Bhopinder Singh | From a Jail Cell, Imran Is Getting Under The Skin of Pak Military

Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Imran Khan, now incarcerated in jail for several years, appears to be getting under the skin of the country’s military establishment, as the excitable statements by Lt. Gen. Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, director-general of the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), clearly prove. At a high-strung, unprecedented press conference by the DG-ISPR, the implications harked back to Samuel Johnson’s saying that “nationalism is the last refuge of the politicians”. While there is a ostensible delineation between the civilian politicians and the military generals in Pakistan -- the practical reality is that the generals call all the shots, even in the political sphere. It is for a good reason that the Pakistani military is called a “state within a state”. As the saying goes, while most countries have armies, in Pakistan, the Pakistani Army has a country attached to it!

At the heated debriefing session, the clearly-flustered DG-ISPR, who in effect heads the propaganda arm of the country’s establishment (meaning the armed forces), had to invoke timely nationalism against a man they had put behind bars almost two and a half years back.

One must remember that Imran Khan was actually “selected” in the 2018 general election (as opposed to “elected”, fair and square) by the Pakistani military themselves, only to be bumped off when the smug Pathan had got too uppity for the liking of the generals. While most of the sparring between the Pakistani “establishment” and the vainglorious Imran was with Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa (the former Pakistan Chief of Army Staff), his successor, now Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir, has his own beef to settle with Imran Khan too.

In October 2019, while Imran was still the PM, the then designated director-general of Inter-Services Intelligence (DG-ISI), Lt. Gen. Asim Munir, was unceremoniously bundled out in a sudden reshuffle. The rumour mills had it that Gen. Munir had dug up a lot of dirt over corruption and misconduct by Imran Khan and his partymen, and, more importantly, pertaining to Imran’s third wife, Bushra Bibi. Soon, a lackey of Imran, Lt. Gen. Faiz Hameed, who would go on to shame himself (he too was later drummed out of the Pakistani Army) and the nation (by kowtowing with the Taliban brazenly just after the fall of Kabul in August 2023), was posted as DG-ISI. Asim Munir had the ignominy of serving the shortest tenure as DG-ISI and he licked his wounds patiently till he got a shot at becoming the Army Chief himself. If Gen. Qamar Bajwa had tied the proverbial noose around Imran’s neck, Field Marshal Asim Munir has tightened the knot, very uncomfortably.

Today, a free-for-all demonisation of Imran Khan ia taking place by obsequious civilian politicians from the coalition of the unlikely [Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N)], along with the full might of Pakistani “establishment”.

Ironically, this desperate drive of coercion, intimidation and incarceration has only served to raise Imran Khan’s political stock stratospherically. He is the most popular mass leader in Pakistan, even though his party (and many leaders) have been silenced into oblivion. Imran has symbolically become the pivotal rallying cry as economic morass, diplomatic failures (especially with Afghanistan and India), and societal implosion grips Pakistan. It has become such a powerful sentiment that perhaps even the Pakistani “establishment” realises that a dead Imran Khan would be far more dangerous than a live one, albeit one permanently jailed.

Now, all caution of keeping the “uniform” away from the hustle-bustle of partisan politics was thrown to the winds as the DG-ISPR himself railed about Imran as a “national security threat”. He went on to link Imran (of Taliban Khan notoriety) directly to India in order to target him as “anti-national”. The general shockingly claimed that Imran’s agenda “can only come from someone in Delhi”. He went on to claim: “Someone sitting there and guiding that… who wishes that this army, which is your armour against kharjis and terrorists, sacrificing their lives -- stops doing it. This agenda and narrative cannot come from elsewhere”. Incredulous as that accusation may sound, the favourite bogey of “India” and “nationalism” (that too, by an Army that has never won any war, ever) has returned. Keeping with the times, the DG-ISPR conflated Afghanistan with India in terms of threats to Pakistan, stating that Pakistan’s military was “standing between the khawarij, terrorists, fitna al-khawarij, fitna al-Hindustan operating from Afghanistan”.

A sure sign of unmitigated frustration was when the DG-ISPR forgot temporarily that he was wearing a “uniform” on the pulpit, and yet speaking the language of a goon, as he spewed venom about the retaliatory consequences for Imran Khan and his associates: “We will also come and fight bare-knuckle, there should be no doubt about that”. All expectations of measure, restraint and sobriety that is expected of a senior Army officer (that too, on a PR mission) were thrown to the winds, as he spoke the language of an unhinged politician.

Imran Khan is undoubtedly the first civilian leader in many decades to openly call out the bluff and control by the Pakistani “establishment”. His open assertion that “neutrals are not neutrals” is the worst kept secret of Pakistan. In desperation, Field Marshal Asim Munir has rushed through the 27th Amendment that also makes him the first Chief of Defence Staff (controlling the Army, Navy, Air Force and Nuclear Command), weakened the Supreme Court, given himself lifelong immunity from prosecution, thrown Imran Khan into jail and virtually given himself a lifelong leadership role. But clearly the shadow of Imran Khan, sitting in jail, still looms large.

The writer is a retired lieutenant-general and a former lieutenant-governor of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Puducherry