US Government Can Put Pakistan Back on the Road to Democracy
By Dr Abdul Jabbar
San Francisco, CA
The US government is the only power in the world that can end the reign of terror, death, and destruction that has been unleashed on the innocent people of Pakistan since April of 2022 as a result of the regime change there.
Craig Murray, a former UK ambassador, has stated that the US government “is calling the shots” in Pakistan. He made that statement in an interview with George Galloway, the British politician and leader of the Labor Party. This emergency arose when Gen Bajwa misled the US government with false propaganda that Pakistan’s then Prime Minister Imran Khan was anti-America, giving US the wrong impression that Khan’s going to Moscow was his personal decision. On numerous occasions, Khan himself has categorically stated that he is not anti-America. Here are his own words:
“We are friends of Russia, and we are also friends of the United States. We are friends of China and Europe. We are not part of any alliance.”
The US role in this operation comes to light from the secret document, called the cypher, that The Intercept published on August 9, 2023. An army officer in Pakistan gave a copy of the secret document to The Intercept. As expected, US government has denied any part in the removal of Pakistan’s democratically elected and most popular political leader.
Former US National Security Advisor John Bolton’s Warning to the Biden Administration and to the Pakistani Establishment
On August 19, 2023, Pakistan’s newspaper Dawn reported John Bolton’s shock at The Intercept’s leak. In an interview with Voice of America broadcasting service, Bolton called the Biden Administration’s South Asia policy “confused and inarticulate.” Commenting on Pakistan’s current crisis, Bolton made an important statement that should be heeded both by the Biden Administration and Pakistan’s Establishment.
“I do not agree with Imran Khan on everything he has ever said, and he doesn’t agree with me but when the military take it to the point of dismantling a legitimate political party (and) putting … an elected leader like Imran Khan in jail for no apparent reason, they are contributing to delegitimizing their own institution.”
Bolton’s advice has been backed up by over 60 US Congressional leaders who have written to the Secretary of State Antony Blinken to look into egregious human rights violations and utter disregard of the rule of law by Pakistan’s current administration. Stressing the urgency of timely corrective action by the Biden Administration, Bolton said the Biden administration should take a clear position before the “terrorists, China and Russia take advantage” of the situation. Bolton added that even if the text published by The Intercept is “close to being true,” it would be a problem. By heeding that wise counsel, we can prevent incalculable damage in the form of a civil war in Pakistan and terrorism.
US Congressional Leaders Demand Action by Our Government
According to The News, dated May 8, 2023, more than 60 US Congressional leaders “have called on US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to pressurize the Pakistani government to improve the human rights in Pakistan.” Congressman Brad Sherman is a senior member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Dawn of March 12, 2023, reports that Sherman was particularly alarmed at the incident of “custodial torture” and “sexual abuse” of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf leaders Shahbaz Gill and Azam Swati. The “brutal deaths” of journalist Arshad Sharif and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf worker Zille Shah, and the trivial, bogus cases against Imran Khan and media bans on him also drew his strong condemnation. He wrote to Antony Blinken that “America must support democracy and human rights around the world and particularly in Pakistan.” He asked the Secretary of State to reaffirm the US position that the people of Pakistan should have the right to speak, organize, and hold peaceful demonstrations. “It is critical,” he said, “that we see a calm, orderly, democratic, and prosperous Pakistan where Pakistanis can have a free and open dialogue.”
Since Sherman wrote those words, much worse violations of the rule of law by the Establishment have taken place in Pakistan, for example, two assassination attempts on Imran Khan critically wounding him, illegally jailing him despite the high court’s suspension of the lower court’s verdict, dismantling Pakistan’s most popular political party Tehreek-e Insaf, arresting and jailing without trial over ten thousands members of his party and the entire leadership, kidnapping of the famous journalist Imran Riaz, and several other disappearances and murders.
Pakistan, a Deep State
As is well known, for most of its 76-year history, Pakistan has been run as a deep state. In an interview, former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton defined deep state, citing Pakistan as an example:
"This is a term which was coined by political scientists to describe certain countries, for example, Pakistan where the military and the intelligence services basically ran the country.…So you could get elected but if they did not like you, or you cross them you're out, maybe you could get arrested, deported, get accused of something and get assassinated or executed." (Pakistan News, written by Ananya Varma, R.RepublicWorld.com, October 14, 2020).
What Hillary Clinton has defined as deep state is exactly what is happening in Pakistan at this time. Since the Establishment could not prove that Khan was guilty of any wrongdoing, they pressed into service a lower court judge Humayun Dilawar to give a judgement in a trivial Toshakhana case, sentencing Khan to three years’ imprisonment. In that travesty of a trial, Khan’s lawyers and witnesses were physically prevented from coming to the court. The judge violated the legal requirements of a hearing.
For over a month, Khan has been held in solitary confinement in a cell. He is being pressured by the military to accept all of its terms or leave the country in order to stay alive. It is feared that Khan may be poisoned to death while he is in jail or sentenced to death in a bogus trial by a kangaroo court.
Eighty percent of Pakistan’s people support Khan for his
honesty, his economic reforms, and personal sacrifices for his country - AFP
Points of Critical Importance from the Meeting between US Assistant Secretary of State and Pakistan’s Ambassador
Most people in the West may not know the details of the document, called the cypher, leaked by The Intercept. For that reason, its brief summary is in order. The cypher is a record of the conversation dated March 7, 2022, between Donald Lu, Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs, and Asad Majeed Khan, Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United States. In this meeting, mistaking the then Prime Minister Khan’s Moscow visit on the eve of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as a matter of personal choice, Lu warned that if Khan was not removed from power in a no-confidence motion against him, there would be consequences and Pakistan would be isolated by the US and European Union. However, if Khan was removed, Pakistan would be forgiven, and US Pakistan relations would go back to normal.
Lu’s language is very undiplomatic. “Pakistan will be forgiven,” for example. Forgiven for what? For looking to the needs of its people to get cheaper oil and wheat from Russia? Khan’s visit was not a matter of his personal choice. He went to Russia with the approval and urging of Gen Bajwa and others in Pakistan’s high command. Pakistan’s neighboring countries of India and Sri Lanka also purchased cheaper oil from Russia to meet their people’s needs. The US government did not object to those countries’ engagement with Russia.
In that meeting, Lu also used strong language of a reprimand in accusing Pakistan of taking “an aggressively neutral position” on the UN Security Council Resolution about Ukraine. Pakistan’s ambassador explained to Lu that in complex matters, such as the Ukraine War, countries should have the right to a neutral position for the sake of bilateral negotiations. He might have added that India also took a neutral position but was not faulted for exercising its right.
Duty of Pakistanis Inside and Outside Pakistan
The time for Pakistanis to stand up for justice and prevent the victimization of their beloved leader is NOW. Eighty percent of Pakistan’s people support Khan for his honesty, his economic reforms, and personal sacrifices for his country. Pakistan’s people should exercise their constitutional right of peaceful protest and rise up to tell the Establishment that there will be an unstoppable uprising if their leader is murdered, a movement that will continue until a fair and free election is held and the Bajwa-imposed murderous and corrupt system is replaced by leaders elected by the people. A nationwide movement is urgently needed to make Pakistan’s Establishment come to its senses. Sadly, Pakistan’s Army elite is letting their country be used as the arena of the new Cold War and the Great Game, this time between the US and China. Driven by their greed for self-aggrandizement and US dollars, they are neglecting the warning of history as to the outcome of being the arena of proxy wars between superpowers.
Those Pakistanis who live outside Pakistan should inform their local political leaders and the public about the alarming situation in Pakistan and seek their help to pressure their government to undo its error-based regime-change action in Pakistan, free the innocent Imran Khan, and save millions of lives. Let us not forget the former UK ambassador Craig Murray’s above-quoted and accurate words that the US is calling the shots in Pakistan. Let’s also remember John Bolton’s words that even if The Intercept leak is not entirely correct and only “close to being true,” it poses a huge problem. To make their power of the vote count, all Pakistani Americans should join Pakistani-American Political Action Committee that organized a large rally in front of the White House on Sunday, September 17, 2023, to express their outrage at the cruelty to Pakistan’s people and to their most popular political leader.
Failed Attempt at Regime Change at Home and Successful Regime-Change Operation abroad
Americans have witnessed first-hand the devastating effects of the regime-change mischief of January 6, 2021, in their own country when the former President Donald Trump and his supporters tried to overturn the 2020 Presidential election results. Even though, fortunately for the nation, that attempt failed, it has exacerbated racism in this country and riven its social fabric. Just imagine what would have happened had that regime-change operation been successful. That recent episode in American history should have sensitized the American people to the tragedy that afflicts those innocent people whose democratic and prosperous countries are transformed into tyrannical military juntas. That calamity has been afflicted on the people of Pakistan by the regime-change operation there.
Imran Khan’s Flawless Record as a Political Leader for 22 years and His Goal to End Pakistan’s Notorious Deep State Status
In his three-and-a-half years as Prime Minister, Khan tried to steer Pakistan toward true democracy. His Bajwa-engineered removal in April 2022 has played havoc with Pakistan and its 230 million people. It is a cruel tragedy perpetrated on the people of Pakistan. Under Imran Khan, the country’s economic growth was close to 7% despite the COVID pandemic and global skyrocketing inflation. It was the best economic growth during the past seventeen years. He rid the country of terrorism, which no earlier regime had been able to do, and introduced several poverty alleviation and welfare measures, such as health cards for all citizens, Ehsas (meaning compassion) program that was rated No 5 in global welfare programs, and many similar policy steps toward making Pakistan a welfare state. Before he became PM, with his own funds, he built a university and a cancer hospital, where treatment was free for the poor. Pakistan’s Supreme Court gave him the title of “truthful and trustworthy.”
Effect of the Regime-change Operation on the People of Pakistan
The sudden and ill-conceived upheaval in Pakistan has made life hell for the country’s 230 million people. Gen Bajwa replaced Khan with incompetent, servile, and corrupt politicians. That change has brought the country to such a crisis that many people are committing suicide because they can no longer make ends meet and see no hope. From a prosperous country under Khan, Pakistan now is on the brink of an abyss. There are uprisings against the army, as in Gilgit, Baltistan, and suicide bombers have threatened to reappear.
The US Has a Golden Opportunity
The US government has the power to prevent Pakistan’s regression into a deep state by accepting the fact that Khan is not anti-America and asking the current Army Chief Gen Asim Munir, who is the de facto head of state there, to uphold the country’s constitution and hold a free and fair general election that Pakistan’s Supreme Court has also mandated. Let there be the rule of law and peace in Pakistan with help from the United States.
(Abdul Jabbar is an Emeritus Professor of English and Interdisciplinary Studies at City College of San Francisco and a former Visiting Professor of English at University of California, Berkeley. Recipient of a Fulbright scholarship and two National Endowment for the Humanities awards, he received his PhD in English from Case Western University, Cleveland, Ohio. He is the author of three books and many articles on literary, political, and similar topics.)
