Whoever digs a pit will fall into it; if someone rolls a stone, it will roll back on them.

Pakistani establishment and Imran Khan both must be thinking about this proverb now. The Pakistani citizens, especially the woke-liberal-educated-youth of the country who is now crying foul looked quite content in 2018 when the same establishment rigged the election in favor of Imran Khan. They must also think about the pit they dug or continue digging knowingly or unknowingly.

The country was destined to be doomed sooner or later ever since it came into existence in 1947. It kept on dropping hints every now and then for anyone who would want to keep a track. Imran Khan has just accelerated the process of its implosion, has successfully brought the country to the cusp of a civil war. Perhaps, Imran Khan is the only person alive who has given the taste of its own medicine to Pakistani Establishment.

The woke-liberal-educated-youth of the country blinded by religious bigotry simply fail to see the fact that they are caught in between the devil and the blue sea. The irony lies is that they are busy lecturing the rest of the world as to how democracy should function and how others should worry about human rights, be it in Indian context or be it in Israel’s context.

They love Imran Khan because his vision is rooted in the teachings of the Quran and Pakistan can become a successful Muslim Democratic Welfare State. But for once and only once if they could some how manage to peel off the religious lens that is engraved so deep in their psyche that it does not even feel as if it is there, they would see that Imran Khan is not a liberal or a democratic person. Not even close!

He himself has mentioned it so many times in his political career.

Imran Khan was not chosen by the Military establishment of Pakistan in 2018 because of his liberal and democratic demeanor. On the contrary, it was exactly opposite of that.

Imran Khan’s political career did not take off until he started supporting the Taliban, of course the Good Taliban. According to him Taliban’s holy war in Afghanistan was justified by Islamic law. He led thousands of people protest against US drone strikes on terror outfits in Pakistan as well as Afghanistan; primarily around Pakistan’s north west border. He earned the name “Taliban Khan” which lead him to come to power for the first time ever in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in 2013. He has vehemently opposed military operations against the Taliban, he wanted Pakistan’s civilian government to sever its alliance with the US in the “war against terror and make peace with Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

Also read: Can Taliban 2.0 get Kashmir for Pakistan?

Not only was he sympathetic towards the extremists and militant outfits, he was also an ardent supporter of the Blasphemy Laws prevailing in Pakistan. His campaign in 2018 started with making Pakistan an even more Islamic state then it already was.

By 2017, Pakistani establishment was reeling under extreme international pressure to act against zillion terror outfits operating with impunity in Pakistan. The civilian government under Nawaz Sharif’s leadership at that time yielded under the pressure and did not do much in favor of the Good Taliban. Imran Khan who was backed by Pakistan’s right-wing groups in the military establishment, because of his “soft” stance on the Taliban and other Islamist militants was the reason he was selected in 2018.

So, what went wrong after 2018? It looked like a “made for each other” alliance.

Once in power, Imran Khan’s government started “disarming” the terrorist. He claimed on record that there were as many as 40 terror outfits operational in Pakistan and around 30,000 to 40,000 terrorists. Whichever forum he went to, he tried to whitewash them; he claimed Osama Bin Laden was a martyr; even bigger expose came in the year 2019 where during his UN General Assembly speech he claimed that it was Pakistan’s army that had trained Al-Qaeda.

At that time, I wondered as to what he was trying to achieve.

Also read: Islamophobia and Radical Islam

Today I know what he was trying to achieve. He was consolidating his loyal vote-bank. He was proving to all his extremists supporters be it the terror outfits or the Islamists groups like Jamaat-e-Islami party that he is there for them.

The military establishment in Pakistan saw that and reacted.

These Terrorists, Militants, Tribals, Pakistan Taliban, Good Taliban have been doing establishment’s dirty laundry ever since Pakistan came into existence —

Who were the tribals that attacked Kashmir in 1947? Tribals from the North West Frontier or todays Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Who assassinated Pakistan’s first prime minister Liaquat Ali Khan in 1951? Said Akbar Babrak, an ethnic Pashtun who fought Afghan government during Afghan tribal revolts in 1944-47

Who assassinated Benazir Bhutto? A teenage boy from South Waziristan i.e. a district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The attack was masterminded by Pakistan Taliban. I could keep going on, the list is lengthy.

Also read: The only way to get rid of terrorism!!!

The tussle that we see today is not in between a democratic politician and the military establishment. Instead, the tussle in reality is in between Pakistan’s Military Establishment in uniform that has never won a war, probably hasn’t even seen a war on one side and Imran Khan’s battle hardened supporters without a uniform on the other.

A disarmed terrorist is still a terrorist — a terrorist without gun — does not forget how to use one.

The establishment knows this. This is the only reason why Imran Khan’s supporters had the audacity to go and ransack Army officers’ residences and other military compounds. Can you imagine any regular supporter would dare to do that?

Pakistani Establishment thought they could control the terror outfits, while they were digging pits for others, they didn’t realize they will also fall in it one day.

Pakistani woke-liberal-educated youth does not see that if Army loses and Imran Khan wins at the end of this tussle, Pakistan would be next Afghanistan; minorities (whatever are left, including Shias) would be washed out, Sharia Law would be in place, women be limited to nothing more than an object, of course they would still be allowed to comment on the Hijab row in India.

But if Imran Khan loses and Army wins, the Imran Khan supporters would continue rioting and destabilize the country beyond repair. Especially when the Army does not have enough “foot soldiers” to do their bidding.

The condition will get worse and worse as the time passes by; the only good thing is that we have a nationalistic government at helm in India which could possibly keep Indians immune to all this chaos happening right across the border.

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Also read:

• The very old Pakistan where terrorism is a constant; nothing changes!
• After Pakistan, Ukraine is the new playground for the US; here is how the future looks like..
• A tale of two conflicts and the hypocrisy!