Propaganda is the best tool for keeping the masses ignorant of the facts and realities, and it has always been utilized effectively by Pakistan’s invisible forces.
It has been few a weeks since the establishment-backed government of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf was installed in the country through the controversial general elections in which the most popular party in Punjab province, the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz), was denied a level playing field.
Imran Khan, the new prime minister, was portrayed as a reformist and a visionary by the invisible forces in a massive propaganda campaign. As a result, many in Pakistan have started believing that this new pawn of the establishment has the talent and skills to govern the country. During his election campaign, Khan focused all his attention on getting back the money looted from the country and to refuse to surrender to pressure if he came to power. To the contrary, he seems to be a leader who knows nothing about state affairs and who cannot resist internal and external pressures.
Khan’s decision to appoint an Ahmadi, Atif Mian, as a member of his economic advisory team elicited enormous pressure from the religious right wing on his government as adherents to the faith are considered blasphemers by clerics and their supporters. It was the right move to appoint Mian as he has vast experience and expertise in this domain, but Khan was not able to stick to his decision as he was put under immense pressure to remove him because of his faith. Khan did not take long to reverse his decision and ask Mian to resign. Mian is gone and his economic management skills are now going to waste.
Since Khan has been playing the religious card against the previous PML-N government, and he deliberately declared the party an ally of the Ahmadis to grab the religious vote bank, he knew that it was better to retreat and not lock horns with the religious clerics and right wing.
Khan’s immature diplomatic approach and his ignorance of protocol also caused Pakistan embarrassment on the global stage when he put French President Emmanuel Macron’s phone call on hold. While most high-level phone calls are prearranged, Khan deliberately gave the impression that Macron called him randomly and that he was too busy meeting with the country’s TV news anchors to talk with him.
As if this was not enough, his unimpressive meeting with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo failed to yield any results for Pakistan. In fact, Pompeo only spent a few hours in Pakistan and then left for India, where he signed defense and strategic accords. He asked Pakistan to do more to counter terrorism and extremism on its soil.
Instead of addressing foreign policy issues, Khan has chosen to fix domestic problems first and for that, he has established a task force to take back overseas money that has been looted from Pakistan. This accountability gimmick is so old and so unsuccessful that even a common man knows that it is only about victimizing the opponents of the establishment.
Khan’s latest appeal to Pakistanis living abroad to send donations for the construction of the Diamer-Bhasha Dam and to help him increase the donation foreign reserve of the country is an indication that he is not aware of even the basic techniques required to run the state. The cost of constructing this dam is around US$14 billion, according to economists, and anyone with a basic understanding of economics can easily figure out that it is not possible to build this dam with charity funds. Likewise, states are never run on donations.
Charity cannot thwart the economic and looming currency crises in Pakistan. If donations could thwart an economic crisis and put the country on the path of prosperity, then all the third world countries would have become first world countries by now by simply asking citizens to donate. It is just not that simple – running a country means understanding its problems and systemic flaws and being able to find solutions. It is all about attracting global investment, reviving local production and starting mega infrastructure projects.
Throughout his political career, Khan has been saying that he has the solutions for all the country’s problems
Throughout his political career, Khan has been saying that he has the solutions for all the country’s problems and that he is going to get back the money generated by corrupt practices and sent abroad. Since Khan is in power now he should fulfill his promises of bringing that black money back to the country and if it was mere sloganeering, he should accept the fact that rhetotic alone is not enough to run the government, nor will it put money in the treasury.
The solution to Pakistan’s deteriorating economic condition is to cut the defense budget and instead spend the money on education, healthcare and technology. Since Khan is beholden to the powerful establishment, it seems highly unlikely that be will be able to cut the defense budget. After all, Nawaz Sharif was accused of being a traitor for challenging the traditional defense narrative and wanting to end the hegemony of the establishment. His removal from office as a result of a court verdict on charges of corruption was a questionable decision in the eyes of many in the country and his supporters believe it was actually the nexus of the establishment and judiciary that threw him out of power for refusing to be dictated to by the establishment.
Khan does not have much time as the elections that brought him to power lack credibility, raising serious questions about the legitimacy of the new government. Instead of relying on charity, he needs to fix the economy and for that to happen he will heavily rely on loans from the International Monetary Fund. But will he be able to put Pakistan on the path of progress merely with loans from international monetary organizations? They can only bring temporary relief – for permanent relief, structural reforms are required. However, Khan is under immense pressure from the establishment and his inability to understand global politics presents a serious problem.
It seems the Khan-led PTI can attract the attention of social and electronic media, but real politics and governance are beyond its abilities. The propaganda that gave birth to the establishment-backed Khan as a self-proclaimed “messiah” is dying a natural death.
What an incredibly biased and shitty article .. Any time an indian news outlet posts shit about imran khan it really restores our faith in him as Pakistanis
Kudos to the author for writing the inconvenient truths about IK and Pakistan’s litany of woes. The writer is indeed correct to point out the inadequacies of Imran "Dimwit" Khan, who was catapulted into the PM’s chair by dint of the Pakistani Army’s manipulations! The electronic media entities were restricted from reporting about Sharif while saturation coverage was given to IK’s election rallies. Someone from Mars would have thought that IK was the only candidate in the fray! So easily are the Pakistan’s masses brainwashed by the usual DEEP STATE! A sense of Deja vu prevails in the Pakistani state.
IK spent years berating ex-PM Nawaz Sharif and his corruption, but conspicuously ignored the same corrupt elite that exists in the Paki Army’s top echelons! Instead he blames all of Pakistan’s ills for the last 70 years on the political elite, while giving the "invisible hand" (aka the Pak Army and the ISI), a free pass! Go figure.
It is the utter dishonesty and deceit of IK for not pointing out that it is the DEEP STATE (aka the Pak Army and the ISI) that choreographed the dismissal of past political leaders who had the temerity to challenge the Army’s power and wishes.
IK is too stupid and ignorant to right the ills of Pakistan, as he is incapable of taking an honest and warts-and-all approach to deal with the deep ills of Pakistan. By deferring to the primitive and criminal Islamist brigade, IK has shown himself to be as spineless AS N Sharif and the entire establishment!
Pakistan has NO FUTURE as long as it has spineless leaders like Imran ‘NUMBSKULL’ Khan, who is treading a well-worn path taken by previous leaders!
Totally against the ground realities. Sorry.
"Establishment backed government"
lol. Now this is propaganda.
What a load of biased crap. Talking as if Nawaz or Zardari know how to run a Country. What have they given us? They have only looted the wealth of Pakistan. Imran Khan is honest and no one can deny that. This quality in its own is better than all Khan’s opponents.
Think about Pakistan.
Great article whih reflects on the reality of situation. Ofcourse pakistanis wont like this as they are currently undergoing an ‘IK Fever’. It will take some time for that to end. The support for IK is last hope and well, the hope is not a plan. IK is successfully able to tap the corruption switch in people mind, rightfully, but that does not make him upto the office. He has never worked in office in his life. Denial will be the only reaction here..
Nawaz economic policy was; go get loan, eat half of it spend half of it on stuff that shows. So that he can win again next election. What a mess they did on the CPEC also. Friendship with China is great, but it does not mean you don’t do due diligence. And sell out cheap.. when you don’t invest in the areas which are essential for long term economic growth. You create the desperate situation Where you negotiate from a position of absolute weakness. Even you closest kin will not give you any reasonable deal. Too much risk. The aurher either does not understand anything about economy or has wrested interest, or even worst it is malacious attempt to undermine the county. Here is the bottom line; he is supporting a convicted corrupt politition proven failure against someone who just came in office. What a sham. How could the editor of this magazine even allows that
It is not even worth responding. Comparing Nawaz and Imran is stupid. Everything Nawaz does is for power and to support his enterprise. Everything Imran does is for the country. Not for personal gains. This is based on watching these two for more than 20 years.
Syed Fazal Abbas sb.
Sir thanks for showing him the true picture!
writer is extremely biased and everything seems worst to him due to his political affiliations.
Babar Khan
Many thanks for your kind words.
Such a nice answer with logic to shut his mouth
This writer is reacting emotionally as this piece shows his lack of understanging of political theory.
Mian may have "vast experience and expertise", but his Western education makes him unfit for Pak job. This kind of education has brought West itself to debt, depression, and despair, and he would have imposed the same on Pakistan. Who needs that?
Putting Macron’s phone call on hold is not a big deal. Putin is famous for making everyone wait for hours, including the Queen of England, lol.
Pompeo’s visit was much less a "failure" than anticipated. Body language showed that in fact it was rather lively.
Domestic problems must be fixed first. Charity begins at home.
US$14 billion price tag is an overstatement. Dams can be built for much less if no corruption. Egypt, China have built Dams with internal money if nation decides.
In due time Defense budget will be cut and spending on education, healthcare and technology increased when funds are generated.
Who cares if the Elections lack credibility? What have Elections given Pakistan so far, or India, or West for that matter?
The main problem in Pakistan is waste, and the reason is internal corruption. This can be easily rectified by draconian fines on people who take bribes, and then punishing those who give bribes with double the penalty of the taker. That should solve 90% of Pakistan’s problems.
Governance is not a popularity contest. Our Prophet AS, Ataturk, Jinnah, all were poor "politicians". Infidels like Gandhi and Nehru excelled in this art. So what?
Good governance is making people of differing ideologies work together. Even in our Prophet AS Cabinet there were centrifugal opinions, but he made them work towards a common goal. From the words of IK he seeks inspiration from the Prophet AS and Jinnah. His success will be in his ability to keep his word.
wow dude does your morning coffee cup has ‘Fine day to shit-post’ written on it? because all you’re writing is about how to use good vocab and cynically speculating to dis Imran Khan
never such a crap and biased column before, very very poor assessment of the sitution, seems like a imagination of the writer