ISPR presser

The candid press conference by DG ISPR Maj Gen Babar Iftikhar on Thursday may have shifted the political scenario in the country a great deal. But let’s first rewind: former prime minister Imran Khan has built his current narrative – ‘I was ousted via a foreign conspiracy because of my independent foreign policy’ – on a few claims. One, that an ambassador’s ‘letter’ had shown enough evidence to prove that the US had colluded with PDM/PPP politicians to oust Imran Khan from office. Two, that the ouster was because of Imran Khan’s independent foreign policy – including Imran saying ‘absolutely not’ to US bases in Pakistan. Forward to the DG ISPR’s press talk: Maj-Gen Babar Iftikhar has firstly dismissed the idea of any ‘conspiracy’ by a foreign country, saying the military’s stance is clear in the NSC statement and then asking if the word ‘conspiracy’ could be found anywhere in the statement. The DG ISPR has also clarified that the Americans had not asked Pakistan for any bases. As for the meeting between the military establishment and the former PM, the DG ISPR has confirmed that this meeting did indeed take place, but on Imran Khan’s request, and not the military’s. The presser also served to clear away any confusion regarding the much-talked-about extension for Chief of Army Staff Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa: he will not be asking for or accepting any extension and will be retiring in November this year. The DG ISPR also strongly refuted all dangerous claims – made by Imran Khan – that Pakistan’s nuclear assets are or were ever in any danger under any government.

Essentially, what the ISPR press conference has done is put a lid on all the various conspiracy theories surrounding the ouster of the PTI government. For the last few weeks, the country has been listening to Imran Khan’s narrative on foreign conspiracies, ‘neutrality’, sovereign foreign policy, the nation’s honour, ‘absolutely not’, and ‘corruption’. In one go, the PTI and Imran Khan had tagged the entire opposing set of politicians, the media, and ‘state institutions’ as being part of a grand old conspiracy that is not just against Imran Khan but against Pakistan’s status as a sovereign nation. The ISPR press conference was necessary to clarify the armed forces’ stance on the alleged conspiracy against a prime minister and his government. It is unlikely that the PTI will give up its narrative so easily but it will have been deflated quite a bit by the Thursday presser. Shifting the outrage from ‘conspiracy’ to ‘interference’ may work on social media for a while but will not be enough to sustain mass protests for too long. The army’s strong notice regarding social media campaigns that defame the army high command may also lead to some toning down of rhetoric online. The PTI’s hope now may be to insist on a judicial commission to be formed on the ‘letter’ issue – to perhaps stretch the issue as long as possible in the public imagination.

Apart from the immediate political crisis in the country, the DG ISPR’s press conference was also instructive in the very categorical statements that came from the rostrum. From ‘there will be no martial law in Pakistan’ to the military being ‘apolitical rather than neutral’ to ‘keep us out of this [political] discourse’ – it is evident that the emphasis of the military top brass at the moment is on its lack of any political involvement. DG ISPR Maj-Gen Babar has made it clear that the military will work with whichever government is in power. This is a welcome statement. It has been reiterated again and again over the past few weeks that no good can come out of an entire government being held hostage to one man’s whims and conspiracy theories. The constitution was violated just to peddle this narrative. It is now time for outlandish claims to be put to rest once and for all. Perhaps the Shehbaz Sharif government should declassify the NSC meeting minutes so that any lingering doubt is also removed. All parties and stakeholders must understand that, while politics and protests are a legitimate part of democracy, they cannot be used for hate-mongering and incitement to violence.