Project Imran Khan and Pakistan's Attempt at Seeking Parity with Hindu Rashtra

 

Jinnah was never a practising Muslim and despised religious or sectarian fanaticism. When Gandhi put his weight in support of Khilafat movement, Jinnah unequivocally criticised Gandhi for what he saw was ‘an endorsement of religious zealotry’. At one point Jinnah opposed separate electorates for Muslims and Hindus, openly championing Nehru Report on joint electorates, but then went on to espouse communal and divisive two nation theory with demand for equal Muslim representations despite numerical disproportionality and independent Muslim-majority states in the northwestern and eastern regions, as condition for remaining in India. With those demands unmet, Jinnah so vociferously chose the path of agitation, rioting and bloodshed whose repercussions continue to bear fruit in subcontinent.

This obsession for parity with Hindus pre-partition left long shadow over Pakistan and its policy makers, which only became more acute after humiliating loss in 1971 and formation of East Pakistan into Bangladesh. India being the larger country in geographical size, population and eventually economy and military might - managed to overwhelm Pakistan. But Pakistan continued to pursue parity as a stated strategic goal, including geographically by subsuming Afghanistan under the guise of religious militant Islam, as an extended territory for "strategic depth". It further pursued parity in accumulation of nuclear weapons, doubling down on defence expenditure thus creating a behemoth of armed forces. The obsession of parity also led Pakistan to pursue path of trying to create a version of "Mukti Bahani" (freedom fighters trained by RAW for Bangladesh independence) for India in Kashmir & Punjab. Despite various attempts, parity remained elusive, Pakistan observed flourishing of Hindu nationalism in India beginning 1990s. And though Pakistan started on this project of religious nationalism much earlier than India, including adding militancy as a key feature. It never remained secure of its polity and always doubted their commitment to the country; forcing itself to intervene (coup) ever so often under the bogey of betrayal of "nazaria e Pakistan" by politicians.

It is important to mention, there never was any tangible evidence of betrayal or compromise on national sovereignty and security by any political leader. But given that "nazaria e Pakistan" entailed taking extreme position bordering pathological hatred for India sans common sense, there was no chance any leader - be it politician or army person leading a country, could ever fulfil the brief. Therefore, the quest for a great leader or saviour who would possibly execute large scale religious cleansing/conversion of Hindus like controversial heroes of past and fulfil the destiny & mythological prediction of "ghazwa e hind".

Further, after many iterations of political rollercoaster between PPP and PML, the polity - both Benazir Bhutto & Nawaz Sharif were starting to stand up to army chief acting as Super Prime Minister. This lack of trust and suspicion in the army against political leadership and seeing rise of Hindu nationalist party BJP taking pole positions in India encouraged Pakistan army to create a new force in their own perceived image of "militantly religious, nationalist and modern", and thus began Project Imran Khan in late 2000s.

The Herald magazine, in 1995, featured a story on launch of Imran Khan by Pakistan Army as an alternative to Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto with generous help and patronage from former ISI chief Hamid Gul, however the fortune of Imran Khan began to rise in Pakistan's polity only after 2011 Bin Laden raid by US Army. It wasn't for lack of trying that Imran never made a mark, in fact the opportunist Imran Khan Niazi supported sham referendum and usurpation of power by Gen Musharraf and war on terror as "necessity of the time" and in return sought 100 seats. Gen Musharraf needed no legitimacy from Niazi and rejected the proposal giving him only 1 seat. After the early drubbing, Imran Khan Niazi played his patented googly i.e. U-Turn, and joined students & lawyers protest against Musharraf in 2007, only to be thrashed by Jamaat-e-Islami boys in Punjab University and handed over to police.

Pakistan Army's duplicity in sheltering Bin Laden while still being a non-NATO ally of United States and its failure to intercept the dramatic raid, so fantastically exposed the then Army Chief Gen Pervez Kayani and DG ISI Gen Shuja Pasha. It is in this context, civil-military relationship strained and Zardari led PPP govt became a casualty to divert attention from Army's self-created mess. Gen Pasha invented "memogate" where Husain Haqqani became a "CIA agent" who allegedly enabled the said raid in collusion with top U.S. military official. With Nawaz Sharif in exile, Imran Khan Niazi came to rescue of Army at the nudge of Gen Pasha by loudly and animatedly revealing the "memogate" conspiracy at a public meeting in Lahore, Oct 2011 - thus securing his friendship with powerful army and at the same time discrediting the current PPP govt.

Gen Pasha was replaced by Gen Zaheer Ul Islam in 2012 as 18th director general of the ISI. Gen Zaheer Ul Islam came from an army background; his father, brothers and brother-in-law had served in the army. He was also infamously blamed by journalist Hamid Mir & his brother for Mir’s assassination attempt over reporting of atrocities by Pakistan Army in Balochistan. The 2013 election saw return of Nawaz Sharif with Imran's PTI winning meagre 27 seats, yet Gen Zaheer Ul Islam & establishment were determined to cut Nawaz Sharif to size using Imran Khan Niazi. This yearning became more desperate as India saw rise of Narendra Modi of BJP; a self-declared Hindu nationalist who invited SARRC member states during his swearing in ceremony also attended by Nawaz Sharif despite objection from Pakistan Army. Both Nawaz Sharif and Narendra Modi seem to have developed a nascent working relationship to improve ties between the two countries, which as mentioned earlier ran counter to the acceptable idea of "nazaria e Pakistan" and amplified the insecurity within Pakistan army.

Since downturn of relationship with US after Bin Laden raid, Pakistan Army realized it cannot easily coup and escape consequences but at the same time it did not trust Nawaz Sharif to deliver on “nazaria-e-Pakistan”. Also seeing Sharif push for prosecution of Gen Musharraf for violating constitution did not give the army much confidence. Watching Modi's rise in Indian politics made them want their own nationalist, religious yet democratic leader but importantly who could also be controlled by army. The rise of democratically elected Mohamed Morsi, a Muslim Brotherhood member, in Egypt gave them inspiration of having their own version at home and thus bringing ideological parity with India. It's in this context, Pakistan Army and DG ISI Gen Zaheer Ul Islam decided to fully support and enable rise of Imran Khan Niazi who gladly acted as bulwark against then "uncontrollable" political dispensation and at the same time blunt Pashtun voices seeking justice and reparations from decades of Af-Pak war.

Imran Khan launched his campaign against alleged rigging, build narrative of "35 punctures being fixed" by care-taker CM of Punjab on behalf of Nawaz Sharif. Pakistan Army used media and TV anchor Shahid Masood to help spread this lie. To aid with the campaign and sit-in (dharna), Pakistan Army enlisted Canadian clergy Tahir ul Qadri, who along with Imran stage prolonged dharna in Islamabad. With ample funding coming from army's surplus & unaccounted budget the dharnas are sustained for many months. Just when dharnas were starting to pressure Nawaz Sharif, something dramatic happens - the gruesome attack on Army Public School in Peshawar. In total 149 people are killed and mostly school children of army men. The attack rattles the nation, Imran Khan & TuQ halt their dharnas and there is pressure on army to focus more on terrorism. The Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claims the attack but in my personal opinion this was work of Ajith Doval, National Security Advisor to Indian PM Narendra Modi as a revenge attack for Mumbai 26/11 but timed in manner to also help Nawaz Sharif break out of the months of sustained logjam and pressure to resign.

Pakistan Army reads the situation right but with no remorse & introspection for its crimes in Mumbai 26/11, it carried out retaliatory train derailments in India in next few months, which subsequently gets avenged by India with more attacks leveraging its network in Afghanistan. Pakistan army already hostile to Nawaz Sharif now becomes certain of the need to replace him, no matter the cost. This myopic decision will come to haunt Pakistan army and Pakistan very soon. And this is where the brand "Imran Khan", supported by every means of state power - from media to judiciary to terrorist to religious mobs of TLP to paramilitary Rangers - is curated and printed in the minds of people, especially youth. The 2016 "Panamagate" – a list of foreign companies and their owners, provided a god-sent opportunity for army to conspire with judiciary leading to conviction of Nawaz Sharif, ofcourse on flimsy charges of employment in UAE. He is formally disqualified in April 2017 by Chief Justice Saqib Nisar with ridiculous judgement scripted with dialog from movies!

This is followed by months of manipulation by army to garner winnable candidates for Imran Khan Niazi. Eventually leading to open rigging in elections in favour of Imran and his anointment as Prime Minister of Pakistan in 2018. But did the Pakistan army achieve the elusive parity with India?

BJP is a party with history rooted in national service and dedication of RSS. From Atal Bihari Vajpayee to Narendra Modi, bulk of top BJP leadership come from same stable with decades spent traveling length & breadth of country serving and educating backwards areas without taking aid from fancy NGOs or Foreign Aids or even government, working tirelessly and in anonymity within local communities without expectation of favour or return. This spirit cultivates character of sacrifice, endurance, and ability to sense & shape people's pulse and behaviour. AB Vajpayee as prime minister unlocked nations potential by doubling on infrastructure, privatising loss-making public sectors companies, and focusing on financial stability. But Vajpayee will be most known for his courageous attempts at peace with Pakistan, be it with Nawaz Sharif or Musharraf. Narendra Modi on the other hand focused on fiscal discipline, while unleashing multiple waves of basic facilities for poor - tap water, electricity, gas, toilets, etc. Modi's JAM (Bank Accounts-Identity Card-Mobile) framework ensured money reaches most needy both with speed and without leakage, while also encouraging Fintech and other companies to use this technology stack in kickstarting digital India.

Given that the leadership of BJP is shaped by decades of selfless service, integrity, and dedication to nation with sworn determination to revive Hindu civilization & culture - how could an opportunistic stooge, a lothario from pubs of London, propped up on crutches of army, with selective sprinkling of Islamic touch be ever match or provide parity for Pakistan against India?

Within a year of Imran Khan Niazi coming to power it became plain to his handlers the incompetency not just of his leadership but also the abject stupidity of people surrounding him. Asad Umar the first finance minister of IK cabinet was fired for lack of delivery. But the new replacement also couldn't bring financial stability. Inflation was common theme throughout Imran Khan's tenure. His personal disasters on foreign policy front continue to reverberate and affect Pakistan downturn in relationship with US, India, Saudi Arabia, and China. Fiscal deficit and debt both ballooned during his tenure. But what kept him going was his unhinged rhetoric on "nazaria-e-Pakistan" and against Hindu-India, this bought him soft support from privileged class among the army, judiciary, bureaucrats, and media - the elite was never impacted by economic downturn and rejoiced at Imran Khan's almost daily twitter diarrhoea against Hindus, RSS, BJP, Modi & India, more so since the formal & constitutional merger of Jammu, Ladakh & Kashmir into India.

Modi govt, after failed attempts at peace with Pakistan, and with a sincere partner in Nawaz Sharif lost to internal political mechanization, decided to disengage completely from duplicitous Pakistan Army and its dummy - Imran Khan. Modi vowed to isolate Pakistan internationally. So successful is the isolation that even Taliban led Afghanistan voted against Pakistan for Asia Cup venue at behest of India.

Imran Khan was no match to Modi's resurgent India, and Pakistan Army began to feel uncomfortable with Imran's performance on economy and foreign policy, as both have direct impact on army’s ability to sustain itself. However, Imran seemed confident knowing army had no other choice politically and therefore felt indispensable. It's in this arrogance he decided to make changes in army ranks, prioritizing his favourite Gen Faiz Hameed to supersede incumbent Gen Bajwa thus trying to secure his own second term. Apparently, this was the last nail in Niazi's coffin, as it pushed army to play its own patented move by double crossing Niazi and aligning with Sharif brothers.

Pakistan today stands at the brink of a looming disaster - economically, socially, financially, politically, and territorially. Though Pakistan has seen tough times in the past, like the years after 1971 debacle, but then atleast the country was united socially and politically. Today’s Pakistan is - isolated, friendless, socially divided, poor and most importantly institutionally divided and at each other’s throats as a direct result of Project Imran. The objective of Project Imran was to manifest a new force in Pakistan Army’s own perceived image – that being, "militantly religious, nationalist and modern" but the crude reality of Pakistan Army’s real image is that of “demagogue, duplicitous and opportunist” and that’s what they ended up birthing with Project Imran.

The hard lesson for Pakistan to learn is – decisions made with intentions of fear, hate and negativity rebound upon you those very energy with greater magnitude, or as the Hindus have been saying for many millennia – Karma never misses an address.

___________________________________________________________________________________
The author is part-time student of South Asian Peace and Security Studies, with deep commitment to bring about change in South Asia. And have no political, government, NGO or media affiliations. And can be reached on Twitter @JungjooGernail