Daily Times

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan is on a roll. He is globetrotting from one foreign country to another in an apparent bid to bring peace in the region. At the beginning of his tenure in August 2018, he had declared that he would curtail foreign visits and keep them to a bare minimum. This was welcomed because his predecessors were in the habit of popping off to various capitals of the world at the slightest excuse. Their travel would be a big burden to the national exchequer as it would comprise a huge entourage and a large retinue of camp followers. Boarding, lodging and travel was always in style paid by the national treasury.

At least Imran Khan put an end to the extravagance, but he could not keep his promise of restricting his foreign visits for long. With the coffers being empty, soon Imran Khan had to undertake shuttles to China, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia and UAE to seek financial support. He did stick to his promise of adopting austerity, keeping his entourage to a bare minimum and mostly traveling by commercial airlines. His friends did not disappoint but their contribution was not enough and ultimately Pakistan had to undertake loans from donor agencies, breaking another of his promises to avoid getting into the debt trap.

The diplomatic shuttle commenced in earnest with the visit to Washington DC in July this year. Its outcome was President Donald Trump’s offer of mediation with India to resolve the Kashmir issue. Modi rejected the offer immediately and Trump’s offer may have forced India’s hand in adopting the August 5th move to rescind Articles 370, 35A and declare Indian Occupied Kashmir and Ladakh into Union Territory. Imran also scored a diplomatic victory by promising to bring the Taliban to the negotiations table; which he delivered and was deemed successful till Trump backed out of a done deal, a cat’s whiskers away from signing the peace accord.

Imran Khan’s passionate and inspiring address at the 74th session of UN General Assembly was considered a major accomplishment after which, one would have expected him to have been hailed as a hero by his countrymen. Unfortunately, apart from his own political party members, the nation enmasse stayed away on his arrival at Islamabad. There are various reasons for the relative lack of enthusiasm; mainly the plethora of domestic problems, which the people are facing. Foremost among them being heightened inflation, prevailing lawlessness in urban as well as rural centers, and finally the political squabbling, which is the main catalyst in creating antipathy against the erstwhile popular leader. The opposition parties are exploiting what they believe to be chinks in the armor of the government.

To rub salt in the wound, a politico-religious party Jamiat-e-Ulema-e-Islam (JUI), which failed miserably at the 2018 polls, has threatened to march towards Islamabad aimed at dislodging the government. Other opposition parties have also declared solidarity with the so called “Freedom March” because of vested interests because their leadership is facing investigation and incarceration for corruption.

Imran Khan may be a visionary leader and sincere in pursuing lofty goals, but some members of his team are not going the whole nine yards to deliver the desired results. After fourteen months of rule, the PTI has not been able to stabilize the economy nor get a grip on the law and order situation

Some of the allegations against Imran Khan by his detractors are that his government had slowed down the progress on the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), the flagship venture of the Belt and Road (BRI) mega project initiated by China. Imran Khan is also accused of bending backwards to appease the US at the cost of Sino-Pak ties.

Imran Khan may be a visionary leader and sincere in pursuing lofty goals, but some members of his team are not going the whole nine yards to deliver the desired results. After fourteen months of rule, the PTI has not been able to stabilize the economy nor get a grip on the law and order situation. It will be imperative for the Pakistani Prime Minister to shuffle his cabinet soon and sift the chaff through the wheat, retaining a lean team which will undertake all responsibilities wholeheartedly.

In the current milieu, Imran Khan undertook another diplomatic shuttle to Beijing, meet the senior leadership there and allay doubts, misgivings and apprehensions if any regarding CPEC. Delivering fiery speeches full of ethos and logic have to be backed by cogent action. Even “iron brothers” like China and Pakistan require the reassurance of each other’s commitment to major projects like CPEC.

China has never asked Pakistan to indulge in a zero-sum-game vis-à-vis the US and is cognizant of the latter’s security imperatives in Afghanistan together with Pakistan’s possible role in cobbling peace between the Taliban, the US and Afghan Government. Imran’s visit to Beijing was undertaken at an opportune moment because two days later the Chinese President was traveling to India to participate in the 2nd Informal Summit with Modi. Imran briefed his Chinese counterparts regarding the Kashmir situation. President Xi, on the other hand, met Modi for 6 hours and discussed trade and commerce. According to the Indian media, Kashmir was not mentioned.

Imran’s next stops have been Tehran and Riyadh to broker peace, which is commendable but an uphill task. He will have to pull out a virtual rabbit through his hat to bring the two warring brothers to the negotiations table.

The writer is a retired Group Captain of PAF. He is a columnist, analyst and TV talk show host