Imran Khan is playing in the hands of the military establishment – by Ali Aftab (Beygairat Brigade)

Lead singer of Beygairat Brigade, Ali Aftab, asks some tough questions about Imran Khan and the sinister role of Pakistani establishment behind his PTI.

And here I am thinking, can PTI clean sweep the next elections? Do they even have candidates in Sindh, Balochistan or Southern Punjab for that matter? Is it going to remain the party of unsullied eggs if the likes of Shah Mehmood Qureshi and Mushahid Hussain join it? And let’s not forget, even if they don’t make an alliance with any party at the moment, won’t they inevitably have to after the elections? Then, who will it be with? Cracking the shell in two, if PTI just ends up placing a pixie dent in PML(N)’s electorate bum, who will benefit from that? Should PPP support PTI for future dharnas in Punjab?

Even if rumour has it, I will have the facts on the rocks: the establishment always assures that there are no hurdles when they support someone in a vested cause. Keeping in mind that it’s Shahbaz Sharif’s government in Punjab, Imran Khan’s impeccably smooth jalsa in Lahore is an unmistakable indication of the above; his peaceful protest against drones in Peshawar is the other. Also, Mian Nawaz’s perpetual grudge against the army was evident in the APC when he addressed General Kayani by saying where there’s smoke there’s fire.

That can be taken as acknowledging the US point of view to some extent and the beef in the establishment’s ‘kosher’ menu card. With Sharif’s guns trained on them, maybe the powers that be are looking for other props?

Moving on, Imran Khan is very determined about keeping a check on the assets of the current political figures. But shouldn’t these good intentions begin at home? A well-known political analyst from PTI said that Imran’s annual income culminates to 2 crores from which he donates around 1 crore to Shaukat Khanum and other non-profit institutions. But one can’t but have conjectures about where the dough is coming from for all his campaigning. The lighting at Minar-i-Pakistan that day was very well. And then there was the new campaign style introduced by IK – inviting singers to jalsas and covering their boarding and lodging.

There were also the caravan of floaters (publicity vans) that roamed around the city with Imran’s posters. These ring a bell in one’s mind about the finances. Given Imran’s insistence that party members aren’t rich enough, one has to ask: where is the money coming from?

Imran Khan also announced his visit to China during his jalsa to which he went and quietly ironically (I must consider it situational irony) he came back on a private plane which seemed to be arranged by state authorities. In what capacity did he go there? A couple of days prior to the eye-opening and white-washing jalsa, China seemingly put Pakistan in a critical position (Though not embarrassing) by asking for establishing military bases in FATA, definitely to counter the rising danger of extremism in Xinxiang. Imran, perhaps would have to take a contradictory position if he agreed to the “demands” put forward by China.

Imran would be supporting the Taliban for their cause in Afghanistan and simultaneously would be discouraging Muslim separatists in Xinxiang. If he goes to Saudi Arabia or the Middle East after this, won’t it be more conclusive that he is playing in the hands of the establishment?

I was terribly disappointed with some analysts as they predicted Imran denting both right- and left-wing vote banks by offering prayers on stage and then letting the musicians play music before his speech. Is playing music all that is required to prove your ‘liberal’ ‘leftist’ credentials? These things once meant entirely something else. That it has come down to this tells us a lot.

The writer is a member of the band Beygairat Brigade that has recently released the single Aaloo Anday.

Source: Pakistan Today

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