentioned above, then the last nine months have made clear what the country’s fate is going to be like.

The establishment should keep in mind that the youth that stands with Imran today will never stand with Bilawal or Maryam. This politically conscious youths is an asset of the country. Today, it is with Imran. Tomorrow, in case of his failure, an alternative political leadership will also emerge from the same youth. But all attempts to artificially remove Imran from the political scene will only bring disaster.

I repeat, that the establishment should make use of Imran and restore its lost credibility. There is no better option than this. This is the last chance for the establishment to help this nation get rid of the political monopolies of a few families. This is the last chance for the establishment to set things into motion in the direction of radical transformations in the political system, which would automatically happen in due course of time – whether it is a presidential system or proportional representation or whatever that may be.

The writer is a Managing Director at an Islamabad-based think tank Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies