Indian media gloats over turmoil in Pakistan

KARACHI: While attack on PTI Chairman Imran Khan attracted global attention, the Indian media is happy as it finds political chaos in Pakistan as advantageous for their country.

India’s NDTV, citing government’s sources in New Delhi, said the assassination attempt on former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan has not only plunged the country deeper into turmoil but spawned new strategic factors for India, ranging from the future of Pakistan’s all-powerful military and intelligence establishment to its political stability.

While Pakistan’s army tries to control the internal chaos, presenting a reprieve from hostilities on the border areas for India, New Delhi is also closely monitoring the “very critical” internal law and order situation in the country, the officials added.

The official told the TV turmoil in the polity of Pakistan is “good news” for India, as it can “breathe easy” for some time. The official also shared a theory behind why Imran Khan, in his clash with the Pakistani establishment, chose the route of mass mobilisation as a show of strength, effectively paralysing the government, and engineering a possible collapse.

Everyone in Pakistan knows that Imran wanted to make his protege the next army chief, the officer said. The official also said that Lt-Gen Asim Munir was DG ISI chief when Imran was the PM, and it seems his reports had irked Imran.

Hindustan Times echoed Imran allegations against the establishment, and commented that the attack appears to be a warning shot to Niazi to stay away from his brand of power. There were protests for the first time outside the house of Peshawar corps commander.

“Exactly a week later, the attack happens, preceded by an alert of Lahore Police Counter-Terrorist-Department, and for the first time in the history of Pakistan a huge protest takes place outside the house of XI Corps commander and at other places in Punjab and Sindh. Imran Niazi used the attack to his advantage and named Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah and a senior military officer for trying to kill him.”

The newspaper predicted further destabilisation of “the polity in the Islamic Republic with nuclear weapons.” It will also raise questions whether Pakistan Army Chief Gen Qamar Jawed Bajwa should be allowed to demit office on November 29 when the country is going through a political turmoil with the former PM inciting his supporters to take on the Pakistan Army.

It is quite evident that political and economic turmoil in Pakistan will worsen further before it gets any better. It is quite ironical that the same Niazi that Pakistan Army had pushed into political power against Nawaz Sharif has now come back to bite them.

Indian Express, quoting former diplomat Sharat Sabharwal, said Pakistan’s past record suggests that the truth (about the attack on Imran) may never be known. No convincing answer has been given till today regarding the culprits behind the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, also a very popular leader, in 2007. Given the current mood in Pakistan, the PTI’s narrative is likely to have more takers. However, it is hard to see the logic of the powers-that-be in Pakistan making a clumsy attempt on Khan’s life, knowing full well that it would boost his popularity.

According to the former diplomat, even though the denouement of the ongoing political crisis remains uncertain, Pakistan is likely to see greater turmoil in the coming days. What is also certain is this may not be the last such crisis for Pakistan. It will continue coming back to the brink periodically until it resolves its dysfunction caused, inter alia, by the civil-military imbalance.

According to British daily Guardian, from the assassination of its first PM in 1951, the country has suffered waves of brutal sectarian conflict and murders. The newspaper referred to Pakistan summoning the US ambassador in Islamabad for a dressing down after President Joe Biden described the South Asian country as “one of the most dangerous nations in the world”. Guardian report said Biden was apparently referring to Pakistan’s combination of nuclear weapons and apparent instability. He might have been talking about the threat faced by the country’s own politicians instead.

Wall Street Journal says the attack has heightened political tension, deepened divide and shaken the military. Washington Post said the attack on Khan is likely to put any political equilibrium out of reach for years. His supporters already felt hard done by, blaming the establishment for Khan’s lost majority in parliament. The attack on their leader might well cause their anger to curdle into permanent resentment.

Khan’s Islamist, anti-Western rhetoric hardly inspires confidence either. Khan’s supporters will point out that Pakistanis don’t care about concerns expressed by liberals in the West or elsewhere. The country no longer needs their backing.

But Pakistan — close to bankruptcy, wracked by the after-effects of climate change and burdened by an unproductive economy — can’t survive without outside protectors. And, of late, those protectors have generally been found in Beijing.