CAPTAIN Vs CHIEF

The upcoming army chief's appointment and the assassination bid on Imran Khan are only adding to the political chaos in Pakistan

- MEHMAL SARFRAZ

ON NOVEMBER 3, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan survived an assassination attempt in Wazirabad, Punjab. The former prime minister was leading a long march to Islamabad, demanding early elections. Khan named three people as conspirators: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah (both from the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz) and a senior intelligence agency official, Major General Faisal Naseer. Sharif dismissed Khan’s allegations and requested the chief justice of Pakistan to form a full court commission to investigate the attack. The Inter-Services Public Relations, too, rejected the “baseless and irresponsible allegations…against the institution and particularly a senior army officer”. It took four days to register an FIR in Punjab, a province ruled by the PTI and the Pakistan Muslim LeagueQuaid e Azam (PML-Q), its ally. The PTI rejected the FIR that named only the assailant caught on site, saying it does not believe that it was the work of a lone shooter.

Despite the successful vote of no-confidence against his government in the National Assembly this April, Khan continues to be very popular. His party won most of the by-elections held across the country. PTI leader Fawad Chaudhry, who was on the container with Khan when he was shot at, told THE WEEK that had the assassination taken place, the ensuing chaos would have weakened Pakistan. There are two realities in Pakistan whether one likes it or not, he said. “One is the military and [two] Imran Khan. Both of them are national forces,” said Chaudhry. “There is a perception now that the military is trying to ‘limit’Khan. This has created chaos in Pakistan’s politics now. It is a huge problem and needs to be resolved.”