Opinion: the assassination attempt against Imran Khan exposes the establishment’s dirty game
(Opinion) Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, who was ousted through a US-orchestrated post-modern coup in early spring as punishment for his independent foreign policy, narrowly survived an assassination attempt on Thursday.
He led his promised Long March from Lahore to Islamabad along with thousands of his supporters to demand free and fair elections as early as possible.
Before the former premier set off, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah threatened to “hang him upside down.”
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It’s little wonder that the most popular political figure in Pakistan, whose party continues to sweep every by-election they’ve participated in since April, blamed Sanaullah, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, and Chief of ISI’s Counter-Intelligence Major General Faisal Naseer for trying to kill him.
The first already telegraphed his intentions in the last example and others, the second has an obvious stake in stopping his opponent, and the third was evidently ordered to carry out this dirty deed.
Outside observers might wonder why the head of the country’s counter-intelligence would be tasked with this. Still, it makes sense from the perspective that The Establishment– Pakistani parlance for this state’s robust military-intelligence services – regards the former premier.
The weaponized information warfare narrative that its elite echelons have encouraged their media and political proxies to gaslight the public into believing over the past half-year is that he’s a “terrorist”.
After all, Imran Khan was ridiculously charged under the country’s “Anti-Terrorism Act” after announcing his intent to file court cases against those officials who he alleged had abused one of his top aides in custody.
The Establishment’s elite echelons have attempted to frame the former premier as a so-called “anti-state extremist” who’s allegedly conspiring to “incite mutiny” and is “defaming” state institutions.
These lies were invented simply because he actively seeks to reverse this spring’s regime change.
FROM FAKE NEWS TO A FAILED ASSASSINATION
To be absolutely clear, Imran Khan envisages doing this through purely peaceful and political means connected to his country’s constitutional processes, not through violence, terrorism, or disinformation.
He and his tens of millions of patriotic supporters demand free and fair elections as early as possible so that the Pakistani people can directly decide who they want to lead them.
This noble goal perfectly aligns with the purest democratic principles, yet that’s precisely why he’s a “threat”.
Those domestic collaborators who colluded with the US to overthrow the former premier know fully well how unpopular their post-modern coup is, which is why they’ve had to resort to increasingly despotic, dictatorial, and ultimately dystopian means to cling to power.
Free and fair elections as early as possible would reverse the regime change against Imran Khan, after which the conspirators would likely be out of a job at best or prosecuted at worst if they don’t flee abroad first.
After having lost complete control of the country’s socio-political (soft security) dynamics as a result of the post-modern coup that they helped carry out and everything that unfolded afterward, The Establishment’s elite echelons panicked and thus decided to eliminate Imran Khan.
They could have presumably sought to cut some sort of deal with him for ensuring their early retirement with amnesty in exchange for holding free and fair elections as early as possible but probably feared the US’ reaction.
MARTIAL LAW MOTIVES
It shouldn’t be forgotten that those who were responsible for this regime change, which includes The Establishment’s elite echelons who infamously remained “neutral” and thus “passively facilitated” it, are politically (and possibly economically) indebted to the US.
Complying with the former premier’s demand without first receiving the US’ approval – which could, in theory, have been granted if it decided to cut its losses with early elections instead of risk Pakistan’s destabilization – might be very dangerous.
That’s not to excuse their attempt to assassinate him but simply to explain their likely thought process.
In any case, the decision was made to eliminate Imran Khan once he commenced his promised Long March since The Establishment’s elite echelons expected that the only other way to stop it would be to order the use of lethal force against those thousands of peaceful protesters once they entered the capital.
The resultant bloodshed would have prompted martial law and led to international isolation.
Of course, the obvious recourse would simply have been to have their political proxies organize free and fair elections as early as possible as the most responsible pressure valve, but this wasn’t ever seriously considered for the earlier-mentioned reasons.
Moving along, The Establishment’s elite echelons expected that the former premier would be successfully assassinated, after which his supporters would predictably riot and thus create the pretext for imposing martial law without international isolation.
In other words, the decision was already made to formally reimpose military rule over Pakistan to prevent free and fair elections from being held as early as possible, though The Establishment’s elite echelons needed to craft a so-called “publicly plausible” pretext first.
Absent that, and especially if the Long March reached the capital and thus resulted in them ordering the use of lethal force against peaceful protesters, there’d be international isolation and possibly even sanctions.
THE THREE MOST LIKELY SCENARIOS
The “solution” was to organize the former premier’s assassination, blame it on a “lone wolf” patsy, impose martial law in response to his supporters predictably rioting afterward, and then possibly even outlaw his party on the false basis that they’re supposedly “anti-state extremists”.
This plot failed by a stroke of luck, placing The Establishment’s elite echelon in a dilemma since they lost their only chance at manufacturing the pretext for imposing martial law without international consequences.
Their dirty game was exposed, and the entire world now suspects that something foul is afoot since the sequence of events that everyone expected to transpire in the event that this assassination plot succeeded is obvious to all objective observers.
Since Imran Khan survived and promised that his Long March to Islamabad would continue no matter what, The Establishment’s elite echelons are now forced into a zugzwang, which refers to a situation in chess where all possible moves are disadvantageous.
They can either
- finally do the politically right thing by having their proxies organize free and fair elections as early as possible (though at the expense of their self-interests, as was previously explained);
- try to concoct another clearly manufactured pretext for imposing martial law (though this time possibly with international consequences since everyone is now aware of their intentions);
- or just outright “go rogue” by using lethal force against the peaceful protesters after no longer giving a damn what happens.
THE ESTABLISHMENT’S ELITE ECHELONS ALREADY LOST (EVEN IF THEY DO NOT KNOW IT YET)
Whichever of these three courses of action they choose to go through with, there’s no denying that the strategic inertia is decisively against The Establishment’s elite echelons, who already lost their Hybrid War/Fifth Generational War (5GW) against the Pakistani people.
They can either go with the flow by finally allowing the masses to democratically choose their leader, temporarily delay this inevitability by continuing to conspire against them or even literally risk a civil conflict by directly attacking them.
In any case, The Establishment’s elite echelons have lost all legitimacy after their unsuccessful assassination plot against Imran Khan.
The battle for hearts and minds is over after having been decisively won by the former premier and his supporters, who pushed their foreign-backed institutional opponents into the corner through their peaceful political protests and thus caused them to overreact by practically declaring war on the same 220+ million people who they’re supposed to represent.
The best-case scenario is that those among The Establishment’s elite echelons who are responsible for this egregious violation of the people’s trust, which indisputably crossed the latter’s red line, accept their defeat by allowing democracy to prevail without continuing to try to dangerously obstruct it in vain.
No sincerely patriotic member of The Establishment would risk throwing Pakistan into pandemonium by continuing to conspire against its people, let alone seriously countenance waging war against them.
CONCLUDING THOUGHTS
Pakistan is literally in the throes of a peaceful political revolution led by grassroots patriots who want to liberate their beloved country from the foreign yoke that’s been imposed upon it since the US-orchestrated post-modern coup.
Those elite members of The Establishment who are responsible for that regime change and all that came afterward, especially the attempted assassination of Imran Khan, need to do the right thing to save the same country that they dedicated their lives to serving.
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