Freudian slip?

A ‘slip of the tongue’, a lot of talk on foreign policy, and the promise that he will go down fighting ‘till the last ball’ and will not stop his efforts towards a sovereign Pakistan – in truth the PM’s speech last night seemed more like the launch of an election campaign. Prime Minister Imran Khan addressed the nation live on Thursday night and, contrary to some expectations, neither resigned nor revealed much else other than apparently inadvertently – though one could argue otherwise – outing the US as the country that is behind the ‘foreign conspiracy’ document the government has been talking about the past few days. The better part of the prime minister’s talk was a throwback to almost all the times he has addressed the nation – dwelling on why he joined politics, the opposition’s corruption, the way Pakistan was treated during the war on terror.

The main peg of the address though was an ‘independent foreign policy’, away from any interference or coercion by any other country. This is probably going to be the PTI’s main slogan for the next elections, which by the looks of it could be held soon if the vote of no-confidence succeeds on Sunday. It seems the PM may have realised that too, which is why has doubled down on the foreign conspiracy he says is out to get him and which he says includes people from the opposition. At this point, futile though it may be, it is important to urge all stakeholders – especially the PM and his party – in this power battle to refrain from dealing out labels of treason; this is a dangerous narrative in an already polarized society. It is now quite obvious also that anyone voting against the PM on Sunday will be labelled a sell-out in a grand conspiracy that goes against Pakistan’s sovereignty.

The ‘letter/document/memo’ the PTI government has been using to allege this international conspiracy was also brought up at a meeting yesterday of the National Security Committee, which has noted that the contents of the message are undiplomatic and blatant interference in the internal affairs of Pakistan by the “country in question”. Notably, the name of the country was not mentioned, nor did the NSC mention any involvement of local actors in the matter. The opposition has been quick to react to PM Imran’s speech – saying he has done a disservice by mentioning the US in the alleged plot to oust him. Former diplomats and foreign affairs specialists have had pretty much the same reaction: such allegations can end up doing much worse than the government may have realised and that in the foreign policy and diplomacy domain there are many memos and ‘letters’ that talk about various countries’ opinions regarding government decisions. The routine is to not disclose such notes at a jalsa or to journalists or to the whole nation in a live speech, potentially damaging relations with a powerful country.

The PM’s speech had followed claims by the opposition that he had been asking for an ‘NRO’ or a safe exit. Obviously, the government had denied these rumours. There was also talk that the prime minister may have been looking for a way out of the vote of no-confidence in exchange for him dissolving the assemblies and calling early elections. Regardless of whether these claims had any merit, the fact is that we have a sitting prime minister who has alleged that the US has threatened him and his government. He has alleged that the opposition leaders are part of this conspiracy. He has alleged that big money has been exchanged – both as part of the ‘foreign conspiracy’ and to buy votes of dissenting PTI members. And he has alleged that all this has been done because he wanted to pursue an independent foreign policy. Conspicuously absent – and not surprisingly – was any introspection on his government’s performance in governing the country. But it seems the time for that is long gone, and PM Imran Khan has a pretty potent slogan ready for the next elections, especially in a country that has had its fair share of having felt ‘betrayed’ by superpowers.