Opposition's bouncer to Imran Khan: The return of the ‘Foreign Hand’

On April 29, 1977 the then Pakistan Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto told a joint session of Pakistan’s National Assembly and Senate that a foreign power was conspiring to unseat him and funding the Pakistan National Alliance (PNA) to run a concerted campaign against him.

He questioned as to from where the PNA was getting such huge funds to print and distribute pamphlets against him in such large numbers as well as to pay the volunteers to distribute the same door to door.

Without naming any country, he referred to this power as “an elephant”, which “does not forget or forgive”. But the reasons he gave for this world power to be upset with him left nobody in doubt about which country he was talking about. Bhutto said that he was being targeted for declining to become a party in the Vietnam War and for supporting the Arab cause against Israel.

Bhutto had hosted a conference of Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in 1974 in Lahore to discuss the Middle East situation in the wake of Arab-Israel war of October 1973 and the oil embargo imposed by Arabs. Bhutto claimed in Parliament that he had been under tremendous pressure to not host this conference and had to defer it multiple times before finally going ahead in February 1974.

The other claim he made was that a US diplomat, in a telephone conversation with one of his colleagues on April 12, allegedly said of Bhutto, “The party’s over. He’s gone”, evidently meaning that the opposition would succeed in ousting the PM.

However, the US vehemently rejected Bhutto’s charges. “The U.S. government has neither the desire not the reason to make any effort to support the prime minister’s opposition or to interfere in the political process in Pakistan, and it has not done so,” a State Department statement said.

Days later, Bhutto appeared at a busy market in Rawalpindi in an open jeep. He flaunted a piece of paper in his hand, claiming that it was letter from then US Secretary of State Cyrus Vance in which Vance has invited Bhutto for talks to resolve his grievances.

On March 27, 2022 present Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, facing a no-confidence motion in Parliament, organised a massive rally in capital Islamabad to garner public support. He claimed that there was a “foreign-funded plot” being hatched against his government. He alleged that Members of the National Assembly (MNAs), including those of his own party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, were being paid generously to vote against his government that has a wafer thin majority in Parliament.

During his address, Khan whipped out a piece of paper and waved it in the air, saying that he has “written evidence” that “money has been pouring in from abroad”, while “some of our people are being used to topple the government”.

He said that for months, “plotting and planning is being carried out to influence the foreign policy of Pakistan from outside”.

The Pakistan Prime Minister insisted that efforts were being made to seek his ouster since he pursued an “independent foreign policy”.

Though he did not divulge the contents of the “letter” in the rally, a day later he said he would share its details with a few senior journalists.

According to a Pakistani journalist,Imran Khan told them (a group of journalists) at his office that his recent visit to Russia had ruffled some feathers. Pakistan’s consistent drift towards China is also not being appreciated by the global powers, he said.

Meanwhile, the US rejected any kind of involvement in the no-trust motion against Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, saying the allegations of American involvement are baseless.

Responding to a question asked by Geo News regarding the letter, the US State Department categorically rejected any kind of involvement in the no-confidence motion against Khan.

“Allegations of US involvement in the no-trust motion and ‘threat letter’ to PM Imran Khan are baseless,” said the State Department.

The US government is monitoring the political situation of Pakistan, however and supports the rule of law in Pakistan, it added.

Nevertheless, the parallels with the Bhutto era are hard to miss.

Whether Imran Khan sails through or falls, he would create history. If he falls, he would be the first prime minister in Pakistan’s history to be ousted by a no-confidence motion. If he survives and completes his term, he would again become the first Pakistani prime minister to complete his five-year tenure.

(This was first published in National Herald on Sunday)