Pakistan: The Great Betrayal

Zia Sarhadi

Safar 07, 1447 2025-08-01

News & Analysis

by Zia Sarhadi (News & Analysis, Crescent International Vol. 55, No. 6, Safar, 1447)

Three important events occurred in the month of August that have impacted Pakistan’s political trajectory. Two are contemporary, one historical. On August 5, 2023, Pakistan’s most popular political leader, Imran Khan was kidnapped by police commandos from his house and dragged to Attock Jail some 60 kms away from Islamabad. This was against the law but talking about law in Pakistan is meaningless.

He is now lodged in Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi which is under military control. He faces a slew of charges—all bogus—and is even denied visits by his family and lawyers. More on this later.

The second event that has impacted Pakistan is the August 5, 2019 decision by the Hindu fascist regime of Narendra Modi in India. Article 370 of the Indian constitution was abrogated, abolishing the special status of that part of Jammu and Kashmir which is under Indian occupation.

Pakistani diplomats at the Pakistan High Commission in Delhi had alerted the foreign office and the military, especially the ISI, more than a month in advance that India was about to take some drastic measures in Kashmir. This should have set alarm bells ringing in Islamabad, and more particularly in Rawalpindi where the men in Khaki, the real decision-makers of Pakistan, sit in opulent offices. Apart from vacuous statements, no concrete steps were taken, reinforcing suspicion that the military was in league with India on this diabolical plot.

The third important event is of course the emergence of Pakistan on August 14, 1947. It needs emphasizing that Muslim officers in the British Indian army took no part in the creation of Pakistan. As pukka sahibs they proudly proclaimed that they remained neutral even as a million Muslims were slaughtered by marauding Hindu and Sikh gangs. Millions more were forced to flee their homes in Hindu-majority areas to seek refuge in what became Pakistan.

While they played no role in Pakistan’s creation, once it came into existence, the military demanded ever larger share of the budget. Worse, they started to interfere in politics and other institutions of state that it now completely controls. As the most organized group in the country, civilians were no match for the army’s brute force. In 1958, Pakistan witnessed its first bout of martial law under Ayub Khan, an incompetent general but with a penchant for political intrigue. The military has tightened its grip ever since.

Today, Pakistan is under de facto martial law. The clowns that occupy civilian posts serve at the pleasure of the military, especially the army. The intelligence agency, ISI, has spread its tentacles into every department of state as well as every city, town and village in the country. They have even entered people’s bedrooms where they install video cameras to film people’s private lives that they use for blackmailing purposes.

The army’s narrative is that it is the defender of state with the specific mission to liberate Kashmir from the clutches of India. Those who criticize its role are branded as traitors and agents of India. With billions of rupees at its disposal, the ISI has recruited touts in the media that peddle army-fed lies on television. The few brave souls who dare to present the true picture based on ground realities are either murdered (Arshad Sharif), imprisoned for periods of time (Imran Riaz Khan, Orya Maqbool Jan and others) or hounded out of the country (Dr Moeed Pirzada, Adil Raja, Haider Mehdi etc).

The current army chief, Asim Munir, a deviant character, is the sole decision-maker in Pakistan. He suffers from an acute sense of inferiority complex. This is reflected in his outbursts of anger against those below him in rank (or presumed weaker than him) and complete subservience to foreign masters.

On June 16 when Donald Trump invited him to the White House (in clear violation of standard protocol), the general-cum-self-appointed field marshal tried to suck up to the US president. He told Trump that Pakistan would nominate him for the Nobel Peace Prize!

Trump is a convicted felon and sexual predator. He is no peace-maker as is evident from his role in backing the zionist war criminals in Gaza and against Islamic Iran. For Munir such facts, however, are irrelevant. What is important is to remain in the US’ good books to maintain his grip on power in Pakistan.

There is even speculation that Munir would recognize the zionist state of Israel despite its well-documented genocide in Gaza, under US pressure. The general is in no position to say ‘no’.

This also explains Munir’s extreme hatred—and fear—of Imran Khan. The people of Pakistan are solidly with the former prime minister despite being imprisoned and kept out of public view for two years. In the February 8, 2024 general elections, the people of Pakistan voted overwhelmingly for Imran Khan’s party, the Pakistan Tehrik-e Insaf (PTI).

The generals who have no regard for people’s wishes, sent in their thugs and grabbed the ballot boxes. This was done in full view of television cameras. The boxes were taken away and ballot results altered in a crude manner. Pakistan Muslim League (N) that won only 17 national assembly seats, was installed in power. The party had made a Faustian deal with the general.

Pakistan’s current regime is illegitimate as is Munir’s appointment as army chief. Legality, however, has no meaning in Pakistan.

The country’s economy has been run aground. It survives only by begging creditors to keep their money in Pakistan’s central bank. Three countries in particular hold the key to Pakistan’s economic survival: Saudi Arabia, UAE and China. The US, of course, determines whether the IMF should give another tranche of loan to Pakistan so that it does not default.

Pakistan’s loans exceed $120 billion. Its exports have nose-dived. The thugs in uniform hoodwink the people by saying that foreign remittances—money that overseas Pakistanis send home—have increased. While true, the reason is not because people have confidence in the economy. With skyrocketing prices, relatives at home ask for increased remittances to make ends meet.

What does the regime do to increase revenues? Far from taxing the parasites at the top or curtailing the rapacious lifestyle of generals, ministers and bureaucrats, it indulges in indirect taxation by increasing electricity and gas rates as well as petrol prices. Since the parasitical elite get free electricity and free petrol for their government-supplied vehicles, price increases do not affect them at all.

Food prices have skyrocketed as a consequence of increased electricity and petrol costs. While the loans Pakistan gets are pilfered by the parasites, the poor masses are forced to bear the burden of such loans. Poverty rates have escalated. Nearly 50 percent of the population lives below the poverty line. In reality, it is much higher since many middle class people feel ashamed to admit their plight.

The masses are being starved and forced to eke out a miserable existence while the army continues to wage war on the people of Baluchistan and KP province. Since the army cannot fight India—it gets fright at the mention of its name—it wages war on its own people.

Many thoughtful observers have warned of a Bangladesh-type situation recurring. The generals and their civilian puppets do not care. They have purchased properties abroad. Their families have acquired foreign citizenship. Once they are out of office, they are out of the country. Pakistan is merely an ATM machine for them to withdraw cash.

The generals are the real enemies of Pakistan. They should be overthrown, hauled before a properly constituted court of law and given exemplary punishment. For this to happen, the people will have to rise up. Nobody is going to given them freedom on a plate.