Daily Times

The ‘lettergate’ scandal that led to recent political conundrum begin when a cable from Pakistan embassy at Washington was sent to Pakistan’s foreign office. It included the notes taken from a farewell lunch that was hosted on 7^th March in the honor of then Pakistan Ambassador, to the United States, Asad Majeed Khan at Pakistan House. During that lunch, US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Donald LU and Deputy Assistant Secretary Lesslie C Viguerie were also present. The US officials used un-diplomatic language and expressed their reservation and disappointment on Imran Khan’s decision to visit Russia. According to communiqué released after the National Security Committee meeting that took place to discuss the intricate matter, the committee viewed the message as “blatant interference in the internal affairs of Pakistan”. It is pertinent to mention here that a démarche was issued to the foreign country over the use of undiplomatic language which is tantamount to interference.

This sort of interference is not something that United States is doing for the first time. From the overthrow of Hawaiian Kingdom in 1893 to the Coup d’état against Former Prime minister of Iran, Mohammad Mosaddegh invloving “Operation Ajax” conducted by CIA in 1953 under the Eisenhower administartion, time and again United States has been covertly involved in regime changes. Just between 1945 and 2000, United Sates has also influenced 81 elections in foreign countries. We all know who toppled the government of Saddam Hussein in 2003 yet many people try to negate Imran khan’s stance. Didn’t the United States not only spy in Pakistan through NGOs but also disregarded the sovereignty of this country by capturing Osama Bin Ladden from the city of Abbottabad?

The downfall of Imran Khan started the day he replied “absolutely not” to journalist Jonathan Swan when asked if he would give army bases to the US for conducting operations in Afghanistan. Similarly, Political career of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto ended the day he used the term “white elephant” for US. A white elephant that neither forgives nor forgets and Bhutto told the Parliament at the time that United Stated was displeased with him because he did not offer his support in Vietnam war. Dr Hein G Kiessling reiterates in his book Faith, Unity, Discipline that two of the four theories for explaining Air Crash that killed Gen Zia ul Haq are linked to foreign conspiracy. When John Gunther Dean who was US ambassador in India made his theory public, that involved a joint assassination conspiracy by Indians and Israelis against Gen Zia, he was called back to the State department, declared mentally ill and prematurely retired from his diplomatic service. The question here is why did Bianna Golodryga from CNN called comments of Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi antisemitic when all foreign minister did was just stand up for Muslim brothers in Palestine and called out Israel’s deep pockets for propaganda?

Albeit, Imran Khan is no longer in the office, there are many lessons for him if he is successful in winning next general elections. One of the lessons for Imran Khan is to be more diplomatic and not be so upfront about superpowers in media rather be more assertive in actions. Beautifully explained by Michael Wolff in his book Fire and Fury that Obama administration was quite aggressive in deporting illegal immigrants but they neither told the liberals about it nor did they confess on media. On the contrary, Donald Trump faced a lot of hatred for his actions in immigration law because he was upfront and open about it. Another thing, Imran Khan can incorporate next time is not to interfere too much in the matters of establishment, unlike the way he did by delaying the appointment of DG ISI. When Donald Trump took office, it was communicated to him by many of his confidants to be on good terms with intelligence community. According to Michael Wolff, these were forces not to be trifled with. Next time, Imran Khan should be more flexible. He should have removed Usman Buzdar as Chief Minister Punjab when Buzdar’s performance was subpar and not promising. If Imran khan is able to return to office, he should stay in touch with his MNAs and engage with them rather than just be surrounded by a few cabinet members. Lastly if he wins the next general elections, he should come up with a team for his cabinet and stick with it for his entire tenure of governance as portfolios, especially of information ministry and interior ministry, were handed over from one person to another quite frequently in PTI government. For now, Khan should try to ensure that next elections are conducted through electronic voting machines for transparency with the help from his supporters and intelligentsia.

The writer can be reached at: mhamza252@hotmail.com.