In Imran Khan’s career trajectory, there is a lesson for every future Pakistan Prime Minister, on how in a country where the military is king, there is no guarantee that even the generals’ blue-eyed boy will not be pulled down from his high perch if he is perceived to have crossed the red line. It is ironic that the same man who was elevated to the Prime Minister’s chair by the military through a sham election, was dragged to prison this week on charges of corruption and indicted. It’s not that Imran Khan is lily white or that there are no serious charges of money making in the Al Qadir trust case, for which he was arrested. In spite of all his posturing against the country’s “current crop of thieves and dacoits”, the fact is Imran Khan did not even spare the wristwatches and jewellery that he received in his capacity as Prime Minister. He was accused of selling them to make a neat profit, proving that this man is not averse to even petty crimes. It is just that he may not have made as much money as have the Pakistani generals who are dollar billionaires—or maybe he did, it is not known yet.
So the money is an excuse. Imran Khan’s fault was that he thought he was too popular and thus too big, and hence should get to control the military just the way it happens in all democracies. He took the “democratically elected leader” part too seriously, forgetting that but for the military he would have never won the 2018 election as it was Nawaz Sharif’s party, PML(N)’s election to win. Ever since losing his chair last year in a “civilian” coup, Imran Khan’s relationship with the military has gone from bad to worse, with him making startling claims about the military and the US, accusing them of trying to bump him off. Ironically, it is during this period that his popularity has skyrocketed, even in PML(N)’s home turf, Punjab. But this is not acceptable to the military, which does not want him anywhere near the ballot boxes even in the next rigged election. Interestingly, Imran Khan was a disaster as a Prime Minister. He played a major role in pushing Pakistan towards its present bankruptcy. But once he became a «martyr» in the eyes of the people, he swept the local elections in Punjab, relegating the Sharifs to a poor second place in their own bastion. It’s a different matter that the military did not want him back. And now there is no predicting Imran Khan’s future. If he survives the current turmoil with his neck intact he can consider himself to be lucky.
The latest buzz in Pakistan is that the military’s next blue-eyed boy is Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, whenever the armed forces decide to replace the current Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif with or without a sham election. If that ever happens, the prospect of India-Pakistan peace will recede even further, given Bilawal’s intemperate nature visible during the SCO summit in Goa last week. At a press conference with his country’s media he apparently threatened India of consequences—dekh lenge (I will show them)—and hurled the most foul charges against the host country and the country’s Prime Minister. Some say that the reason he used such hateful words, is because he has to answer to the public back home and is wary of becoming a target of his political rivals ahead of the elections. This is unlikely because it is not the Pakistani public that decides the elections, it’s the military. Hence, all that rhetoric seems to be an effort to keep the military happy and on his side ahead of the elections. There is no guarantee that Shehbaz Sharif will survive the next elections. A young 34-year-old Bilawal seems ideally placed to replace Imran. Given that he is political royalty, is western educated, speaks a highly westernized English and is possibly on first name basis with many high-flying westerners, he could be the Pakistan military’s next Imran Khan—ideal for PR exercises against India in western capitals, apart from begging for funds for Pakistan with a panache. In fact, just like Imran Khan, Bilawal too is all talk and no substance. Hence, Bilawal’s political future seems bright, until the day it’s no longer bright, courtesy the Pakistan military.