PM Imran Khan came into power in 2018 with a slogan of fighting corruption, bringing reforms and changes in the country that had never been seen before in the history of Pakistan. But in three and half years of his rule reviving the economy, controlling the inflation, and promising of bringing the reforms were not seen practically. Imran Khan came into power with the dream of Naya Pakistan (New Pakistan). Imran khan’s narrative of Naya Pakistan died down on the day when he choose electables rather than its political workers. He always talked about Lota Crecy in Pakistan but for the sake of gov’t, he prefers to choose Lota’s (taking people from different parties) and gave party tickets to them.
During his three-year tenure opposition tried hard to oust him due to inflation and his bad governance but they can not succeed because of their differences. On 3rd March 2021 while addressing the nation PM Imran Khan said he decided to take a vote of confidence from the parliament if members of his party not voted in his favor he will respect them and will sit in opposition.
One year later in March 2022, when opposition decided to oust him through a vote of no-confidence. The opposition attempted to oust him when the main partners of his coalition quit the govt and join the opposition against the gov’t. Imran Khan says there is a foreign conspiracy to remove him adding he has a letter of proof.
Now he is talking about a foreign conspiracy (letter gate conspiracy) to oust him gov’t but it can not be believed because he says his visit to Russia was not seen well by the US and the west and they want to remove him or removal of his gov’t. While showing a letter in a public rally in Islamabad instead of firstly showing it to the national security committee of the country. If we look at the security point of view the security establishment in Pakistan has not found any evidence of external conspiracy, intimidation, or interference in Pakistan’s internal affairs which Imran Khan is talking about. Opposition is also raising the question that if he received a letter on the 7th of March then why did he not share it with the security committee or Parliament within the next day, why did he delay and showed this in front of the public.
The full content of the letter has not been made public yet. But according to gov’t, It contains a message purportedly received by “Asad Majeed from Donald Lu, US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs”. There is no doubt that Imran Khan’s visit to Russia was not seen as good by the US and the west they tried to pressurize Pakistan and demanded to condemn the Russian invasion of Ukraine but Pakistan did not do so because Pakistan take a neutral stance on the Russia-Ukraine conflict. But it does not mean foreign powers or the US were ready to remove Imran Khan or his gov’t, they have other options to pressurize Pakistan like in FATF where Pakistan is on a grey list, in IMF from where Pakistan is already taking loans, and in EU who gave Pakistan GSP plus status.
Imran Khan came up with a foreign conspiracy idea quite late after he found that he could not survive in a no-confidence vote and he will out of power, then he decided to dissolve the National Assembly. While deputy speaker of his party stopped the voting and declared the opposition lawmakers a traitor because according to him they conspired with the US.
Opposition is also blaming IK When he saw united opposition have produced 197 members then they violated the constitution and ran away from the vote of no-confidence. Although President has dissolved the parliament with the advice of the PM according to constitution he cannot do that when a no-confidence motion has been moved against the PM.
IK always said he will not compromise on Pak foreign policy and will not take dictation from the world but if we look in the past when he decides not to participate in Kula Lumpur summit in December 2019, because of pressure from Saudi Arabia. Another example is, in the very recent past when the IK gov’t took a loan from Saudi Arabia and they gave us a loan at a 4% interest rate which is 3 times higher than the IMF interest rate. IMF gives loans at a 1% interest rate and he took from Saudi Arabia on 4% and they put a condition that they can get it back within 72 hours’ notice.
It is clear that the security establishment had given IK the go-ahead before visiting Russia because without the consent of the security establishment he can not complete his visit because there are certain security protocols you have to follow while visiting any country. Making good relations with Russia was a state policy that was adopted in the new Pak national security policy which says Pakistan will make good relations with Russia and will not involve in any country’s conflict.
Everybody knows the reason for the fall of his gov’t is that he was continuously being blackmailed by his coalition partners and his right man. Most of his party MNAs were not happy with his governance and rising inflation and they joined hands with the opposition against him. During the whole election campaign, he told people he will make reforms in the police, judiciary, and all state institutions but he failed to do that. opposition take the advantage of this and moved a no-confidence motion against him.
There is a number of factors that really led to the fall of the PTI gov’t in Pakistan including gov’t deliberate making controversial very respected institution of the Pakistan army while in the extension of Army chief and later the appointment of DG ISI. The other factor is foreign Policy and also the governance of Punjab province and the appointment of CM Usman Buzdar in a province which considered half of Pakistan.
Now Imran Khan is fighting the battle of the Narrative of foreign conspiracy or a (letter gate) and the whole of his narrative is based on it. He is trying to build such a narrative to become a political Martyr to save his party repo. Imran Khan has disappointed millions of his voters and supporters through his governance in the country. He plunged Pakistan into a major constitutional crisis. what Imran Khan did he is calling to surprise, but it is not a surprise, because he did all this just to protect his own ego, nothing else.
Imran always blamed the opposition for being corrupt, thugs, and thieves throughout the whole of his elections campaign and then during the whole of his tenure. They were put behind the bars over corruption but they were released on bail. He called the previous era of the Pakistan Peoples Party and Muslim league Nawaz the darkest era of the decade. They unite against him because of his bad governance, poor performance, mismanagement of the economy, inflation, rising prices, and not fulfilling promises which he made to the people of Pakistan. If the PTI gov’t had fulfilled 10% of its promises to the people, which Khan had made during the election campaign then the opposition never be unit against him. He himself paved the way for the opposition to come and unite and bring a no-confidence motion against him. The people of Pakistan were very optimistic about Imran khan that he has the ability to bring Pakistan out of problems but their hope was broken, he left Pakistan into a constitutional crisis.
The matter was in the supreme court and now the SC of Pakistan found that PM Imran Khan’s move to block the no-confidence vote on 3rd April was “contrary to the constitution and the law and had no legal effect”. The court also ruled that PM’s decision to dissolve parliament was invalid and ordered the National Assembly to reconvene and hold a no-confidence vote on 9th April 2022. According to constitutional experts “Khan’s actions do not have constitutional cover, given their basis in a tortured reading of the constitution that is difficult to justify legally”.
The opposition believes that Letter Gate is a gov’t made conspiracy to damage Pakistan’s image internationally. On the last day of voting Imran khan was ready to do all unconstitutional steps. The governor of Punjab was sacked when he refused to take unconstitutional steps demanded by the federal gov’t. Imran Khan blames the US for conspiracy against his gov’t will put a negative impact on Pak-US relations. Experts say “Khan’s government should have handled the matter diplomatically, instead of dragging Washington into Pakistan’s internal politics”.
