Pakistani generals’ brilliant brainwave : do a Bhutto on Imran Khan
By Justice Markandey Katju
The Pakistani generals are determined on one point : former Prime Minister Imran Khan must never be allowed to come to power again.
But national elections are due in October this year, and Imran Khan’s popularity in Pakistan is so high ( as all opinion polls show ) that his party, the PTI, will certainly sweep the polls, while the PMLN and PPP will be decimated.
To avoid this situation the generals, abetted by the ruling PDM leaders, have decided to destroy the PTI and end Imran Khan”s political career. For this, they arrested the PTI leaders and about 10,000 PTI workers and supporters, and unleashed a reign of terror throughout the country. Many PTI leaders, who could not bear the pressure, have resigned from the party.
Now to put a nail on the coffin, the generals have got a brainwave, and thought up of a brilliant plan. Why not do a ZA Bhutto on Imran Khan ?
A la Bhutto, an FIR has been filed against Imran Khan for getting a lawyer killed ( possibly the poor lawyer, like a sacrificial goat, was killed on the order of the generals )
Now all that is required is a Masood Mahmood, who would turn approver, name Imran Khan as the person who ordered the murder of the lawyer, and get him hanged, like Bhutto, or given a life sentence, to end his political career.
This would not be difficult for the generals. When a gun is pointed at someone, he will obey any order, as Masood Mahmood did.
This may well happen, considering the obsession of the generals to get rid of Imran Khan.
What the generals overlook, however, is what may ensue thereafter.
Pakistan today is very different from what it was earlier, when the army could ride roughshod over the people. Almost 80% Pakistanis support Imran Khan ( as opinion polls show ), because they regard him basically honest, as compared to the PDM leaders who are regarded as totally corrupt as the Panama Papers and other material reveal. So even if he is convicted ( on the basis of manufactured and perjured evidence ) and given a life sentence, his support will not diminish. And if he is hanged, like Bhutto, the generals will have prepared their own graves.
I am afraid if the generals continue on their pig headed plan and path the time will soon come when civil war and guerilla war will break out against them, and then none of these generals will be safe. The people of Pakistan are suffering terribly economically, and may now resort to extreme steps.
