As Khan’s supporters are arrested in the thousands in Pakistan, the military has revealed its intention to completely roll over any semblance of civility and due process. According to Pakistani news sources, the army has revealed its intention to try arrested protestors in military courts rather than civilian courts. A move that international human rights organizations and the United Nations have condemned.
Truly it seems as though the army has absolutely no interest in advancing the democratic spirit of the country. The protests in Pakistan were a testament to the dire situation Pakistanis find themselves in. After decades of economic crisis and mismanagement from a government that is secretly run by the military establishment. Pakistanis have had no choice but to turn to the streets to showcase their solidarity. The arrest of Imran Khan is only one small droplet in a sea of problems that Pakistanis have been facing.
As a showcase of the army’s selfish intentions, they are not only attempting to imprison frustrated protestors but are going after Imran Khan himself who points out the mass influence of the army in the country’s institutions, democracy, and political establishment. According to Khan, the army is looking to rid his leadership; possibly exile him from the country or bar him from running for office. Eventually, a decision about Khan’s influence in Pakistani politics will have to be made by the army; and knowing the current army chief Asim Munir, he will ensure that Khan comes out injured in Pakistan’s political landscape.
It is PTI and Imran Khan against the political and army establishment. The former side was full of rigour to free the country from the clutches of the army, while the latter clings to strangle the country dry to fill in their pockets with taxpayer’s money and corruption. For Pakistanis, the choice is obvious. A change in the establishment itself is needed, the country’s institutions require restructuring, and the cronies responsible for extracting the country’s tax revenue and wealth for their own personal gain need to be brought to justice. The only group of Pakistanis that are prepared to go to such lengths are the PTI loyalists. The supporters of Khan who are willing to thrash the property of those who have socially oppressed and economically stifled them for decades.
In what world does the Pakistani army live in where the citizens shut up and go to work while prices for necessities like food, gas, housing, and utility bills skyrocket to unprecedented levels? Only a fool would believe the Pakistani citizenry would be on the receiving end of such economic imprisonment. What the army expects from its people is fundamentally different from what the people expect from the army. Whilst the people want security and protection from the army, the army wants to actively stifle growth to keep their revolving doors and government tax coffers available only to them.
There’s a reason why every Pakistani man and woman dreams of joining the army. It is one of the only sectors of the country that ensures job security, good pay, and a lifetime of connections that’ll serve to change their family's lives forever. But such a country is no different than the military hegemonies of Russia and North Korea, where the masses suffer from wealth being hoarded by oligarchs. But there is a clear distinction between those countries and Pakistan, Pakistanis are able to step up to their oppressors and fill their minds with fear. The fear that the Pakistani citizenry is entirely capable of bringing down the establishment. The reason why the army is using military courts is only because they know there is no other way to keep the citizens of Pakistan down. The army wants to make examples of the protestors to not ever touch army personnel. The army is completely aware that it is stepping on the necks of the Pakistani citizenry to ensure their own pockets and homes are filled with wealth that the average Pakistani family will never enjoy.
Considering everything the army has compared to what the Pakistani citizenry doesn’t have. The only thing left to take away from Pakistan is the right to protest against the oppressors themselves. Such an effort is being made right now by the army and political establishment, any bystander looking in can see the obvious penetration and erosion of Pakistani rights and freedoms. At this point, the army will do whatever it can to protect its own group of goons.
The only advice for Pakistanis is to stand firm and fight. Do not falter, do not give up, do not succumb to the army, and ensure that whatever the outcome; the army and government must realize that it needs to support the people of Pakistan honestly and authentically.
For Imran Khan, he must choose between two paths with the army. He can either succumb to the army’s demands by reigning on his party’s anti-army rhetoric and eventually play his politics within the army’s pen. Or he decides to rev the engines of his party’s supporters and go full throttle with tackling the army and political establishment head-on. For visionaries who would like to see Pakistan truly improve, the choice is obvious. If Khan means every word he says to his supporters and wants to give Pakistan the opportunity its citizens deserve, then the choice for him is obvious as well.
All of Khan’s efforts are coming towards a singularity, a point of no return. Khan’s singularity has two paths, the luring path of wealth and patronage of the army or the rightful path of justice for Pakistanis. Whatever path he chooses will bode a path that he will never be able to come back from. For the good of Pakistan, let us hope Imran Khan chooses correctly.
Supposing that Imran Khan chooses the correct path, all of his and his party’s efforts must be put toward the October elections. An election that will determine the future of Pakistan in a decisive moment in its history. A moment of history where the country will either revert to being a destitute land or transform itself into a new age of potential and prosperity.
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