ISLAMABAD: Former Prime Minister Imran Khan hit out at the military establishment on Thursday for its supposed “neutrality” in an ongoing political crisis with the government, saying the people of Pakistan knew where the power lay and history would not forgive the army’s non-interference.
Khan, who in April became the first Pakistani prime minister to be ousted through a no-confidence vote, has blamed his removal on a foreign conspiracy backed by the United States. The leader and his supporters have have also openly expressed resentment that the army and its chief, General Qamar Javed Bajwa, did not block the opposition’s bid to topple his government, and are not supporting his moves, including regular public rallies across the country, to get early elections announced.
The word “neutral” has entered the political lexicon in recent months, used to refer to the army’s refusal, unlike in the past, to step into the ongoing political crisis between Khan and the government, previously the joint opposition before Khan was ousted by parliament.
The army’s mediation has in the past offered a face-saving solution to governments and opposition parties in a country where the military is still respected widely and seen as an antidote to successive administrations resented for corruption and red tape.
“Establishment, you say we are neutral, god willing remain neutral, but people know that you have the power,” Khan said while addressing a public rally in Shangla district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
“People are looking at you, and history will not forgive this role, that the country was being weakened and you said ‘we are neutral’.”
“Today I want to give a message to the Pakistani establishment that there were two world powers, the United States and the Soviet Union, but when their [Soviet Union] economy went down, the Soviet Union collapsed,” Khan said. “Their powerful army could not keep them together, so where is our country heading?”
In an interview broadcast on Wednesday, the former PM had warned that Pakistan stood at a “defining moment” and was headed toward “destruction” if the establishment did not act.
“If the [military] establishment does not take the right decisions at this moment, I can give you in writing that they will also be destroyed, the army will be the first to be destroyed,” Khan said.
Speaking about Pakistan’s growing economic crisis, Khan said the army would be the worst hit if Pakistan was forced to default on debt.
“If we default … what is the biggest institution that will be hit? Our army. When the army is hit, then what concessions will be taken from us [by world powers] ? To denuclearize.”
Khan said if the country lost its nuclear weapons, “I can tell you today Pakistan will break into three parts ... If the right decisions are not taken this time, the country is going toward suicide.”
Khan has received widespread condemnation for his comments on Pakistan’s possible break up, including from the prime minister who said the former PM was “making naked threats against the country.”
“If at all any proof was needed that Niazi [Khan] is unfit for public office, his latest interview suffices,” Sharif said. “Do your politics but don’t dare to cross limits & talk about division of Pakistan.”