After retiring from cricket, he began building cancer hospitals. At some point, he entered politics. When he became the prime minister in 2018, his moment had arrived. Of course, in order to get there, he had made a tonnes of promises. In the three-and-a-half years that he governed Pakistan, he did not deliver.
The economy tanked and foreign debt soared. Despite saying he would not borrow from the Gulf States or the IMF, he borrowed from both. In desperation, he began firing finance ministers in rapid succession, appointing four in three years. Eventually, he was removed from office through a vote of confidence.
The normal course of action would be to wait for the next election. But he is a sore loser. The former prime minister has turned into a spinmeister. He keeps repeating the same lie: America implemented regime change in Pakistan by conspiring with leaders of the opposition.
The conspiracy theory has never been supported with tangible evidence. All he offers is a reference to a coded cable, a “cipher,” from Pakistan’s ambassador to the US. The ambassador supposedly summarised the minutes of a meeting he had with a senior official of the US State Department.
More than one interviewer has reminded him that the US was instrumental in his removal from office. Imran responds by saying that America is “too embarrassed” to admit it. As proof, he cites what happened in Iran in 1953 and in Chile in 1973. How does that prove his specific case?
Even the cipher has never been made public. In Urdu, the word means zero or nothing. We can safely say that the regime change theory is “much ado about nothing.”
In a recent interview with Piers Morgan, the British journalist, he said that the parliamentary system was not suited to Pakistan, forgetting that it was the system bequeathed to Pakistan by its founder, M. A. Jinnah. He said it only works in Anglo-Saxon countries where they have “very high moral standards.”
Is he forgetting that the alternative, the presidential form of government, is associated with military dictatorship in Pakistan’s history? They implemented it to suppress public opinion for more than three decades.
Is Imran Khan forgetting that the alternative, the presidential form of government, is associated with military dictatorship in Pakistan’s history? They implemented it to suppress public opinion for more than three decades.
Imran Khan is now claiming clairvoyance, saying that he learned of the US conspiracy six months before it occurred. This is a change in his story line. Earlier, he was saying that the US conspired to remove him from office as punishment for visiting Russian President Vladimir Putin on the day that Russia invaded Ukraine. He seems to have concluded that the storyline did not work. Several other countries, including India, continue to trade with Russia. The US is not implementing regime change in any of those countries.
Further, why is Russia not assailing the US for removing Imran Khan? The theory has no credibility.
But Imran Khan, the spinmeister, won’t let go of the theory. He has come up with another, more sinister reason why the US would depose him. He says the US wanted to establish military bases in Pakistan after it withdrew from Afghanistan. He told them, “Absolutely not.” There is no evidence that the US even made the request.
His supporters are now floating a trial balloon: The US wants to seize Pakistan’s nuclear assets and is concerned they will fall into the wrong hands.
There is little doubt that the US has that concern, but it must know that no Pakistani government is ever going to hand them over. It developed them despite the US opposition because it believes they are the best way to forestall an Indian invasion.
Another unproven statement that Imran Khan is making is that the US has given a million dollars to each of his disgruntled parliamentarians to participate in the vote of no confidence.
When pushed hard on what is the real reason why the US removed him, he says, because he was pursuing an independent foreign policy for Pakistan. But in the same breath he says, President Trump respected him because he was pursuing an independent foreign policy.
Like a petulant child, Imran Khan is very upset with the army high command for staying neutral when he was being removed from office. Of course, he was more than happy when the “neutrals” installed him in office.
It’s unclear what will happen next. As Churchill put it, “The future, though imminent, is obscure.” One thing is clear. He is not helping Pakistan get back on the road to prosperity.
He says the country has come to a fork in the road. No one can afford to stay neutral. He even managed to evoke some laughter from an audience of his supporters by saying there was “no neutral gear in the car.”
Through his divisive rhetoric, he has succeeded in creating a split in the army’s high command, something that not even arch-enemy India has been able to do.
Noticing that his tirades against the US and the neutrals have not stirred up passions among the 220 million Pakistanis – they are not out on the streets protesting his removal from office – he has begun spinning a horror story: the country will break up into three parts once the US neutralises the Pakistani military and takes away its nuclear assets.
Even that hyperbole has not created a revolt that would put him back in the office. So now he is saying he is not engaging in politics. He is engaging in jihad (holy war).
Consistent with that, he has begun displaying a martyr complex. He has said multiple times that he’s not afraid of being assassinated and that he has already recorded the reasons why he was assassinated on a confidential video that would be released after his martyrdom. Perhaps that will include additional reasons besides the several he has already stated, one less credible than the other.
It’s unclear what will happen next. As Churchill put it, “The future, though imminent, is obscure.” One thing is clear. He is not helping Pakistan get back on the road to prosperity.
Imran Khan will be remembered for grandstanding his way into office. He will be remembered for making more U-turns than any other ruler. And, when he was removed from office, he will be remembered for hurling the most vituperative abuse on his opponents, calling them rats, stooges, mafia, traitors and the imported government.
The man who once held the high office of prime minister has turned into a spinmeister.