In an article in a daily newspaper, a journalist claimed that Imran Khan revealed to him that during his visit to Riyadh, Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman shared his desire to attack Iran and requested Pakistan’s support for it. Confused and bewildered, I couldn’t believe myself reading these lines in a daily newspaper. This left me only shocked and disgusted, to say the least.
Instant thought that came to my mind was how someone who has remained prime minister of the country can try to damage everything, may it be national interest of Pakistan or its foreign relations with brotherly countries, merely to win popularity, self-aggrandizement and political credit. In the article, it was further claimed that not only he didn’t agree with MBS on the proposal of attacking Iran but also convinced him that he could get bilateral relations sorted out between Iran and KSA. Veracity of the claim appears dubious and devoid of facts, as natural question that arise is why would Crown Prince share such tricky matters with Imran Khan and why would PM of Pakistan share those confidential details while violating his oath and diplomatic ethics?
However even if it is true, it goes without saying that passing such irresponsible remarks yet again by a former PM is not only detrimental to brotherly relations between KSA, Pakistan and Iran but also is a serious breach of trust of a head of state. This indeed is a serious violation of code of conduct desired from a head of state who for his own political interests continues to hurt Pakistan at foreign relations front also.
This comes exactly at a time when PM and Army Chief have just concluded their successful visits to Saudi Arabia as a result of which Pakistan has been financially rescued by the Saudi leadership by increasing its deposits in central bank from $3bn to $5bn and is considering investment of another $10bn. It appears that the purpose of this statement by Imran Khan is to prove to the public that he always has played a larger-than- life role for every issue that has confronted the country. It’s not hard to discern that another purpose of disclosing such confidential information at this particular time is merely to discredit the efforts being done by the incumbent leadership to salvage Pakistan from severe economic crisis.
One wonders how Saudi leadership will feel after reading this personal discourse in media that was shared and confided with prime minister of a brotherly country? One can only imagine how much damage this is likely to cause to bilateral relations and yet again severely hit on the country’s leadership credibility in the eyes of the world community.
This has happened several times earlier also where Imran Khan have passed insensitive remarks damaging Pakistan’s standing in the world. It’s not that old when Imran Khan while showing open affinity with the newly established Taliban regime in Afghanistan has said “Taliban have broken down the shackles of slavery” as part of an anti-US move. During his last days in office as PM, on India he showered praises for leading an “independent and people oriented” foreign policy which he found to be lacking in his own country. His remarks over self-concocted foreign conspiracy mantra following his ouster from office implicating US for playing direct role in his ouster also brought disgrace to Pakistan as he fabricated official diplomatic communication and used it to concoct a narrative of regime change while disclosing confidential details on the media and during daily public processions. This damaged the credibility of Pakistan as a state in the eyes of the world community in general and US in particular. It also severely dented Pak-US relations which even today remain affected.
It is deplorable, to say the least, that while country is passing through one of the most severe economic crisis, Imran Khan remains busy in rhetorical gimmicks to mint vested and political interests. How things have unfolded in the last nine months following Imran Khan’s ouster from office has made one thing clear that he can put everything at stake just to satisfy his political ego. Whether he comes back to power or not is another day’s debate however the amount of damage he has caused to Pakistan’s relations with friendly countries due to his reckless statements have no parallel. One more key question remains for him; how much trust and confidence foreign leaders are going to confide in him if and when he ever occupies a public office again? I only wish he acts and behaves like a statesman one day.