(Author: Andrew Korybko) – Copied from kroybko.substack.com
One need only imagine the furor that would have erupted had the Interior Minister of China, Iran, Russia, Turkiye, or Venezuela for instance declared that their government will resort to anti-democratic means to eliminate the supposedly existential threat posed by their country’s top opposition figure. The West would have sanctioned that official within days and likely imposed similar such unilateral restrictions against the rest of their government at the very least.
Pakistani Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah made another death threat to former Prime Minister Imran Khan over the weekend. According to Al Jazeera, he declared that “He [Khan] has brought the nation’s politics to a point where only one of us can exist. When we feel our existence is being threatened, we will go to a point where we will not bother whether a move is democratic or not…He accuses us of plotting to kill him, and if he thinks we want to kill him, obviously he wants to kill us as well.”
Sanaullah had earlier promised last fall that “We will hang [Imran Khan] upside down”, which ominously preceded the failed assassination attempt against that ousted leader less than a month later that their target blamed on elite figures within the intelligence, military, and political establishments. His latest threat was comparatively more subtle but nevertheless still clearly conveyed, leaving no doubt that he and his ilk have Imran in their crosshairs and aren’t afraid to harm him on faux “self-defense” pretexts.
The former Prime Minister tweeted in mid-March that “My house has been under heavy attack since yesterday afternoon. Latest attack by Rangers, pitting the largest pol party against the army. This is what PDM and the enemies of Pakistan want. No lessons learnt from the East Pakistan tragedy.” Instead of trying to control those same centrifugal forces that they initiated after last April’s post-modern coup, the regime doubled down by publicly expressing their intent to ban the largest opposition party, PTI.
All of this took place in the run-up to this week’s second “Summit for Democracy”, to which Pakistan was still invited despite its rulers’ indisputably anti-democratic behavior. They ultimately chose to skip that event due to astute policymakers realizing that their country’s participation could ruin their ties with China and thus preclude the possibility of the People’s Republic ever seriously considering bailing them out if the need arises, but their official excuse blamed Imran for this decision.
The Foreign Office claimed that his refusal to participate during the inaugural summit in December 2021 resulted in Pakistan not being able to keep pace with the commitments that other participants made at the time, which was intended to reinforce false perception of him being opposed to democracy. This information warfare narrative is part of the regime’s efforts to ensure the West’s silence amidst their brutal nationwide crackdown against the PTI and potential plotting of another assassination attempt.
One need only imagine the furor that would have erupted had the Interior Minister of China, Iran, Russia, Turkiye, or Venezuela for instance declared that their government will resort to anti-democratic means to eliminate the supposedly existential threat posed by their country’s top opposition figure. The West would have sanctioned that official within days and likely imposed similar such unilateral restrictions against the rest of their government at the very least.
NGOs, including those that serve as intelligence fronts, would have coordinated rallies outside Pakistani Embassies in a wide array of countries. The Mainstream Media (MSM) would run never-ending coverage of this thuggish threat too, and top officials would join in the chorus condemning the government that conveyed their intent to kill the person who’s simply demanding free and fair elections as early as possible to resolve their country’s political crisis.
None of that happened after Sanaullah’s latest death threat to Imran, nor is anything along those lines likely even in the worst-case scenario that his regime ends up killing him the next time they try. The so-called “rules-based order” that the US-led West’s Golden Billion never tires of discussing isn’t about protecting democracy and human rights nor about upholding the UN Charter. It’s always been about the arbitrary implementation of double standards aimed at advancing America’s grand strategic interests.
In this context, the US’ silence after Sanaullah candidly reaffirmed his regime’s desire to kill Imran shows that none of the preceding principles are truly important when it comes to that declining unipolar hegemon’s policy formulation. They regard Pakistan’s most popular politician by far as a threat to their latest geopolitical project in South Asia, hence why it can be concluded that they might have even already tacitly approved the next assassination attempt against him.
