Very high stakes

Politics is always a high-stakes game – especially in Pakistan. And there’s nothing more high stakes than a former ISI DG being hauled up in military custody and being court-martialled.

Following this major development, we have seen key ministers say that the investigation will widen to include other actors who may have played a role in instigating and planning mob violence against the state and state-owned installations.

The indirect reference in this should be as clear as day - pointing to former prime minister Imran Khan. In fact, Mr Khan has been quite vocal on this issue with more than one statement by him in recent days where he has said that the arrest of General Faiz (r) Hameed is get the retired general to turn against him.

The charge of inciting violence against the state and state institutions and of inciting mutiny among military ranks carries a hefty prison sentence and if convicted would see the former prime minister permanently disqualified from contesting for or holding public office.

We have also seen allegations being made against senior PTI leaders of working with Pakistan’s enemies across the border and claims have been made by ministers that such activities are anti-state and those involved will be prosecuted.

Ironically enough, if the situation was reversed and if the PTI were in power and PML-N or PPP leaders were found exchanging WhatsApp messages with an Indian journalist where the state and military were being roundly criticized, the PTI would have immediately branded them as traitors and would have prosecuted them under the treason laws. Furthermore, the PTI’s formidable social media team would have taken the lead in being judge, jury and executioner – labelling them as traitors not worthy of holding any public office.

Moving on, what is the way forward?

The General Faiz investigation is bound to widen and is likely to include more retired officers and the charges are also going to be widened. The objective would be to build up pressure on Imran Khan to, at the very least, admit to being the mastermind and primary instigator of the May 9 riots and attacks on military installations.

Of course, were Imran Khan to actually admit to that, he would think that the government would use it to put him away from politics for good. So his hesitation in refusing to admit to any involvement is understandable because for him the stakes are very high. His statement that he wanted Faiz Hameed to continue as DG only because he was working well in the interest of the country should be seen in this context.

The current impasse means that there is likely to be a further continuation of the rhetoric being used by the former prime minister. He has said that he will apologize for the May 9 violence only if CCTV footage is shared to prove the accusations are correct. However, he knows that on May 9 he was already in detention so there can’t be any CCTV footage to show this..

Of course, things would not have come to this had the former prime minister not been so dismissive of the rest of Pakistan’s political parties, and adopted a more pragmatic approach one would expect of a politician stuck in a bad situation.

When in power he showed that he would rather go it alone than talk to any political party - in fact it would be safe to say that speeches he made as prime minister two or even three years into his government sounded more like what one would give at an election rally where the general tone is adversarial and confrontational as far as other rival political parties are concerned.

That mindset, unfortunately, Imran Khan has not shed to this day and those close to him and who have worked closely with him say that it is very unlikely that it will change.

Also what has not changed is the way the PTI’s social media teams and party’s followers act on social media with fake news and much disinformation originating at their end. The impression that is given is that anything that portrays Pakistan negatively and soils its reputation especially in the eyes of the outside world should be disseminated far and wide - regardless of whether it is true or not.

The best way forward would have been to work with the other political parties and try to build a common platform that strongly advocates the supremacy of the constitution and elected civilian rule in the country.

That, for now, seems a distant and fading option.

The writer is a journalist based in Karachi. He tweets/posts @omar_quraishi and can be reached at: omarrquraishi@gmail.com