Following the passage of a resolution by US Congress expressing concern over the human rights situation in Pakistan, the alleged rigging in 2024 polls, and the demand for free and fair investigations into those allegations, the State Department has also endorsed its contents. Deputy Spokesperson of the State Department Vedant Patel in his daily press briefing on 1 July in response to a question regarding the resolution passed by Congress said” This is something that we have continued to raise with our partners in Pakistan. Yes, that continues to be the area of our focus” he further said that they have consistently, privately, and publicly urged Pakistan to respect the rights of the people in line with its constitution and international commitments.
Pakistani parliament has rightly rejected the Congress resolution pointing out that it was interference in the internal affairs of Pakistan. The question is what right does the US Congress or for that matter the US administration have to issue such statements and ask Pakistan what it needs to do on the issues that it has raised? This is nothing but a bullying attitude of a superpower.
Unfortunately, the matter has not ended there. Now the UN working group on Forced Detentions has also made very hard-hitting allegations against Pakistan and without mincing any words has said that Imran Khan’s detention was arbitrary and in violation of international law. It said “Appropriate remedy would be to release Mr. Khan immediately and accord him an enforceable right to compensation and other reparations, in accordance with international law. Khan’s woes are part of a much larger campaign of repression against him and his Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf. In the lead-up to the 2024 elections, members of Khan’s party were arrested and tortured and their rallies were disrupted. There was widespread fraud on election day, stealing dozens of parliamentary seats” Reportedly Zulfi Bokhari a member of PTI in exile at the moment had complained to the group which without investigating the allegations has endorsed them in totality.
The foregoing developments are not just a coincidence. They are a consequence of persistent lobbying by PTI which has hired a lobbying firm in the USA and that fact has been accepted and boasted about by former KPK finance minister Taimur Jhagra in a TV talk show. The jubilation expressed by PTI and its founding chairman on the anti-Pakistan rhetoric also provides irrefutable evidence of the dirty game played by the party. It is indeed the most condemnable act by the party as it has chosen to place its narrow political agenda above the state interests and left no stone unturned in maligning it at the global level.
I have a sneaking feeling that the USA and UN Group have not done this for PTI’s sake. The PTI has only provided them the opportunity to advance their larger agenda to promote political instability in Pakistan and keep the country under pressure. USA would not do it for Imran Khan who has been blaming it for hatching a conspiracy to remove him from power. The USA is a devious superpower that uses overt and covert machinations to achieve its objectives.
The arrest of Nasrullah aka Maulvi Mansoor who heads the defence shoora of TTP in Balochistan while he was planning terror attacks in the province and the revelations made by him provide a deep insight into the anti-Pakistan global agenda.
Maulvi Mansoor in his confessional statement in a video played before the journalists said that Indian RAW was supporting TTP and BLA and he was responsible for military, financial, and administrative affairs of the banned outfit. The TTP has been working closely with BLA as desired by RAW. According to him, RAW wanted the two entities to collaborate and establish camps in Balochistan. The objective of setting up these camps was to establish a foothold in the province, target Chinese citizens to sabotage CPEC, and carry out kidnapping for ransom which would highlight the forced disappearances issue discrediting Pakistan’s intelligence agencies. He also revealed that many missing persons were roaming around in Afghanistan. He also confessed that the current Afghan government fully backed their activities.
The information provided by Maulvi Mansoor establishes beyond doubt the nexus between terrorist outfits, RAW, and the Afghan government and also clears the haze on the much-trumpeted issue of missing persons and how the enemies were exploiting the situation. As confessed by him the biggest aim of collaboration between TTP and BLA was to sabotage CPEC.
Evidently the major objective of the nexus between RAW, TTP, and BLA is to sabotage CPEC. I also have a hunch that the USA might covertly be involved in this effort. USA and India are collaborating in the ‘stop-China’ policy and they have been from time to time expressing concern about CPEC. The USA perceives CPEC as a threat to its global influence. It has already formed alliances to check the rise of China as a global power. India also sees an opportunity for itself to settle a score with Pakistan and also gain favours from the USA and its allies for the role that it is playing in the ‘ stop China’ policy. It is an unholy alliance against Pakistan as well. Both the USA and India are collaborating on the principle of your friend is mine friend and your enemy is my enemy. The commonality of interests provides strength to this anti-Pakistan alliance.
Under the circumstances, it is indeed very regrettable that a Pakistani political party is allowing itself to be used as a pawn on the global anti-Pakistan chess board. The party and its leadership need serious rethinking as the course adopted by it might render it irrelevant to the political landscape of the country in the future.
The advisable course for it is to shun politics of confrontation and maligning the state institutions. It must play a constructive role in the parliament and seek redress of its grievances regarding alleged irregularities in elections through the constitutional forums available in this regard. It needs to revisit the process of its own rise to power and the politics of vendetta practiced by it as a consequence of which almost all the leaders of the opposition were incarcerated only to be acquitted by the courts of law. Raising an accusing finger at others does not absolve it from the wrongs and human rights violations that it has committed itself.
Pakistan also needs an aggressive diplomatic offensive to neutralize propaganda against it and expose the elements that are creating false narratives and propagating them through international lobbies and its social media warriors.
Malik Muhammad Ashraf
The writer is a freelance columnist. He can be reached at ashpak10@gmail.com