Imran Khan: Defiance, Diplomacy And Friendships Of The Unconstitutional Kind!

Imran Khan became the first ever Prime Minister of Pakistan to be voted out of power through a no-confidence motion after a daylong high-voltage drama yesterday that finally culminated in a midnight climax in Islamabad. Perhaps this is the reason as to why the Pakistan parliamentary system had never been used to such political games behind a confidence move unlike in India where such games are very common and often the transfers of power are more or less smooth; Pakistan being more used to army coups and abrupt, often violent, changes. However, the delaying tactics indulged in by Imran and team were not at all constitutional. The irony gets more emphatic as Imran Khan was a democratically elected Prime Minster in 2018 general elections. The monthlong political theatrics had seemingly ended on 7^thApril when the Supreme Court of the country ordered the confidence motion to take place on 9^th April thus reconstituting the dissolved National Assembly. But Imran had other ideas still.

 

His defiance has been phenomenal, not bothering about the constitution or even about the directions of the Supreme Court. On the historic day of 9^th April 2022, termed by many as a sad day for Pakistan democracy, the National Assembly reconvened as ordered, but the motion was not introduced. Imran Khan directed his foreign minister to ask the Speaker for a debate on the foreign conspiracy, and as a result the session was adjourned repeatedly with the opposition having unsuccessful parleys with the Speaker to introduce the motion as ordered by the apex court.

 

Imran stuck to his foreign conspiracy theory even after clarifying in his second national address on 7^th April that the supposed ‘secret cyphered letter’ could not be shared in public as it’d then compromise national security. He, however, said that he’d share in with the Supreme Court. All throughout he openly implicated America as the perpetrator of the conspiracy thus delivering a vital blow to the country’s bilateral relations with the US which is totally contrary to normal international diplomacy apart from his earlier indiscretion of visiting Russia during Ukraine invasion. He also stuck to his praise of India’s non-compromising foreign policy which also would make him unpopular among various Pakistan circles in near future. Imran appealed to the people to come out on the streets and start a revolution in protest against the ‘horse trading traitors’ who were welcoming slavery of a foreign super power again might which might eventually lead to unrest and violence in the country, already on the brink of a looming economic crisis.

 

Contrary to his resolve to play on till the last ball Imran in actuality evaded not only the last ball but the full over yesterday. He did not show his sportsmanship of yore as he never visited the National Assembly along with his PTI supporters and instead, kept on making the unconstitutional moves sitting at his residence. He called for a cabinet meet in the evening and also planned to file a review petition in the Court.

 

From late evening things started happening in quick succession as it was apparent that the Supreme Court deadline was going to be breached. The Chief Justice ordered the doors of the Court to be opened for a midnight review, and the local police began posting forces including a prisoner van in front of the parliament house. The ghosts of a case of the contempt of court, imminent police arrests and a possible Army intervention finally convinced the Speaker to reconvene the session minutes before midnight. And, more appalling scenes were in store.

 

It was unbelievable to behold an almost crying Speaker of the National Assembly demonstrating the ‘foreign conspiracy’ letter before the members and stating emotionally that he had been a worker of the PTI (Imran’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf) for decades along with a deep friendship with Imran over the last decades, and that was why he could not betray his leader. He resigned then and there. His Deputy who was delaying the no-confidence vote on 3^rd April followed suit. So then, personal friendships came in the way of observing the sacred democratic and constitutional norms. The newly assigned Speaker occupied the chair now and he introduced the motion moments before midnight.

 

The laboriously manual counting process went for more than an hour, and finally, the results were declared that the motion was passed with 174 votes in favor and none against as the PTI members were not present and the defecting 22 PTI members also did not vote in fear of being disqualified. In the meantime, Imran Khan vacated his official PM residence and shifted to his private residence.

 

The National Assembly is set to continue its full five-year term and the new Prime Minister designate Shehbaz Sharif, the younger brother of the three-time Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, of the PML-N (Nawaz’ Pakistan Muslim League-N) party to take over charge tomorrow, Monday, the 11^th of April 2022. The 70-year-old Shehbaz Sharif, the three-time Chief Minister of Punjab, does not however have a clean record as he was arrested for money laundering in 2020.

 

Pakistan is looking at an uncertain future, because it is not sure how long the coalition government with PML-N and PPP (Bilawal Bhutto Zardari’s Pakistan Peoples Party) political parties plus the PTI defectors would last as they have a lot of differences on various issues. Of course, the first priority for the new government would naturally be setting the damaged international diplomacy right apart from taking on the economic crisis. Further, the cries of the PTI supporters like ‘bringing back the looters’ or ‘a good man sent home’ combined with the thousands of Imran supporters seen on the streets in Lahore last night are not going to augur well for Pakistan’s secure democratic future. We hope another neighbor of India does not go the Sri Lanka way. 

Pakistan Supreme Court Hits The Imran Khan Foreign-Hand Bouncer For A Six!

The high-voltage political drama in Pakistan has seemingly ended today with the Supreme Court of the country dismissing Prime Minister Imran Khan’s decisions to dissolve the National Assembly and holding general elections within 90 days that he announced moments before the no-confidence motion on 3^rd April 2022. The Court held the decision of the Deputy Speaker of Pakistan National Assembly to reject the motion quoting the constitution as illegal. The Court has now fixed the date for the no-confidence motion against Imran Khan on Saturday, the 9^th of April by reconstituting the National Assembly. The no-confidence motion was brought by the opposition alliance on 8^th March and the date for the motion was postponed to Sunday, the 3^{rd of} April. It has been apparent since the beginning that Imran Khan’s government was reduced to a minority with many of the members of his own party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) defecting to the opposition.

 

In an emotional address to the nation on 1^st April Prime Minister Imran Khan hinted at a ‘foreign conspiracy’ to dethrone him from power and appealed to the people of Pakistan to defeat this in national interest. He also said that like in cricket he’d continue till the last ball is bowled. This ‘foreign hand’ theory, apparently implicating the US, has been termed widely by the international media as ‘Imran’s bouncer or googly’ and the full strength of his ‘bouncer’ stunned the world when he announced his crucial decisions moments before the confidence vote. However, the Supreme Court today has hit it out of the boundary.

 

The opposition party leader Bilawal Bhutto Zardari questioned the decision of the Deputy Speaker as unconstitutional and appealed to the apex court to give its verdict on the constitutional crisis. In the following days the election commission of the country said that it was not possible to hold elections in 90 days and then, more significantly, the Pak Army termed the ‘foreign hand’ conspiracy as not true.

 

Nobody could ever forget Imran Khan, the fiery fast bowler of yore who took the world of cricket by storm and captained and led the Pakistan cricket team to the only victory in the ICC Cricket World Cup in1992. Imran had been the cynosure of cricket lovers thanks to his handsome athletic physique, his bowling action and his never-say-die attitude. He has also been having numerous relationships and several wives, often leading to controversies. After retirement from cricket, he entered politics forming his own political party, the PTI in 1996, got elected into the National Assembly in 2002 and served the opposition till 2007.

 

After many ups and downs in the following years Imran Khan’s PTI won the elections in 2018 and he became the Prime Minister of Pakistan that year. His policies and actions, particularly his relations with India, have not been anything to write home about and he was often criticized by other political parties. His political career is now set to be decided on 9^th April, 2022. As a self-professed fighter till the last ball Imran Khan is definitely not going to say quits after the no-confidence vote which is almost decided against him. His nationalism and personal charisma would possibly continue to attract some followers. After the near-certain defeat of the present government on 9^th April there would be an opposition-led interim government in the country with Imran Khan in the opposition till the general elections are held.

News Digest: Mixed & Overlapped!

The 74^th Independence Day of India was celebrated on 15^thAugust at the ramparts of the Red Fort in Delhi with the Prime Minister Narendra Modi giving his customary address to the nation. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic it was sans the usual grandiosity with limited invitees and restricted public attendance, use of masks, social distancing and other norms being maintained very strictly. Celebrations were also simple and muted in all the state capitals, district headquarters, offices and other public places. ***

Independence Day seemed to have inspired Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the most successful captain of Indian cricket, to finally call it quits and thereby attain full freedom from the remaining departments of international cricket, that is say, from ODIs and T20Is, as Captain Cool announced his retirement by evening of 15^th August on social media; he retired suddenly and abruptly from Test cricket in the midst of an on-going series against Australia in Australia during 2013-14. Dhoni’s decision had been expected since his subdued performance and his run-out in the semi-final against New Zealand in the ICC World Cup Cricket-2019. That semi-final was the last international match played by him, which was in July, 2019 in England and since then he was not considered for selection in the Indian cricket team. Obviously, he must have planned to test himself in the IPL, originally scheduled in April-May this year, and perhaps take his chances for a comeback in the ICC World Cup T20, originally scheduled in October this year in Australia. But the pandemic ultimately seems to have sealed his fate, marking the end of a glorious chapter of Indian cricket. Suresh Raina, a cricketer groomed mostly by Dhoni, also took the decision to retire with his guru the same day. However, both of them are set to play in the IPL, rescheduled in September 2020 in UAE, in their franchise, the Chennai Super Kings. ***

Next day, that is 16^th of August, veteran cricketer Chetan Chauhan succumbed to COVID-19 infection after a fortnight-long fight, at 73 years of age. Chauhan made his Test debut in 1969 and then had been in and out of the team till around 1976 when he staged a strong comeback in the India away Series against Australia, and became a regular opening partner with the legendary Sunil Gavaskar, till his retirement in 1981. Chetan Chauhan played 40 Test matches, scored 2008 runs and did not score a single century, his highest individual score being 97. He also played a few one-day international matches. He joined politics after his cricket career and was a minister in Uttar Pradesh cabinet for the last two years. ***

Next day, that is 17^th of August, two more unfortunate celebrity deaths took place. Legendary Hindustani Classical Vocalist of the Mewati Gharana, Pt. Jasraj passed away in the US, at 90, due to age-related illness. His musical career spanned nearly 80 years earning him national and international fame including numerous prestigious awards and accolades. Pt. Jasraj was conferred Padmashri and Padma Vibhushan in India.

Nishikant Kamat, a noted film actor-director of Bollywood, died in Hyderabad following a liver disease, prematurely at just 50 years of age. He hailed from the state of Maharashtra, and made a name in Marathi cinema with his national-award winning debut film Dombivali Fast in 2005 which became the biggest Marathi movie of the year. Nishikant is known for his movies, Mumbai Meri Jaan (2008), Force (2011) and Drishyam (2015) in particular. ***

And today, the 19^th of August, the Supreme Court of India delivered its verdict directing Mumbai Police to hand over the all evidence in the case and the case of Sushant Singh Rajput, a rising star of Bollywood who committed an allegedly depression-driven suicide on 14^th June 2020 in Mumbai, to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), and that henceforth the probe would be fully handled by CBI. Sushant’s family came to Mumbai for the last rites in June and reportedly did not report any suspicion about foul play to the police. A few days after, sections of the Bollywood fraternity started a campaign against alleged workings of a mafia and nepotism in Bollywood. Acting on these complaints Mumbai Police interrogated a few actors and frontline producers from a possible abetment-to-suicide angle. Since there was no criminal complaint no FIR was registered.

After more than a month the family of Sushant Singh Rajput lodged a FIR with Bihar Police alleging criminal conspiracy against an actress girlfriend of Sushant: that the girlfriend cheated Sushant by way of financial transactions and bank transfers, abandoned him a few days before the suicide, changed all members of his house-staff and that of  even murdering him by strangulation. The family further alleged that Mumbai Police had been trying to protect the vested interests by procrastinating on the case. They also rubbished the depression theory. Bihar Police, with apparent approval of the Bihar government, started investigating the case landing up in Mumbai. The Mumbai Police held the view that Bihar Police had no jurisdiction to investigate the case, because the victim and the accused lived in Mumbai. Meanwhile, the Enforcement Directorate (nobody would know at whose call) also came into the picture investigating the financial angle. As conspiracy theories and rampant politicking took over multiple pleas and representations were put up in the Supreme Court: from Bihar Government for CBI take-over; from Mumbai Police and Government of Maharashtra for the jurisdiction matters and that Mumbai Police has been investigating the case in the most proper way; and from the actress-girlfriend for transferring the case from Patna in Bihar to Mumbai. The Court delivered the verdict based mainly on the facts that no FIR was registered in Mumbai and that justice must be done to the bereaved family’s concerns.

This case marks the beginning of a new trend in Indian politics: in matters relating to political convenience. With elections due in Bihar this year, Bihar government being formed with BJP tie-up, the state of Maharashtra becomes an ideal political target because of the fact that after the Assembly Elections in 2019 the ruling Shiv Sena deserted its traditional ally BJP despite a clear BJP-Shiv Sena majority, and formed the government with the support from the NCP and the Congress, leaving the single largest party of BJP seething in anger and frustration, and donning the opposition role in the assembly. Whatever be the political rivalries and attempts of capitalizing, justice must prevail at the end; else, belief in the judiciary will be a thing of the past. A huge concern remains and beckons ominously: a single family (not even a dynastic one) could influence and almost rule the country just because it is politically convenient…***

COVID 19: Now The ‘Doubt Virus’ Must Be Exterminated!

Common people mostly have fickle minds; they are always guided by what they want to believe, often to their advantage. When they are worried, frightened and clueless about the future they are most vulnerable to doubt and conspiracy theories. For the last six months people all over the globe are very disturbed by the COVID 19 pandemic, not so much because of the deadly effects of the virus than the restrictions and lockdowns derailing normal life it has brought in its wake. They desperately need to go back to the sweet normal times and live happily ever after, and therefore they jump to accept and believe fully when some motivated souls offer that ‘COVID 19 is a hoax, it’s nothing more than an annual influenza’. Thus the ‘doubt virus’ is created and the social media as always helps it spread—at times much faster than the killer virus. Perhaps the basic impulses for skepticism stem from the facts that more than 80% of Coronavirus positive cases are mild in nature and recover easily, only the elderly with comorbidity are most vulnerable and that on average the death rate is low at 1 to 4% except for some countries. However, facts also show that the dead includes young people too and anyone can be infected by this most contagious virus.

The conspiracy theories originated in the United States, as always, where extraordinarily ‘democratic’ sections of the citizens opposed the lockdown and restrictions from the beginning symbolizing these with the ‘agenda’ of President Trump. Several conspiracy theories linking even the tragic murder of George Floyd started doing the rounds in the US of which we will not make a description here just to prevent vulnerable minds go through and inculcate doubts. We’d only like to mention here that this writer got a social media forward giving a link to an article by some ‘enlightened soul’ who took pains of great arguments to ‘prove’ that the pandemic is a ‘political hoax’. As we mentioned earlier a lot of vulnerable people got influenced by this, and none other than a medical surgeon of the Indian state of Assam who even lodged a FIR alleging that only an ‘annual influenza’ has been labeled as a pandemic and he wanted action against the concerned governments. This, naturally, created a chain of reactions in the state driving news channels asking the hapless common people about their ‘doubts’ on the COVID 19 infections rather than destroying the dilemma.

Now, this ‘annual influenza’ theory breaks down at the basic premise itself: if that is so then this phenomenon must be occurring every year, and why then this year should be so different! Governments need not have gone on an emergency drive to create more and more healthcare facilities including ICU beds just to tackle an annual event of flu. Then come the experiences of various affected countries and governments tackling this ‘annual influenza’ some of which we narrate below as arguments to break such kinds of fake and motivated views:

1.     Let us take the example of the Chinese experiment. Ignoring a lot of conspiracy theories about China itself we just ask here why would China need absolute authoritarian measures to tackle the virus (well, even annual influenza is caused by a virus) in terms of continuous lockdown and rigorous enforcement. After being successful in keeping the infected numbers below 100,000 the country is still fearing a second outbreak, and risking its economic downswing again to prevent its spread. Its aggression against India can also be explained as a part of its apparent desperation. An annual flu cannot explain these.

2.     Why would countries like UK, Italy, Spain, France, USA and Brazil suffer so much from an annual influenza that killed more than half a million so far and is still on its deadly prowls? Why would Italy reduce itself to a state of  helplessness with dead bodies of Corona patients littered everywhere or why would  German finance minister commit suicide over Corona worries? How one is to account for a death rate of over 14% (seen in a few countries) for an annual influenza virus?

3.     Why would the doctors and experts of the World Health Organization keep on telling ‘lies’ that the new Coronavirus is very dangerous that would probably stay for more than two years and the worst is yet to come despite whatever campaigns or actions going on or taken against it? We seemed to have accepted in the beginning that this pandemic is the biggest crisis ever faced by humankind. Now, why have second thoughts and doubts?

4.     Why would countries across the world keep on taking huge risks for an economic crash with unprecedented unemployment and pave the way for a recession possibly even worse than the Great Depression? In particular, why a developing country and a most promising upcoming world power like India should risk whatever it has achieved in development so far.

5.     Why is such a mad rush all over the globe to fast-track production of a vaccine against only an annual flu? At least such an intensive medical research cannot mask a hidden agenda whatever that may be.

In the last twenty-four hours new cases in India have crossed 22000 with the only solace that daily recoveries are more in numbers and death rate is fortunately still low; the concern being a rising positivity rate indication community transmission. At this crucial juncture we should not pay heed to conspiracy theories and fake news. Such theories have obvious goals: to generate publicity for unknown groups or to make a kill in terms of profit. For example, if a link for an article with sensational and terrifying headlines gets circulated across social media and motivated media outlets think of the kind of clicks being generated which directly translate into money.

Therefore, we must not fall prey to such propaganda at any cost. It is heartening to see that several social media platforms have taken steps to neutralize the conspiracy threads.  In relation to India, we need to say here that the government should find time to brief the media frequently as it had been doing earlier to describe facts and quell doubts instead of crouching behind the rising numbers. Similarly, most respected bodies like the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) should desist from publicizing dates for production of vaccines. The announcement by the ICMR that a vaccine might be made possible by 15^th of August 2020 has furthered the doubts already created with even sensible people and the media asking why should the ICMR be in such a hurry. The mantra at this hour must be to fight the killer virus with the combined might of the world and to defeat it preventing its possible second wave.