Prominent US diplomat Donald Lu’s much-awaited testimony in Washington did little to clear the haze engulfing political uncertainty in Pakistan for the last two years.
After he categorically rejected a conspiracy narrative PTI Founder Imran Khan had fashioned into a clarion call in the wee hours of his ouster from the government, mixed reactions were elicited; ranging from outright displeasure by Mr Khan’s supporters to a subdued sigh by those who wished the ruling elite had thought twice before engaging international powers in their political shenanigans. There’s enough evidence in the past few news cycles to suggest that while other parties are not in a mood to spare Mr Khan and his caustic allegations, his party itself is content with reading between the lines.
With newsrooms buzzing with one-liners from reports suggesting how the US had been involved in regime changes in an overwhelming 72 countries and heated exchanges of memes and one-liners by both sides determined to smear egg on the other, not many appear willing to look at the bigger picture. Of course, it would demand extraordinary naivety to take whatever transpired in the State Department hearing at face value.
Now that the baton has finally changed hands, the new government should immediately pursue independent and transparent accountability of the discussion held by the National Security Committee and the ground realities behind the much-talked-about demarche. However, we cannot look past how a purely domestic political matter has been stretched thin to make waves across seas just because one party wanted to further its interests through the services of a US lobbying firm. Since most of the attention remains fixated on the twisted saga, not many are questioning the government about what followed afterwards.
What about concerns raised over the electoral integrity and the role of the election commission? Who would dare look into what Mr Lu said about “the electoral violence and restrictions on human and fundamental rights and restriction on internet services?” Nevertheless, most instrumental remains the absence of those lamenting a hit to our credibility before the international community. As one half celebrates reservations on general elections–a hallmark of our diplomatic identity – and the other could not be happier about a former prime minister being called a “liar,” who’s got the time to give thought to the rest of the country. *