{"id":55224,"date":"2022-04-02T22:41:19","date_gmt":"2022-04-03T02:41:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.trinidadandtobagonews.com\/blog\/?p=55224"},"modified":"2022-04-21T05:41:33","modified_gmt":"2022-04-21T09:41:33","slug":"imran-khan-takes-on-america","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.trinidadandtobagonews.com\/blog\/?p=55224","title":{"rendered":"Imran Khan takes on America"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Ejaz Akram
\nApril 02 2022 – thecradle.co<\/A><\/em><\/p>\n

Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan<\/a>After a humiliating defeat in Afghanistan and loss of credibility over Ukraine, the era of US unipolarity seems to be entering its terminal phase, marked by lashing out ferociously in all directions. The most recent of these offensives occurred last week when the government of Pakistan alleged that Washington was trying to engineer regime change in Islamabad.<\/p>\n

This time the US was caught red-handed. The claim was not made via a leak or a fringe observer, but by the prime minister of Pakistan, Imran Khan, himself. While the US State Department has denied any involvement, the political drama has only just begun.
\n
\nEmerging from a crucial meeting of Afghanistan\u2019s neighbors, China\u2019s top diplomat took a public whack at Washington\u2019s behavior. Foreign Minister Wang Yi said that China will not allow the US to drag smaller nations into conflict and sharply rebuked the \u2018US Cold War mentality.\u2019 Beijing is determined not to allow the US to steal Pakistan from its inner circle of vital Asian partners that today include Russia, Iran, Afghanistan, and others.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, when a coalition partner of the governing Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party (PTI) announced its seven members would switch to the opposition, Khan essentially lost his majority in the National Assembly, consisting of 342 parliamentarians. More than a dozen of his party members also threatened to cross the political aisle.<\/p>\n

But the Pakistani opposition had mistakenly believed that as soon as they showed their required numerical majority in the parliament, the prime minister would either step down or resign. But that is not what appears to be happening.<\/p>\n

Instead, in the next 24 hours, the voting will begin in parliament to count the actual numbers. Many analysts see this as the end of the Khan government in Pakistan; others believe the prime minister\u2019s hold on power will be consolidated and the opposition and their foreign underwriters will suffer a permanent blow.<\/p>\n

If the courts entertain the government\u2019s petition to look into the foreign meddling and bribery cases, then Khan may have more time to develop a full court reaction. In just a few days, Khan has already displayed a modest demonstration of his street power. The mood and sentiment across the social media spectrum, as of now, is lopsidedly in favor of the prime minister. Large segments of the public has loudly rallied around him as the spokesman of their aspirations, while opposition party leaders are being characterized as corrupt individuals who want to topple an elected government.<\/p>\n

The country\u2019s main opposition parties are the Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) and the Pakistan People\u2019s Party (PPP), both dynastic groups that ruled for decades until Khan came along with his campaign promises to root out the rampant corruption and cronyism that has plagued Pakistani politics for years.<\/p>\n

The letter<\/strong><\/p>\n

Millions of Pakistanis poured out to see PM Khan speak on 27 March, when he alleged that \u201cforeign powers are engineering a regime change in Pakistan.\u201d Waving a letter drawn from his coat pocket, Khan threatened to reveal direct, written threats to Pakistan and himself.<\/p>\n

Top cabinet members [Minister for Planning, Development, Reforms and Special Initiatives] Asad Umar and [Minister of Information] Fawad Chaudhry held a joint press conference where they revealed further details of this controversial letter. Khan then invited several members of his cabinet, media and the Pakistani security community to view the document first hand.<\/p>\n

Government opponents dismissed Khan\u2019s allegations outright, amidst an enormous amount of hubris and posturing soon to follow. Pakistani opposition leader Shahbaz Sharif (an aspirant for the prime minister position) proclaimed that he will jump ship and join Imran Khan if the letter is real and the PM was speaking truthfully. Similarly, prominent anti-establishment TV anchor Saleem Safi said that if the letter were real, he would retire from his position and drop out of media altogether.<\/p>\n

But within hours, a mysterious petition was filed in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) with the Chief Justice Islamabad Athar Minallah issuing a legal opinion that Imran Khan may not share this letter in public because of his secrecy oath. Such a swift ruling could not have come from Pakistan\u2019s highest judicial authority about a fake letter, surely?<\/p>\n

The next day, the country\u2019s National Security Committee (NSC) convened for a meeting. In attendance were Pakistan\u2019s prime minister, the army chief, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) and naval chiefs, the National Security Advisor (NSA), and several other important officials.<\/p>\n

Opposition members boycotted the meeting, but participants took a unanimous decision to reprimand the United States for its actions and ensure that Pakistan would not allow US authorities off the hook so easily. Subsequently, the Foreign Office called the acting US ambassador and reprimanded him \u2013 none of which could have conceivably been done on the pretext of a false letter.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s in the letter?<\/STRONG><\/p>\n

According to statements made by Khan during the NSC meeting, senior officials from the US State Department (believed to be an Undersecretary of State) sent the letter on 7 March via Asad Majeed Khan, the Pakistani ambassador in Washington.<\/p>\n

The document reportedly states that there will be a no-confidence motion (NCM) against the prime minister soon, that Khan should know that it is coming and that he should not resist the NCM but go down with it. If he tries to resist it, the letter allegedly continues, Khan and Pakistan will face horrible consequences.<\/p>\n

The letter mentions the NCM about eight times. The next day, on 8 March, a no-confidence vote was indeed announced. According to Khan, he has security agency information on how the illegal buying and selling of votes took place among Pakistan\u2019s parliamentarians during this time. Then, on 9 March, the nation\u2019s military leadership declared itself \u2018neutral\u2019 between the opposition parties and the prime minister.<\/p>\n

Khan criticized the military for taking a neutral stance, saying a vital institution of the state should not show \u201cneutrality\u201d to those openly and willfully being used as tools of regime change, orchestrated by the adversaries of Pakistan. But after Foreign Minister Shah Qureshi\u2019s return from Beijing, the military now appears to be favoring Khan\u2019s position. It seems that either a phone call or a message must have come directly from Beijing.<\/p>\n

Consequences of US involvement<\/STRONG><\/p>\n

If the foreign meddling case is a priori to the no-confidence motion, then it is possible that Khan will have legal relief and those accused of collaborating, aiding and assisting an external regime-change conspiracy will be indicted. This would include opposition political party members and Pakistani media personalities who have purportedly been traipsing to and from the US embassy in the days, weeks and months preceding the motion \u2013 now set for a seat-gripping vote on Sunday. If this can be proven in a court of law, many opposition leaders may end up behind bars.<\/p>\n

According to Pakistan\u2019s highest national security office and judging from the IHC notice, it appears clear that the letter was legitimate and the US is guilty of meddling in Pakistan\u2019s internal affairs. But this is not 2001 when former Pakistani president, General Pervez Musharraf, capitulated to the Americans upon receiving a single phone call. Today\u2019s Pakistan has a stronger self-identity after two decades of grueling and unrecognized sacrifices for Washington\u2019s unsuccessful war on terror. Equally, they now also understand that the US is a declining power.<\/p>\n

Most Pakistanis do not care about US sanctions any longer, especially as they watch other nations circumvent them with new allies. The public mood and sentiment is to dismiss sanctions threats, recognizing that there will be consequences from the Pakistani side which could lead to the expulsion of American diktats from the Af-Pak-Iran region.<\/p>\n

During his 1 April interview on national television (PTV), Imran Khan exhorted the Pakistani nation to reject the alliance of corrupt parties and western-backed media. He believed that the west\u2019s next step will be to take his life. Pakistan\u2019s information minister had said the same only a day earlier.<\/p>\n

If Khan didn\u2019t have the ability to rally the street, they could have spared him, but his current popularity and obstinate resistance to US bullying tactics make him a prime target for assassination. Most Pakistanis have long considered the killing of leaders such as Liaquat Ali Khan, Z.A. Bhutto, Zia al Haq and Benazir Bhutto to be the work of US intelligence. To those citizens, any perceived threat to PM Imran Khan\u2019s life is a real and imminent danger. Very rapidly, the security around him has been reshuffled and new measures have been taken to provide him with extra protection.<\/p>\n

Khan\u2019s narrative about US interference has gained heavy momentum in the past week. The storyline is one of two sides butting heads at a critical juncture in the country\u2019s history: on one side, an Indo-US alliance, corrupt Pakistani opposition parties, the country\u2019s corporate media, and a handful of western-styled liberals. On the other side, a legally elected, popular and feisty prime minister, supported by the Russo-China alliance and an overwhelming majority of Pakistanis.<\/p>\n

With those odds, it may be politically and legally impossible for Pakistan\u2019s military to maintain its ostensible posture of neutrality no matter how much US pressure comes at it. Time may be on Khan\u2019s side.<\/p>\n

Source: https:\/\/thecradle.co\/Article\/analysis\/8673<\/A><\/I><\/p>\n

The Ouster Of Imran Khan: How Much Involvement Did the US Have in Pakistan\u2019s Coup? <\/A>
\nBy Alan Macleod – April 18th, 2022<\/em>
\nImran Khan joins the long list of deposed prime ministers and underscores the reality that, in Pakistan, whoever the people elect, the U.S.-backed military is always in charge. <\/p>\n

Ousted Pakistani Leader, Imran Khan, Was Challenging Investment Treaties That Give Corporations Excessive Power<\/A>
\nBy Manuel Perez-Rocha – April 18, 2022<\/em>
\nThe parliament of Pakistan recently ousted Prime Minister Imran Khan in a no-confidence vote. The reasons for the former cricket star\u2019s political downfall are not entirely clear. His economic policies were a mixed bag at best, but he deserves credit for one thing: he\u2019d taken a bold stand against international investment agreements that give transnational corporations excessive power over national governments.<\/p>\n

Pakistan\u2019s Godfathers<\/STRONG><\/BIG>
\nBy Tariq Ali – April 12, 2022 – newleftreview.org<\/A><\/em>
\nOver the Pakistani airwaves, sports commentators frequently groan that the national cricket team \u2013 which most people follow with religious fervour \u2013 is \u2018once again in trouble\u2019. The same lament applies semi-permanently to Pakistan\u2019s politics. This month has seen yet another crisis in the upper echelons of government. To avoid a no-confidence vote that his Party for Justice (PTI) would undoubtedly have lost, Prime Minister Imran Khan asked the President to dissolve parliament and call new elections. This unusual move was necessary, he explained, because the US, backed by the opposition parties, was engaged in a soft coup to topple him. The Opposition appealed to the Supreme Court, asking it to rule on the legality of the dissolution. On 7 April, the five judges unanimously agreed that the government had breached the constitution. They reconvened the Assembly and declared that the no-confidence motion must be brought by 9 April.
\nFull Article : newleftreview.org<\/A><\/em><\/p>\n

Was the US involved in Pakistani PM\u2019s departure, as he claims?<\/A>
\nBy Scott Ritter – April 12, 2022<\/em>
\nTo claim Imran Khan\u2019s downfall was solely American doing is to ignore reality. But so is to claim the US had nothing to do with it <\/p>\n

Pakistani PM loses no-confidence vote<\/A>
\nApril 09, 2022<\/I>
\nImran Khan had previously claimed the opposition was acting on orders from abroad <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Ejaz Akram April 02 2022 – thecradle.co After a humiliating defeat in Afghanistan and loss of credibility over Ukraine, the era of US unipolarity seems to be entering its terminal phase, marked by lashing out ferociously in all directions. The most recent of these offensives occurred last week when the government of Pakistan alleged … Continue reading Imran Khan takes on America<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,5,1618,1534,1245,1610,39],"tags":[1632,1633,42],"class_list":["post-55224","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general-tt","category-international","category-nato","category-pakistan","category-russia","category-ukraine","category-usa","tag-ejaz-akram","tag-imran-khan","tag-war"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.trinidadandtobagonews.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55224","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.trinidadandtobagonews.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.trinidadandtobagonews.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.trinidadandtobagonews.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.trinidadandtobagonews.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=55224"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"http:\/\/www.trinidadandtobagonews.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55224\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":55279,"href":"http:\/\/www.trinidadandtobagonews.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55224\/revisions\/55279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.trinidadandtobagonews.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=55224"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.trinidadandtobagonews.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=55224"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.trinidadandtobagonews.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=55224"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}