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Former prime minister Imran Khan is engaged in chalking out strategies to malign the military establishment and compel the political leadership to conduct elections.
Insiders said that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan upset with the senior members of his party for failing to draw crowds for the May 25 march to Islamabad and is mulling a dangerous narrative for early elections, reported The News International. Among the options being discussed, insiders say, is the possibility of naming the head of a powerful institution as the main source of the conspiracy against Khan's government. Khan hopes the new narrative can generate enough pressure on the powerful personality to force an election, reported The News. Sources say there are two conflicting positions in this internal debate; one side is discouraging Khan from taking this step as it could backfire. While, the other side is arguing that by naming this powerful personality, he can bully the powerful stakeholder to concede to his early elections call, reported The News. It is important to mention here that while he was in power, Khan and his ministers constantly reminded the public that his government and the establishment were on the same page. Even when the vote of no confidence (VNC) was about to take place, Khan initially attempted to discredit the VNC and the incoming government through an unsubstantiated claim about a US-backed regime-change conspiracy. At the time, he lashed out against the neutrality of the establishment, saying only animals are neutral. But this was the only hint he gave about his discontent with the establishment. He continued to repeat the unsubstantiated claim about the US-backed regime change conspiracy after first mentioning it at a public rally on March 27. It is important to mention here that Imran Khan dismissed the letter written by Pakistan's ambassador to the US as inconsequential when he visited the Kamra Airbase as prime minister on March 11 and was informed about it, reported The News. By this time, lobbying for the VNC was at its peak, but Khan was confident that his allies would not desert him and that he continued to enjoy the support of powerful institutions in the country. However, when it became clear that his allies were going to vote with the opposition alliance, he pulled out this letter on March 27 as evidence of a US-backed regime-change conspiracy against his government. However, this narrative fizzled out within weeks of the new government taking charge and it failed to generate the national outcry that Khan had been hoping for. Once he was out of the government, Khan then attempted to build pressure on powerful institutions through large public demonstrations across the country. Here, he deployed a contradictory narrative in his speeches; on the one hand, he would attack the establishment for participating in the efforts to remove him from the office of prime minister and, on the other hand, he continued to hope for their support in bringing him back to power. In one speech, he made references to the disloyalty of Mir Jafar and Mir Sadiq in an apparent attack on the establishment, and the next day, he took a U-turn, saying he was talking about Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. But for Khan, the failure of his May 25 long march and dharna in Islamabad to force an early election, became the biggest source of frustration and embarrassment. Meanwhile, calling off his dharna, Khan gave a six-day deadline to call an election. But after these days lapsed, Khan had no new tactics to press for his demand of an early election, with his strategy collapsing entirely. Now, Khan is simply eyeing the Supreme Court as well as the Election Commission of Pakistan in the hope that some favourable judgement may emerge that could give him new ideas. Meanwhile, the recently leaked audio of a call between real estate tycoon Malik Riaz and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP's) Asif Ali Zardari caused the greatest dent in Khan's credibility. In the audio, Riaz could be heard telling Zardari that Imran had sent him a number of messages, asking him to facilitate a patch up with the PPP. To this, Zardari replied, "It is too late now." Insiders within the PTI say the party leadership is anxious about more audio and video leaks that could further damage credibility and cause embarrassment for Imran Khan. They believe there are more audios of his calls with his confidants, asking them to create the narrative around US regime change conspiracy. (ANI)
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