Why Imran Khan is Taking on the Pak Army?

Self interest is driving Mr Imran Khan's diatribe against the Army. His growing public attacks on the Pak Army are not driven by political altruism of blocking the role of the military in country’s politics but essentially to ride the popularity wave to hold early elections and get an Army Chief nominated of his choice.

There are no indications that this move will succeed but Khan is a vain, “player,” and will not give up.

Here is a review of the developments on Khan versus the Army.

Khan’s Attacks on the Army

In a latest attack on the Army, Pakistan Tehreek Insaaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan at a rally in Faisalabad on September 05, alleged that the two main parties of the ruling alliance Pakistan Peoples Party [PPP] and Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz [PML-N] were opposing fresh elections, because they wanted to appoint an army chief of their choice in November to save themselves from corruption cases.

The tenure of Pakistan’s Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa is set to end in the last week of November. He is already on an extended tenure and has indicated that he is not interested in another extension even if that is for one year.

Khan Bajwa Duet

Bajwa’s extension was approved when Mr Imran Khan was the Prime Minister and after a special motion in the parliament as per directions of the Supreme Court on fixation of tenures of military chiefs. In fact, the Army under General Bajwa is said to be the moving force in ensuring success of Pakistan Tehreek Insaaf (PTI) in the 2018 federal and provincial assembly polls. This has led to the opposition parties calling him a, “selected,” Prime Minister by the Army.

Khan Bajwa Fall Apart

The two – Khan and Bajwa or the Army fell out over an extension of tenure to Lt Gen Faiz Hameed as chief of the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) who had become close to Mr Imran Khan. The Army wanted Hameed to take over an active corps and posted Lt Gen Nadeem Anjum as his relief.

The bitterness that followed also led to Imran Khan later blaming the Army for backing the opposition coalition for his removal by engineering a political coup through a no confidence vote in the National Assembly in April this year.

Mr Imran Khan also blamed the United States for his removal and made anti American agenda a part of his campaign in rallies following his ouster by the parliament.

Khan’s success in mobilising his supporters over corruption of the opposition, US interference gelled and was followed by the bitter pill that the PML N led coalition government had to swallow for an agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) funding the precipitous Pakistan economy.

As a result of the cut in subsidies and rising fuel prices, public sentiment went clearly against the Coalition led by Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif and the PML N lost the bye elections in 15 of the 20 seats in the Punjab Provincial elections on July 17. This also led to the fall of the provincial government led by son of Shahbaz, Hamza Shahbaz.

During the campaign Imran had warned the public that the Army will interfere in the polls but it did not.

Swan Song with the Public

Falling prey to populist politics of the PTI, Pakistan public has been rallying to Mr Khan who is using social media and visuals to effect to denigrate ruling parties, the Army and the Supreme Court. He wants early elections and thus comes the claim that the ruling coalition is delaying an election to facilitate appointment of the Army Chief.

“They want to bring their own army chief…they are afraid that if a strong and patriotic army chief is appointed then he would ask them about the looted wealth,” the former prime minister said. “They are sitting [in the government] because they want to bring in an army chief of their choice through joint efforts,” Imran claimed as per the Dawn News.

Army Responds

Reacting to remarks of Mr Khan in the Faislabad rally, the Army’s main media arm, Director General Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) took strong exception stating that it was, “aghast at the defamatory and uncalled for” statement.

Regrettably, an attempt has been made to discredit and undermine [the] senior leadership of [the] Pakistan Army at a time when the institution is laying lives for the security and safety of the people of Pakistan every day. Senior politicians trying to stir controversies on the appointment of the chief of army staff (COAS), the procedure for which is well defined in the constitution, is most unfortunate and disappointing, the ISPR said as per the Dawn News.

Indeed Mr Khan’s statements come at a time when Pakistan is facing devastating floods with over 1200 killed so far and massive loss of crops and economic destruction

“Politicising the senior leadership of Pakistan Army and scandalising the process of selection of [the] COAS is neither in the interest of the state of Pakistan nor of the institution. Pakistan Army reiterates its commitment to uphold the constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan,” the statement concluded.

The ruling alliance also lambasted Mr Khan. As per Dawn News, in a statement on Twitter, PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari said that the nation was now aware of the person spreading chaos in the country. “Today, everyone knows [who is the] man and the beast. “This man is determined to weaken the country, but we won’t let that happen,” he alleged

The Judiciary Responds

Mr Imran Khan is already facing charges of contempt of the judiciary with the Islamabad High Court have taken suo motu notice of the statements made by him against judges and police chiefs.

In fact on the day of Mr Khan’s diatribe in Faisalabad, Islamabad High Court disposed of a petition challenging the Pakistan Electronic Media Regu­latory Authority’s (Pemra) orders to ban the live telecast of PTI Chairman Imran Khan’s speeches as per the Dawn News.

At one point during the hearing, referring to Imran’s statements at the Faisalabad rally, the IHC CJ asked: “How can you say in public whether an army chief is a patriot or not?” Justice Minallah said as per the Dawn News that the armed forces personnel were getting martyred “and you [Imran] are bringing their morale down”.

Why is Khan Taking on the Army?

A truism of Pakistan politics is that the Army has a state and not the other way around in democracies. The role of Army though being denied now is well established and is seen as a stable institution internally and externally.

In fact Army Chief Bajwa’s assurance indirectly to the IMF had led to approval of the Extended Fund Facility (EFF).

He has also been instrumental in managing funding gaps from Saudi Arabia, UAE, and China.

Nevertheless, in principle the role of Army in politics is undesirable but Mr Khan is not a principled player. His conduct in politics so far is unprincipled and unbecoming of a leader of his stature.

Mr Khan is also known to instigate rifts in the Army senior officers, veterans and families.

His main interest is of appointment of the next Army Chief with his acolyte Lt Gen Faiz Hameed who is technically fourth or fifth in seniority for the top post of Army Chief due out in November.

Whether his game which is based on the draw of large number of people who are gathering for his public meetings succeeds remains to be seen but his driving Pakistan to a precipice at a time when it is facing multi dimensional crisis from floods to inflation and economic downturn.