Politics- a Game of Crooks???

Sqn. Ldr. Nusrat Hussain (R)
From the pen of the founding Editor of ‘The Miracle.’
Darwin’s theory, ‘Survival of the Fittest’ can be translated into Machiavelli’s political theory by saying, ‘The best amongst the cooks has the right to rule.’ Machiavelli was an Italian Philosopher, his book, ‘The Prince’ published in 1532 is said to have been a bed side table read for Napoleon, Stalin, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, Senior Bush and many other great leaders of the world. Machiavelli identified virtue as Power and justified engagement in necessary evil when it was advantageous to maintain power. An ideal ruler, according to him; is ruthless, and upon recognizing traps must be to be a fox and a lion to scare the wolves. His overall philosophy is simple: “The ends justify the means.”
Recently deposed Prime Minister of Pakistan, Mr. Imran Khan is advocating a case of foreign intervention by the USA in ousting him from the office. It is also true that the United States of America has a rich recorded history of regime change in Latin America, the South West Pacific and in many other countries around the world. The American involvement in Pakistan is not yet confirmed though, but Imran Khan has brilliantly blown it up to an extreme by taking advantage of an anti American sentiment. Khan has touched extreme popularity figures over night not only in Pakistan, but also in many countries around the world.
On 30th March, Khan pulled out a piece of paper from his pocket and waived it to a huge crowd gathered in Islamabad. He claimed that the paper was evidence of an international conspiracy hatched to topple his government. The said letter was written on 7th March, a day before the No Confidence Motion against Khan was filed in the National Assembly.
According to Khan, “The letter stated that the no-confidence motion was being tabled even before it was filed, which means the Opposition was in contact with them.” This is also correct that no one else other than the top leadership of the opposition in Pakistan was aware about the time of filing the motion.
Khan alleged that the letter contained details from a meeting between Pakistani Ambassador and his team in Washington with the Assistant Secretary of the State Department, responsible for South and Central Asian Affairs and other members of his team. Khan called it a conspiracy against him as the letter stated that if the no-confidence motion against Khan passes then Pakistan will be forgiven and if not then there will be consequences for Pakistan. Following reasons for throwing him out of office by the U.S.A. were furnished by the supporters of Imran Khan:
a) During June 2021, in a TV interview with Jonathan Swan on HBO, Imran Khan responding to a question of providing bases to the CIA said, “Absolutely Not” Imran Khan’s response, ‘Causes Stir’ reported the BBC.
b) In December 2021, Imran Khan declined an invitation extended by the U.S.President Joe Biden to a Summit for Democracy of 110 countries.
c) On February 6th, 2022, Prime Minister Imran Khan and Russian President Vladimir Putin visited China for the Winter Olympics games. The games were boycotted on diplomatic level by the USA, Britain, Australia and Canada.
d) On February 24th 2022, Russia carried out a full-scale invasion of Ukraine after a few hours of arrival of Imran Khan in Moscow. Pakistan abstained from voting against Russia in the United Nations Assembly.
The letter is now confirmed to be genuine as a demarche was sent to the US Foreign office when advised by the National Security Committee in Pakistan. The Committee concluded that the contents of the letter used undiplomatic language and it amounted to blatant interference in the internal affairs of Pakistan not acceptable under any circumstances.
Imran Khan has taken advantage by propagating foreign intervention and regime change practices of the U.S.A. Masses in Pakistan displayed strong anger against the U.S. intervention and came out on Khan’s call in such a humongous manner that might had even surprised him.
A Machiavellian fox move of Khan rejected and disallowed the no-confidence move by the Deputy Speaker relying on Article 5 of the Constitution of Pakistan. Faces of the opposition leaders were seen hanging long in complete shock and humiliation. Asif Zardari and Shahbaz Sharif considered master crooks of Machiavelli’s political arena were outsmarted by someone better than them.
Fast declining popularity of Khan, due to his poor governance and economic incompetence took a sharp climb because of American intervention theory presented by him. Immediately after the rejection of the no-confidence motion, Khan, at regaining his full Prime Ministerial powers dissolved the National Assembly and announced fresh election within 90 days. There couldn’t be a better than now time for him to opt for election.
In a later development, The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Pakistan considered it a constitutional crisis and took a suo moto action. A verdict with a unanimous agreement of 5-0 judges’ order stated the deputy speaker’s ruling to be, “contrary to the Constitution and the law and of no legal effect, and the same hereby are set aside.” The court’s verdict reconvened the session of the National Assembly and Khan was finally voted out of office of the Prime Minister.
The US State Department in U.S.A. rejected the claim, “Allegations of US involvement in the no-trust motion and ‘threat letter’ to PM Imran Khan are baseless.”
White House also rejected by saying, “absolutely no truth to that allegation.”
Now Imran Khan is out on the road demanding immediate election. He needs to slow down on his anti American statements. He has achieved the maxim and now is a time to focus on his demand of an early election. Continuation of anti American slogans would not do any good to his long term programs.
Newly formed government of Shahbaz Sharif simply cannot afford to go for election at this point in time. His government is in dire crisis. Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif has not announced his cabinet till seven days later since taking oath on 11th April. There is a greater possibility of Imran Khan coming back to power with a better majority if the elections are held in near future. He needs to learn from his previous mistakes of arrogance, no negotiation policy with the opponents and self righteousness. Better reasons can be found in having an understanding with the Peoples Party of Zardari and Bilawal Bhutto. Political power game of Pakistani politics is moving in an interesting manner – it is yet to determine the Fox and Lion quality leader or the best crook as
described by Machiavelli.