Pakistan’s embattled prime minister says he will not resign and accuses the US of conspiring with the opposition.
Sweden, the super-moralistic world champion of all worthy causes and activists, which paid bribes in poor India to sell its artillery cannons (Bofors) and never bothered to hold anyone accountable for 35 years? When the Russians attack Afghanistan, America gets so divine. At the very least, the Russians left an orderly withdrawal and a government in their wake.
Britain, which went to the Falkland Islands to fight Argentina for some disputed island area so far away and sunk the mainly defenceless and innocuous old cruiser General Belgrano in a colonial retaliation?
Alternatively, learn about the destiny of the Chagossians and Mauritius’ quest to reclaim its rightful borders.
We are not passing judgement on any of these great nations based on morality. It is naïve to expect states to let morality guide their strategic decisions. Nations only behave in their own best interests. Everything else will be later added.
When we look around the world today, the positions taken by the major Islamic countries on the oldest post-World War II subject that concerns them, Palestine, tell us the same lesson. Most of the strong Gulf governments, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan, and even Qatar, have abandoned the Palestinian cause.
Iran, on the other hand, engages in long-distance proxy conflicts on behalf of the Palestinians, even at the expense of its own people. This issue of double standards is playing out once again today, albeit in a more dramatic and multi-layered way. A few people in America have criticised support for Imran Khan because, in their view, that cause is tarnished by US support for the country and, of course, US double standards.
Finally, there is America’s insistence that in defending Ukraine it is standing up for international law, human rights, and democracy – concepts which the US has never applied to the securing the rights and freedoms of the Palestinian people.
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan is facing his worst serious political crisis yet, as the opposition prepares to file a no-confidence resolution in parliament, bringing down his government, which has been in power since August 2018. Imran Khan, who was elected on a platform of anti-corruption and other political reforms in Pakistan, has dubbed the opposition a “band of thieves” in public speeches and promised to defeat the no-confidence motion.
“This is all to save themselves,” PTI parliamentary secretary for foreign affairs Andleeb Abbas told Al Jazeera, referring to the PMLN’s Sharif brothers and the PPP’s former President Asif Zardari
“They are well aware that Prime Minister Khan will not forgive them. “Action, excitement, and some heroes and villains are all required in a film script. That it was so well-made and well-constructed. But, if the plot requires a villain, do you have to make one up? Well there are no one but three plus villains.
We claimed that the politics of animosity had been replaced by the politics of desire. What could a primarily young Pakistan possibly ask of the Allah? The previous years had seen phenomenal growth, and Pakistan underground rumour bazaar thrives whenever a political party and its administration succeed in conducting their affairs honestly. As it is right now. But among the various “expert” theories, “inside” stories, and “informed” speculations that circulate, there is never a question: Who will succeed Imran Khan?
Nobody is going to deny Imran Khan, so there will be no ambiguity. He has the power to lead the party for as long as he wants. The national media, as well as the pundits, mocked Imran Khan. In a money-dominated politics of Pakistan, he had to be insane to argue that the pen is mightier than the sword. He won a well-known win and has remained in power ever since. The politics of money had given way to the politics of aspirations. What more could a Pakistani population that is predominantly young ask Allah for? The previous years had seen phenomenal growth, and Pakistan was on the verge of cashing in on its demographic dividend. Do you believe the West, in particular, can tolerate this rise? So, just like Mukesh Ambani did for Modi, they acquired the media houses, and there was no shortage of cash for this.
The fate of nations and civilizations, however, isn’t determined by who wins an election or two. It’s defined by what its people, especially its young people, are thinking. Aspirations for the future or moaning over the past?
