Erdogan’s victory

THOUGH he managed to win the presidential run-off by a whisker, Recep Tayyip Erdogan will stay in Turkiye’s driving seat for the next five years, cementing his two-decade-old rule. The campaign was a tough one, though the opposition coalition, led by the Kemalist CHP, was unable to dethrone the ruling AKP. What was particularly of concern were the toxic remarks of some of the contenders targeting Turkiye’s Syrian refugees, as well as ‘terrorism’, which is a euphemism for the country’s Kurdish separatist movement. Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the runner-up in the presidential poll, despite his stated secularist and liberal credentials, started targeting migrants in a last-ditch attempt to capture the ultranationalist vote. But now that the dust has settled, Mr Erdogan has his work cut out for him, particularly in delivering for all of Turkiye’s citizens, and working to stabilise the tanking economy.

It is not wrong to say that Mr Erdogan has emerged as Turkiye’s most powerful leader since Mustafa Kemal. Though parts of the Western media have painted him as an autocrat, the Turkish president’s record is mixed and includes some major achievements, as well as flawed decisions. For one, Mr Erdogan and his party managed to establish civilian supremacy in a country that regularly witnessed military interventions. In this respect, there are many similarities between Turkiye and Pakistan. Over the decades, the Turkish military has, directly and indirectly, sent four civilian governments packing. And like Pakistan, Turkiye shares the dubious distinction of sending an elected prime minister — Adnan Menderes — to the gallows. The AKP managed to checkmate the generals and ensure that they stay within their constitutional bounds. An anti-Erdogan coup was also attempted in 2016, which was thwarted, though the Turkish leader used the opportunity to make short work of his opponents, particularly members of the Gulenist movement, whom Mr Erdogan blamed for the aborted putsch. Tens of thousands were subsequently arrested and purged. Mr Erdogan was also a major supporter of regime change in Syria, a policy which backfired and resulted in millions of Syrian refugees crossing over into Turkiye. From hereon, the Turkish leader should foster a climate of political reconciliation, and work to fix the ailing economy. Inflation is going through the roof and the lira is plummeting, which means that the Turkish voter will be expecting solutions to resolve the painful economic crisis.

Published in Dawn, May 30th, 2023

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Seven more PTI leaders jump ship

ISLAMABAD: At least seven more leaders of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) appeared before the media in different cities on Mon­day to announce quitting the party.

All of them cited May 9 attacks on civil and military installations as the reason behind their decision. The fresh defectors, who surfaced in Islamabad, Karachi, Fai­salabad and Jhang, include legislators, a ticket holder and office bearers.

Addressing a press conference at National Press Club, Islamabad, Senior Vice President of Women Wing in Punjab Kaneez Fatima said she was part of PTI since 2010 and made all possible efforts for the progress and popularity of the party.

Ms Fatima said she was shocked to see attacks on the military installations as no Pakistani could ever support such heinous crime.

“I am quitting PTI and also the politics. So I resign from all the party positions. I have decided to give time to my family,” she said.

In reply to a question, she said no one had forced her to take the decision.

Irshad Khan, a leader of PTI in Swabi, at a separate presser at the National Press Club, condemned the May 9 incidents and said he never became part of “abusive language” used by the party.

“Previously, I was in Awami National Party and since I left ANP I never used abusive language against any leader of my former party and that is why people in ANP have a great regard for me,” he said.

Irshad Khan said he was quitting the PTI position as he never believed in such attitude.

In Faisalabad, two former PTI MPAs from Faisalabad — Chaudhry Ali Akhtar and Shakil Shahid — and provincial assembly ticket holder Hafiz Muhammad Ehtisham held a joint news conference to announce they were no longer part of the party.

They condemned attacks on army installations and desecration of the images of martyrs and demanded punishment for all those PTI activists who were involved in those incidents.

Chaudhry Akhtar is brother of former provincial minister Chaudhry Zaheeruddin. Both were in PML-Q and had joined PTI along with former chief minister Chaudhry Parvez Elahi.

The two brothers have a transport company and own a bus and van terminal. Sources claimed that the Faisalabad Municipal Corporation issued a notice to their terminal for the payment of bus stand conversion fee of more than Rs30 million two days ago.

A former MPA from Jhang, Rashida Yaqub Sheikh told a press conference said was disappointed by the activities of PTI supporters who attacked the Jinnah House at Lahore and other military installations, and decided to part ways with the party.

In Karachi, MNA Muhammad Aslam Khan announced resigning from the National Assembly while condemning the May 9 violent protests.

“After the recent situation which emerged over the past couple of weeks, I announce my disassociation with the PTI but will keep working for my country,” he said while addressing a press conference at the Karachi Press Club.

Senators blast vandalism

In a separate development, several PTI senators condemned attacks on military installations with one lawmaker moving a condemnation resolution in the Senate over the issue.

Later, while addressing a pres­ser at the Parliament House, the lawmakers severely criticised arson and vandalism on civil and military installations following the arrest of PTI chief Imran Khan.

PTI Senator Faisal Saleem Rehman submitted a resolution with the Senate Secretariat that says that “the House strongly condemns the violent attacks on 9th May, 2023 at the GHQ, and Jinnah House, where the Lahore Corps Commander resides, [which] was also set on fire”.

“The House extends its unwavering support and shows solidarity with our armed forces and security agencies and the public at large who are affected by these events,” reads the resolution.

At the presser, Senator Rehman said they were really ashamed of the harm done as the country belonged to them.

Senator Mohammad Humayun Mohmand said all lawmakers condemned the May 9 violence and what happened on the day was really sad. At the same time, he also criticised the PDM for unnecessarily blaming PTI for the violence and referred to Memogate and Dawn Leaks, saying those scandals were unearthed when PPP and PML-N were in power, respectively.

Dr Zarqa Suharwardy Taimur, Seemee Ezdi and Falak Naz also spoke.

Ikram Junaidi in Islamabad, Tariq Saeed in Toba Tek Singh and Imran Ayub in Karachi contributed to this report

Published in Dawn, May 30th, 2023

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Pakistan designated ‘very high concern’ area in food insecurity

• WFP, FAO report notes $77.5bn to be repaid over next three years
• Political instability, lack of IMF deal to hit ability to import food

ISLAMABAD: Acute food insecurity in Pakistan is likely to further exacerbate in coming months if the economic and political crisis further worsens, compounding the effects of the 2022 floods, warns a new United Nations report published on Monday.

The report titled, Hunger Hotspots: FAO-WFP early warnings on acute food insecurity, jointly published by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the World Food Progra­mme (WFP) covers the June to November 2023 period.

It notes that amid the current global economic slowdown, mounting public debt has exacerbated the ongoing financial crisis in Pakistan. It points out that authorities will have to repay $77.5 billion external debt between April 2023 and June 2026, a substantial amount considering the country’s GDP of $350bn in 2021.

Growing political instability and lagging reforms prevent the release of a crucial new credit line from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and additional support from bilateral partners, the report says.

The political crisis and civil unrest are likely to worsen ahead of general elections scheduled for October 2023, amid growing insecurity in the northwest of the country. A shortage of foreign reserves and a depreciating currency are diminishing the country’s ability to import essential food items and energy supplies and increasing food items’ prices besides causing nat­ionwide energy cuts, the report says.

The situation has been compounded by effects of last year’s floods which caused damages and economic losses of Rs30bn to the agriculture sector.

According to the report, over 8.5 million people were likely to experience high levels of acute food insecurity between September and December 2022.

The food insecurity and malnutrition situation is likely to worsen in the outlook period, as economic and political crises are reducing households’ purchasing power and ability to buy food and other essential goods, it notes.

The likely deterioration to the food security situation in the projection period is due to the devastating impact of floods, which caused livestock losses and adversely affected food production and availability of food and livelihood opportunities.

It also notes that Afghanistan’s coal and food export revenues could drop if the economic and political crisis in Pakistan — Kabul’s main trading partner — and the security situation in border areas continues to deteriorate.

The report has called for building the capacity of national and provincial disaster management authorities to include forecast-based financing and risk insurance as part of disaster management and sectoral contingency plans.

Among the actions recommended by the report are strengthening the shock-responsive nature of existing social protection mechanisms (such as the Benazir Income Support Prog­ra­mme) to ensure effective anticipatory action and humanitarian res­p­onse through social protection systems.

The two UN agencies further warn that acute food insecurity is likely to deteriorate further in 81 hunger spots — comprising a total of 22 countries during the outlook period from June to November 2023.

Afghanistan, Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan and Yemen remain at the highest concern level. Haiti, the Sahel (Burkina Faso and Mali) and the Sudan have been elevated to the highest concern levels. This is due to severe movement restrictions of people and goods in Haiti, as well as in Burkina Faso and Mali, and the recent eruption of conflict in the Sudan.

All the hotspots at the highest level have populations facing or projected to face starvation or are at risk of deterioration towards catastrophic conditions, given they have already critical food insecurity and are facing severe aggravating factors. These countries require the most urgent attention.

Pakistan, the Central African Republic, Ethiopia, Kenya, Congo and Syria are hotspots with very high concern, and the warning is also extended to Myanmar.

Published in Dawn, May 30th, 2023

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She was always there: Pakistani women have a long history of resistance

To protest is an inherent part of any democracy. Protests are fundamental to the success of democratic processes as they highlight the struggles of the people and, therefore, result in social change.

Throughout Pakistan’s history, women have always played a crucial role in public protests. Be it the 2013 women-led protests in Swat for the provision of civic amenities, the Hazara women’s protests against targeted killings or the Gwadar women marching for basic rights — the list goes on and on.

If you go through the popular rhetoric on social media these days, however, some would have you believe that the PTI is the first political party to have created space for women to participate in political activities, that this is the first time women have taken to the streets for a political cause, and that this is the first time that they have been manhandled or detained by law enforcers for participating in protests.

The reality is that women have been passionately mobilising and protesting — often alongside their male counterparts — since before Independence and have also been at the receiving end of brutal repression by the state. Whether it is to support their favourite leader or a political party that they align with, they have never been afraid to be at the forefront of any movement. They have also taken the lead in actively mobilising for social causes that fail to make it to the priority lists of political parties. For the sake of brevity, however, this essay only focuses on women’s participation in political causes.

A woman PTI supporter shields her younger brother from a baton charge during the party’s protest near Millennium Mall — Shakil Adil / White Star

A tradition of rebellion

The phenomenon of women’s participation in politics — mainstream or otherwise — began well before Independence. In the 1946 elections, two women, Begum Jahanara Shahnawaz and Begum Shaista Ikramullah, were elected to the Central Constituent Assembly and continued to be part of the first Constituent Assembly after Partition.

This was also the year women supporting the Muslim League came out on the streets and protested against the government for refusing to allow the political party to form a ministry. They faced violence from the state — very much like they do today — and many were arrested.

Women leaders of the Muslim League are released from Punjab Jail in March 1947 — Lahore Museum Archives

Of course, no one can deny the role women played in the Pakistan movement. Women like Fatima Jinnah, Ra’ana Liaquat Ali Khan, Begum Abdullah Haroon, Begum Ghulam Hidayatullah, Jehan Ara Shahnawaz, Viqarun Nisa Noon, Begum Tassaduq Hussain and many unnamed others fought alongside men against colonial powers and for a separate nation.

Initially, women’s protests for the cause were limited to Lahore and Karachi; however, the Civil Disobedience Movement of 1947 saw Pakthun women in modern day KP come to the fore and register their protests.

After Independence, women’s inclusion in politics as well as other aspects of the democratic process were seriously deterred by long periods of dictatorships.

It is also ironic that it was under a military dictator that women received an unprecedented number of seats in the federal as well as provincial assemblies in 2002 and entered formal political representation. Then again, it was the same military ruler, General Pervez Musharraf, who in 2005 had this to say about the rising incidence of rape cases in the country: “This has become a moneymaking concern. A lot of people say if you want to go abroad and get a visa for Canada or citizenship and be a millionaire, get yourself raped.”

Bushra Gohar, a senior leader of the National Democratic Movement (NDM) and former senior vice-president of the Awami National Party (ANP), told Dawn.com that “democracy and the political process in the country has been weakened by long military dictatorships and military control during the brief transition to democracy”.

“The attacks on political leaders have affected political parties as well. They weren’t able to develop a strong democratic political system within parties,” said the former MNA.

Bushra Gohar — AFP

In spite of this, women actively participated in protests against several dictatorial regimes. Whether it was during the protests of the late 1960s against Ayub Khan — where students, women, workers and peasants, along with politicians like Zulfikar Ali Bhutto forced the dictator to resign on March 25, 1969 — or during the Movement for the Restoration of Democracy (MRD) in the early 80s against General Ziaul Haq’s rule, women have always been a force to be reckoned with.

In recent years, Gwadar has seen a series of protests, many of them led by women. The Haq Do Tehreek (HDT), led by Jamaat-i-Islami’s Maulana Hidayatur Rahman, has been staging regular protests in the city for a number of demands, including the banning of illegal trawlers in Balochistan’s waters, a reduction of security checkpoints, as well as the liberalisation of trade with neighbouring Iran.

Despite facing violence from the law enforcement agencies time and again, in the form of tear-gas and arrests, the protesters continue to gather. In late December last year, the Balochistan government imposed Section 144 for a month. Despite the law prohibiting the gathering of five or more people in public, the demonstrators continued to pour onto the streets — and get arrested.

Maasi Zainab brings women to the maulana’s protests and sit-ins — Dawn

Sixty-five-year-old Maasi Zainab is the female face of Gwadar’s HDT and is also the one who helped bring Rahman to the forefront. He was on his way to Turbat when he heard Zainab’s message on his phone and decided to come to the port city and join her for the protests. Since then, she has been a strong supporter of Rahman and continues to go door to door to invite women to the protests and sit-ins.

Before Gwadar, hundreds of women marched in the streets of Swat in 2013 to protest prolonged power outages and load shedding of natural gas in the area. This was the first time in the history of the region that women — most of them housewives from Saidu Sharif and adjoining areas — took to the streets to voice their demands.

During one such demonstration, Tabbasum Bashir, an activist who headed the protest, told The Express Tribune: “This protest is a slap on the face of the government. Despite cultural and social barriers, the women are here to demand for their rights.”

Always there, less recognised

According to academic Ayesha Khan, who is also author of the book The Women’s Movement in Pakistan: Activism, Islam, and Democracy, “women have always been politically engaged in Pakistan, at many different levels”.

“They have joined political parties, protest movements, and community mobilisations to access greater rights and resources. But because fewer women have played visible leadership roles, their contributions to the political culture have been recognised less,” she added.

The cover of Ayesha Khan’s book

In 1981, the MRD movement against the dictatorship of Gen Zia demonstrated bravery of women protestors. The PPP, which at the time was headed by former PM Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s widow Begum Nusrat Bhutto and later by their daughter Benazir Bhutto, joined hands with the Awami Tehreek and other secular democratic parties to mobilise people across Sindh against the dictator.

Women affiliated with Rasool Bux Palijo’s left-leaning Awami Tehreek formed the Sindhiyani Tehreek (ST) to call for an end to feudalism and the patriarchy, demanded federalism and provincial autonomy and fought to restore democracy. Although the ST was a women’s wing and not entirely independent, it had an independent working mechanism, a separate constitution and distinct areas of operation. Hundreds of women partaking in the MRD were arrested and faced violent suppression from the state at the time.

The Sindhiyani Tehreek played a crucial role in mobilising rural Sindhi women for the Movement for the Restoration of Democracy — Sarmad Palijo/Twitter

“Women in the Movement for the Restoration of Democracy during the 1980s were brutally repressed and attacked by the military for speaking out against the regime and demanding the political rights of the people, particularly in Sindh,” explained Khan.

Farhatullah Babar, a prominent PPP politician and former senator, remembers the women’s resistance against Zia as “heroic”.

“It was heroic because the women had stood up against a military dictatorship with whom the mullahs had also joined hands.”

Farhatullah Babar — Mohammad Asim / White Star

Describing the women’s struggle against the “mullah-military alliance as a glorious chapter in the history of women’s rights in Pakistan”, he said: “Zia used the name of Islam to curb resistance to his dictatorship. In particular, religious principles were interpreted in ways that militate against the weakest section of society, namely the women.

“When the Federal Shariat Court at the time decreed that stoning to death was unIslamic, he [Zia] sacked the chief justice and brought in a handpicked head of the Shariat Court and authorised him to also review any verdict of the court. Thus reviewing its previous judgment, the new court declared stoning to death Islamic,” he added. “Zia went too far.”

Gohar also recalled the protests of the Women Action Front against Zia’s “draconian laws [as] very powerful”.

Beyond the mainstream, political parties at local levels have also attracted women members and supporters, whether it is the Hazara, Baloch or Pashtun women fighting against terror and militant attacks in the region and protesting against the abduction of their loved ones — who are often given the misnomer of ‘missing persons’.

“The Baloch women’s movement against enforced disappearances is very inspiring,” Gohar continued.

“Women who protest against the terror attacks on Shia Hazaras in Balochistan face risk to their lives by taking to the streets — many of these women are affiliated with Hazara political parties, for example, the Hazara Democratic Party,” said Khan. “Women in the ANP in KP have been exposed to militant attacks. In fact, which political party has members that have not been suppressed by the state?” she asked.

Obstacles to participation

Afiya Zia, a researcher, activist and author of Faith and Feminism in Pakistan, said that while women have been actively engaging in political struggles over the years, much of their energy has been directed towards the countless cases of violence against them, for example, “Sindhi and Baloch women protesting against dams and honour-based killings and for their right to marry [whoever] they want.”

Gohar, who herself has been a part of many protests since the beginning of her political career, said: “Over the years, starting from military dictator Ziaul Haq, I have been threatened, harassed and my party membership revoked for my rights-based political positions.”

This shows that despite the enthusiasm and bravery women have shown time and again, they have not had it easy. At every stop, they face challenges and harassment to merely have their voices heard within or outside political avenues.

When PTI’s Azadi March took to the streets in the federal capital in 2014, women were seen participating in great numbers. The appearance of famous pop singers such as Abrarul Haq, Shehzad Roy, Najam Sheraz and Salman Ahmad of Junoon were a regular occurrence at Imran Khan’s sit-in.

Like everyone else in the audience, women enjoyed the music and danced — eliciting strong cries of ‘fahashi!’ from the morality police. They were not only character-shamed online but offline too, even inside the parliament itself.

PTI’s Azadi March in 2014 — Reuters

In 2018 — the incumbent Interior Minister of Pakistan — Rana Sanaullah passed derogatory remarks regarding women who attended PTI’s rally, saying, “The women that were present [there], their ‘thumke’ [hip movement] showed where they had come from. In yesterday’s rally, they hired dancers to attract people to come. This is how the fill their jalsas with people.”

This character assassination of female participants at protests and rallies is not a rare occurrence. Last year, Maulana Fazal-ur-Rehman, JUI-F chief, said at a rally that PTI’s female supporters “want him [Imran Khan] to come to their bedrooms”. This misogynistic mindset does not only reflect his individual opinion but also highlights a deep-rooted problem of rampant sexism in all levels of our society.

“Politics in Pakistan is male-dominated and controlled. There is very little space and acceptance of women in politics. Women have to work twice as hard to be accepted as a leader,” asserted Gohar.

“Patriarchy, tribalism and conservatism coupled with Talibanisation as state policy have made the political environment toxic and hazardous for women in politics,” she said, listing the reasons that deter women from entering and staying in politics.

She is now one of the founding members of the National Democratic Movement — a Pashtun nationalist, regionalist, and social-democratic political party — and its Pakhtunkwa chairperson. She said she is a part of all key policy decision-making forums of the party.

But not everyone has been so lucky. According to Gohar, “over the years, political parties have become family enterprises with very little room for ideological politics.”

As a result, women’s participation in protests and movements has shrunk, she lamented. “This is largely because political parties haven’t invested in women members’ mobilisation and facilitation. Security and financial constraints have also affected women’s participation in public gatherings.”

More than anything, this goes to show how complicated women’s struggles are in Pakistan — just like anywhere else — and that they cannot be painted with a broad brush.

“Women’s rise in politics hasn’t been organic nor have political parties taken any internal reform to enable gender mobility or increase representation — not even invested in women voters, “ said Afiya.

In the 2018 elections, for example, only five per cent of the candidates contesting for the general seats were women. Of these 171 candidates, eight won seats.

And yet, Babar feels “it is absolutely important that women are part of the mainstream politics to carry forward the agenda of their emancipation. In a patriarchal society like Pakistan, women will have to take the lead”.

“They have proved that when they took the lead, they also made significant achievements. Women must therefore be an important part of any protest or political movement for their emancipation.”

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Header image: A woman gestures next to a burning police vehicle during a protest in Karachi following Imran Khan’s arrest — Reuters/ File

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Precedents for the unprecedented

HISTORIANS of South Asia have spent significant time and energy trying to understand the degree to which independence from the British actually constituted any sort of meaningful change. Continuities can be found in various forms: the Government of India Act, 1935, is the predecessor to both the Indian and the Pakistani constitutions; the permanent and largely unaccountable spectre of a centralised civil bureaucracy still controls key aspects of governance at local and higher tiers; and, more so in Pakistan’s case, the perennial strength of the military’s officer cadre in political decision-making.

There are, of course, significant disagreements: Some suggest that the idiom of democracy and fundamental rights that came with independence has changed how citizens view the state, what expectations they have from it, and how they engage with it.

But events of the past few months, as with many previous instances in the last 75 years, have shown that the case for colonial-era continuity is still very strong. It doesn’t matter what political views and aspirations people may have or how they are voiced. It doesn’t matter if law supports popular representation. The core principle of keeping power centralised, unaccountable, and hierarchical is still protected and enforced.

Editorial: It isn’t difficult to surmise who is behind the campaign to break apart the PTI

The crackdown on the PTI by the military leadership, ably supported by the PDM and caretaker government in Punjab, is the most recent enforcement of this core principle. As in the past, upending the Constitution, and manipulating laws for the narrow purpose of removing ‘irritants’, remains a recurring event in how the principle is enforced.

The core principle of keeping power centralised, unaccountable, and hierarchical is still protected and enforced.

To some, this may seem like an unprecedented event. There were few indications of the hybrid experiment taking this turn till at least late 2021, given its origins and the shared cultural affinity of Pakistani nationalism between the PTI and the military. The fact that the U-turn has been stark, the crackdown has been swift and that it has involved the violation of civil liberties of privileged segments, particularly in Punjab, gives it a certain newness. Both the geography and the identity of who is being ‘cut down to size’ matters for anyone interested in waging the precedented versus unprecedented battle. But for everyone else, it’s the latest chapter in how a historically centralised and unaccountable state structure is kept intact.

It’s worth reviewing other major instances of how this structure has been kept intact in the past seven decades, initially by the civilian bureaucracy and then mostly by the military leadership. In 1954, the constituent assembly was dissolved on the pretext of its incompetence, when the actual reason had more to do with an increasing inclination towards a federal structure of power. In 1955, the overwhelmingly popular United Front provincial government in East Pakistan was dissolved in under two months and One Unit instituted after it became clear that they were going to push for greater autonomy.

In 1958, martial law was imposed after it became clear that the provincial legislatures could not be managed through other means. In 1965, presidential elections had to be manipulated to secure Gen Ayub Khan’s regime first through the implementation of an indirect system using the 80,000 basic democrats, and then through actual rigging at the local level.

In 1971, after all attempts at political manipulation failed, a military operation seen as genocidal by many was launched to keep popular representation at bay. The fact that it cost half the country did not matter because a centralised system of rule remained intact in the remaining half. In 1977, political polarisation was used as a pretext to eliminate the most popular politician in the country. In 1979, non-party based local government elections were held but Martial Law Regulations 21 and 61 effectively banned PPP-supported candidates from contesting or holding office. Over the next six years, an estimated 9,000 party workers were incarcerated, many of whom were tortured. In 1985, elections had to be held on non-party lines, rigged, and then a ruling coalition of pliant landlords and new entrants had to be created from scratch to ensure the stability of the military regime.

The efforts of the 1990s achieved their final phase in 1999, when a coup upended an elected government to neutralise the fallout of a disastrous military campaign. A new king’s party was created through threats, torture, and bribery. In 2002, despite conducting one of the most rigged electoral exercises in the country’s history, a forward bloc needed to be engineered from the PPP to keep the king’s party afloat. Between 2016 and 2018, a similar exercise was repeated by the judicially managed disqualification of Nawaz Sharif, the mass incarceration of PML-N leaders, and the engineered defection of a coterie of South Punjab politicians towards the then favoured PTI.

In the 2023 edition of this drama, PTI workers have been arrested and tortured; their family members have been picked up and threatened; the party leader is facing a raft of court cases of extremely dubious provenance; and now first- and second-tier leaders are quitting the party and/or politics under duress. The goal is to ensure that the party does not return to power if elections are ever held.

To be clear, the story has another side: Pakistan’s mainstream parties are weak, unorganised, and reluctant to form any real ideological connection with voters outside of personal appeals and occasional patronage. They have no real agenda of transformation of politics or the economy. These failings result in repeated crises of legitimacy in government, and what makes engineered breakaways and defections easy.

Ultimately, though, these weaknesses have evolved in an environment where unelected power does everything to sustain itself over various forms of popular sentiment. And as the recent experience of PTI shows, it does not inhibit itself according to law, norm, or morality.

The writer teaches politics and sociology at Lums.

Twitter: @umairjav

Published in Dawn, May 29th, 2023

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Turkiye’s Erdogan claims victory in presidential election

President Tayyip Erdogan claimed victory in Turkiye’s presidential election on Sunday, a win that would steer his increasingly authoritarian rule into a third decade.

Addressing supporters, Erdogan said voters had given him the responsibility to rule for the next five years.

“The only winner is Turkiye,” he said, addressing cheering supporters from atop a bus in Istanbul.

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Final official results have yet to be released.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif congratulated Erdogan ahead of the final official results, saying that he was “one of few world leaders whose politics has been anchored in public service.

“He has been a pillar of strength for the oppressed Muslims and a fervent voice for their inalienable rights. His presidential victory and that of AKP in parliamentary elections is significant in so many ways, reflecting the trust and confidence of the Turkish people in his dynamic leadership.

“The bilateral relations between Pakistan and Turkiye will continue to stay on an upward trajectory. I keenly look forward to working with him to further deepen our strategic partnership in line with the excellent brotherhood between our two peoples,” Shehbaz tweeted.

Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said the “historic victory reflects the trust of the Turkish nation in his visionary leadership. Wishing Türkiye eternal peace and prosperity as we continue our unique journey of brotherhood.”

There was no immediate response to Erdogan’s victory speech from his challenger, Kemal Kilicdaroglu.

The election had been seen as one of the most consequential yet for Turkiye, with the opposition believing it had a strong chance of unseating Erdogan after his popularity was hit by a cost-of-living crisis.

Instead, victory will reinforce his image of invincibility, after having already redrawn domestic, economic, security and foreign policy in the Nato member country of 85 million people and positioned Turkiye as a regional power.

Supporters gathered at his Istanbul residence in anticipation of victory as data reported by both state-run Anadolu agency and the opposition ANKA news agency gave him the edge with nearly 99 per cent of ballot boxes counted.

The head of the High Election Board earlier told a news conference that Erdogan was leading Kilicdaroglu with 54.47pc support, with 54.6pc of ballot boxes logged.

Erdogan, head of the Islamist-rooted AK Party, appealed to voters with nationalist and conservative rhetoric during a divisive campaign that deflected attention from deep economic troubles.

The defeat of Kilicdaroglu, who promised to set the country on a more democratic and collaborative path, would likely be cheered in Moscow but mourned in Western capitals and much of the Middle East after Turkiye took a more confrontational and independent stance in foreign affairs.

Erdogan supporters who were gathered outside his Istanbul residence chanted Allahu Akbar, or God is Greatest.

“I expect everything to become better,” said Nisa, 28, a headscarved woman wearing a headband with Erdogan’s name.

Another Erdogan supporter said Turkiye would get stronger with him in office for five more years.

“There are issues, problems in every country around the world, in European countries as well … With strong leadership we will overcome Turkiye’s problems as well,” said Mert, 39, who had come to celebrate with his son.

Bugra Oztug, 24, who voted for Kilicdaroglu, said she was not surprised at the result, blaming the opposition for failing to change.

“I feel sad and disappointed but I am not hopeless. I still think there are people who can see the realities and truth,” Oztug said.

Erdogan’s performance has wrong-footed opponents who also thought voters would punish him over the state’s initially slow response to devastating earthquakes in February, in which more than 50,000 people died.

But in the first round of voting on May 14, which included parliamentary elections, his AK Party emerged top in 10 of the 11 provinces hit by the earthquakes, helping it secure a parliamentary majority along with its allies.

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Cartoon: 28 May, 2023

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Two earthquakes rattle parts of country, three children injured

Three children were injured in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Battagram district after two earthquakes jolted parts of the country on Sunday, officials said.

According to the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD), the first earthquake of magnitude 6.0 — with its epicentre being the Afghanistan-Tajikistan border region — struck at 10:50am, at a depth of 223km.

The second earthquake of magnitude 4.7 was reported at 5:57pm. Its epicentre was near Jalalabad in Afghanistan and struck at a depth of 15km, PDM said.

Tremors were felt in Islamabad, Rawalpindi and several districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

While no casualties were reported, three children were injured in the Hado area of Batkol in Battagram.

Dr Muhammad Naeem, medical superintendent of the District Headquarters Hospital Battagram, told Dawn.com that three children were brought facility earlier today.

Hamid Khan, the children’s uncle, said the siblings were playing on the roof of the cattle pen which collapsed during the earthquake.

Meanwhile, the US Geological Survey, an American government agency that tracks seismic activity across the globe, said that a 5.2 magnitude earthquake had struck 35km southeast of Jurm, Afghanistan.

Hindustan Times reported that “mild earthquake tremors” were felt in New Delhi and its adjoining areas. The publication said that tremors were also felt in Punjab and Haryana, as well as in occupied Kashmir’s Srinagar and Poonch.

In March, at least two people were killed while six injured as a 6.8 magnitude earthquake had jolted parts of the country.

The US Geological Survey said the quake rocked Afghanistan and parts of India as well, including the capital New Delhi, adding that the quake epicentre was 40 kilometres south-southeast of the Afghan town of Jurm.

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May 9 rioters must face justice like Capitol Hill attackers: PM

KARACHI: Vowing to bring the perpetrators of May 9 violence to justice, Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif said on Friday that no one should have any objections if the government punished these rioters under the law, the way the United States did to its citizens for storming the Capitol Hill building in 2021.

Addressing the groundbreaking ceremony of the much-delayed K-IV water supply project at the CM House, he said justice demanded that the rioters be punished like those who stormed Capitol Hill. “If that [American] punishment is legal, then no one should object if we do so under our law for the desecration of [the memorials of] our martyrs,” he added.

The prime minister said politics of chaos culminated on May 9 in the form of the desecration of the memorials of the nation’s martyrs and ghazis and security installations.

“Strings of the May 9 riots are being pulled abroad and the desecration of martyrs’ memorials and installations at the instigation of Imran Khan is the darkest chapter in the nation’s history,” he said.

Performs groundbreaking of K-IV water project; Bilawal says Karachi needs ‘Shehbaz speed’, urges upholding of state writ

He said the K-IV project was most important to him because the people of the Quaid’s city were deprived of drinking water despite it being the city with highest revenue generation and taxation.

The prime minister held out the assurance that he would put the project on top priority in the upcoming budget and provide maximum funds for its early completion.

Call for ‘Shehbaz speed’

Highlighting acute scarcity of potable water, PPP Chairman and Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari said even he got water through tanker at his residence in the city.

He said the people of Sindh pinned hopes on the prime minister for resolution of their problems. “The K-IV project has faced immense delay and Karachi needs ‘Shehbaz speed’ for the resolution of its issues,” he said addressing to the prime minister. As chief minister of Punjab, Mr Sharif was known for his working speed, ability to execute mega projects and quick actions.

Mr Bhutto-Zardari said the two major political parties of Karachi had voted for the prime minister and his government enjoyed super majority in Sindh.

He pointed out that around 52 per cent of Sindh’s educational infrastructure had been damaged by floods, affecting the education of its 47pc population.

Stressing the importance of upholding the state writ and advancing the democratic system in all circumstances, he warned that if serious crimes like setting fire to Jinnah House Lahore, demolishing martyrs’ memorials and attacking military installations were neglected, then running this country would become not only difficult, but also impossible.

“What would have been the reaction to it, if the conspiracy of May 9 events had been hatched either in Bilawal House, Raiwind or Nine Zero?” he questioned.

The PPP chairman said if the government paid attention to Karachi according to its potential, then the country can bid farewell to IMF and stand on its own feet.

Funds requested

Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah said Karachi was receiving 600 million gallons of water per day only against a demand of 1,200 MGD.

“With the fast-growing pace of urbanisation in Karachi, this demand and supply gap would continue to grow, and offsetting of such demand would purely be dependent upon successful and timely completion of the K-IV project which is planned to be executed in three phases of total 650 MGD,” he added.

Mr Shah said that phase-I of the project with a capacity of 260 MGD was being executed by Wapda and would be completed in 2025 provided a smooth flow of funds was ensured by all stakeholders.

“Federal government has to provide Rs113 billion from the PSDP. However, the project is facing cash flow issues with respect to critical activities and there is an apprehension that it may get delayed due to schedule overruns causing an increased cost,” he said.

He urged the prime minister to consider committing matching funds to the greenfield projects of recycling wastewater and seawater desalination plants in Karachi in PSDP 2023-2024.

Minister for Maritime Affairs Faisal Sabzwari, belonging to MQM-P, said the project was part of the agreement between his party and the ruling coalition. He said the unnecessary delay in the project had caused a huge increase in its cost.

Sindh Governor Kamran Tessori said that under the leadership PM Shehbaz and FM Bhutto-Zardari, the project was moving ahead. “For the first time, the federal and provincial governments are on the same page to execute the much-delayed project,” he added.

Published in Dawn, May 27th, 2023

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‘Purely theoretical’: Govt rebuts economist Atif Mian’s criticism of its policies

The Ministry of Finance on Friday issued a rebuttal to Pakistani-American economist Atif Mian’s criticism of its economic policy, terming it “misplaced” and a “purely theoretical point of view”.

Mian, who is a professor of economics at the prestigious Princeton University and the first Pakistani to rank among the 25 top economists in the world, had compared Pakistan with two other countries — Sri Lanka and Ghana — that have also been facing economic crises.

In a series of tweets, he pointed out that while both Ghana and Sri Lanka had defaulted during the last two years, Pakistan did not but its currency devalued by half, as did Ghana’s while Sri Lanka’s devalued by one-third.

The Pakistani currency, he noted, had devalued significantly more than Sri Lanka’s.

Comparing Pakistan’s trajectory with that of Sri Lanka and Ghana after they defaulted, Mian pointed out that both Ghan­aian and Sri Lankan currencies had stabilised post-default as they ent­ered restru­cturing programmes.

Pakistan’s, however, continued its downward trajectory over the two years, and “it continues to go down” and “there is no end in sight”, he said.

“To thump your chest and say, ‘see we have not defaulted,’ means nothing if you continue to ignore the underlying crisis. The only thing worse than indecisiveness in the face of a crisis is incompetence.

“One example: Pakistan is selling petrol at a price that is 20-25 per cent below the price it is sold in Ghana, Sri Lanka, India or Bangladesh. At the same time, the government is restricting imports of raw materials needed for production and export,” he said.

Mian added: “In other words, the government would rather cut the country’s GDP in order to sell cheap petrol! But then lower GDP will make it more difficult to pay off the debt — leading to more devaluation — more misery — and higher petrol prices in terms of purchasing power.

“This is just one example of the non-sensical policy choices being made. Addressing a BOP (balance of payments) crisis requires that a country acts decisively, restructures aggressively and takes courageous decisions that demonstrate a clear break from the past.”

Responding to his critical analysis, the Ministry of Finance issued a statement saying the “well-respect economist” had made a “veiled suggestion to declare default” with his conclusions.

“This is a misplaced criticism made from a purely theoretical point of view. The gentleman has no idea how practical economics operates in practice,” the ministry said, adding that the comparisons with Ghana and Sri Lanka were also “misplaced” due to the “incomparably small size of their economies and populations relative to Pakistan”.

Mian “did not care to analyse the structure of Pakistan’s debt, which has less than 10pc share in commercial bonds sukuk, with the next maturity falling due in April 2024,” the statement read.

“The rest of the debt is owed to multilateral and bilateral creditors. Both these classes of creditors are engaged with Pakistan and none has assessed that Pakistan should default,” the ministry maintained.

It also said that Mian had “completely ignored the deep-rooted reforms” undertaken in the country in the last nine months, including a “market exchange rate, interest rate adjustments, mid-year taxation to improve the fiscal position, imposition of a levy on petroleum products and non-monetisation of fiscal deficit”.

These measures, the ministry said, were undertaken under an International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme which was “unprecedented as never in country’s history such front-loaded conditionality was imposed”.

It went on to say, “We accomplished this through heroic efforts” and it was unfortunate that a staff-level agreement with the IMF for the release of a $1 billion tranche was delayed despite these efforts.

“The country is surviving economically and would continue to survive. What Pakistan has done is decisive and courageous; we would continue to walk the road to reforms to stabilise our economy and, in course of time, to steer it towards a path of sustainable growth,” the ministry said.

It added that Mian’s comparison of the nominal exchange rate was also “unwarranted”, claiming that Pakistan’s real exchange rate was currently estimated to be 15pc undervalued.

“The nominal rate is the result of speculation, market manipulation and general distraught from political instability. The undervalued exchange rate is reflective of the fact that underlying fundamentals are improving,” it maintained.

It added, “Pakistan has historically sold petroleum products at slightly lower prices than regional countries. With petroleum levy of Rs50 achieved, this doesn’t involve any subsidy from the government.

“It would be unwise to levy additional tax on consumers on top of prices that have doubled in less than a year, especially when they are facing rising inflation. The author has cited this as an example of non-sensical policies. This is simply a misplaced example.”

The ministry further said Pakistan’s economy had suffered because of “international shocks” of the Covid pandemic, Russia-Ukraine war and 2022’s devastating floods. Despite that, the statement said, the government had overcome the challenges from an “overly heated economy bequeathed to us in April 2022 and the breach of the IMF conditionality on the eve of departure of the PTI government”.

It maintained that the government had brought the current account deficit down to around $3.2 billion from $17.5bn. “This achievement is a reflection of bringing the economy to within its latent strengths and not on borrowed resources,” it said.

The ministry claimed that Mian was “oblivious to unprecedented political challenges faced by the country”.

“We are not living in calm and serene times,” it said, adding that the present situation had major economic repercussions but “with political stability likely to emerge soon, there would be a major economic turnaround”.

‘Jugarr economics’

Reacting to the ministry’s statement, journalist Khurram Husain said “jugarr (makeshift) economics hits back at academic economics”.

Likewise, Pakistan Initiative at Atlantic Council’s South Asia Centre Director Uzair Younus quipped that the finance ministry “truly does have its priorities in order”.

“Responding to threads by economists sitting abroad while the economy burns to the ground and inflation inflicts generational trauma on millions,” he tweeted.

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Visit to India proved productive, says Bilawal

ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Thursday told a Senate panel that his visit to India to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation’s (SCO) meeting proved productive and positive for Pakistan.

“As far as the Kashmir issue, bilateral issues between Pakistan and India and the responsibilities of multilateralism are concerned, my conclusion after the trip is that it is productive and positive decision to participate in the event” he said, while briefing the Senate Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs which met here with Senator Farooq H. Naek in the chair.

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“We thought, we should project Pakistan’s case and point of view in front of not only Indian but the other participant countries,” he informed the committee. The minister said it was also decided not to provide an open opportunity to India. He said that it was a difficult decision to participate in the event and a lot of work was done by the Foreign Ministry to evolve consensus in that regard.

He said the second point that had been considered for attending the event was that all-weather friend of Pakistan, China and Russia were the founder of this organisation. He said that SCO had provided an opportunity to highlight Pakistan’s narrative as it was the Indian objective to abuse this important forum.

Belarussian Foreign Minister Aleinik due on two-day visit on 30th

He said Pakistan had effectively responded to the Indian narrative of linking terrorism with Pakistan, Muslims and Kashmiris. “The event provided an opportunity to make them understand that I am the son of Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto who became a victim of terrorism. People of Pakistan are most affected by terrorism,” he added. He said that Pakistan wanted to fight terrorism in the best interest of the country.

The minister said that positive and productive meetings with all the foreign ministers of the members’ countries were held on the sideline of the event. He said it was decided before leaving for India not to hold bilateral meetings with Indian leadership due to the August 2019 unilateral decision of India. “It is our principled stance that we will not seek a meeting with our Indian counterpart,” he added.

He was of the view that the SCO meeting also provided an opportunity to interact with Indian people, senior anchors and media persons and counter the Indian narrative of linking terrorism with Pakistan and Muslims. He said that Pakistan would host the SCO conference in 2026-2027 and there was hope the Indian counterpart would attend the meeting.

Responding to a question, the minister said that soon after arriving from India at Karachi Airport, he effectively responded to the allegations of Indians in the SCO conference. He said that diplomatic channels had also been used to respond to the Indian allegations. Responding to a question regarding Afghanistan, he said a stable, prosperous and secure Afghanistan was in the interest of people of Afghanistan, Pakistan and other neighbouring countries.

Relations with neighbouring countries

He said that it was the request of the interim government of Afghanistan to address the core issue of TTP operating from its soil against Pakistan. He said that after the taking over of the interim Afghanistan government, terrorist attacks in Pakistan had increased. He said that issue of Afghanistan had also been discussed with the participants of the SCO conference during sideline meetings.

About relations with Saudi Arabia and Iran, he appreciated the role of China in bringing closer Saudi Arabia and Iran. “China has proved itself as super power and peacemaker” he added. He said that improved relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia would also bring a positive effect on Pakistan.

He said that the Indian decision to hold the Group of 20 Youth and Tourism convention in Indian-held Kashmir was condemnable. He said the holding of the meeting indicated that India did not care about the United Nations resolution. “You cannot dream of being a superpower by violating international laws and resolutions of the United Nations,” he added.

He said that during his stay in India, he told the Indians that they would not achieve 100 per cent participation because the meeting was being held in the disputed area. “I could not find a single international media report on the conference in Indian-occupied Jammu Kashmir confined to tourism and youth affairs. Every report discusses disputed areas and action of 2019 and Human Rights abuses,” he added.

Belarus FM official to visit Pakistan

Foreign Minister of the Republic of Belarus, Sergei Aleinik, will arrive here on a two-day official visit on May 30, at the invitation of Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari.

As foreign office reported, the two leaders will hold wide-ranging conversations covering a range of topics of bilateral interest. They will undertake an overview of bilateral relations and explore enhanced cooperation in political, economic, defence and science and technology domains.

Published in Dawn, May 26th, 2023

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Smoke and mirrors

WHETHER there is sufficient evidence to conclusively prove a quid pro quo between Imran Khan and Malik Riaz in the Al Qadir Trust case is for the investigation to determine.

However, Mr Khan’s version of events surrounding the UK-based National Crime Agency’s £190m settlement with the property tycoon — which is at the heart of the aforementioned case — is another story.

In his video address on Wednesday, the former premier was at pains to give an innocuous account of his government’s decision to hand back to Mr Riaz the millions recovered from him by the NCA, which investigates money laundering and finances derived from criminal activity in the UK and abroad.

It was a disingenuous attempt to pull the wool over the nation’s eyes. Mr Khan said his government was “given a choice” — either keep the settlement confidential and get the money back to Pakistan, or undertake litigation in the UK (presumably to prove it was ill-gotten gains in order to bring it back).

As Pakistan had already, according to him, “wasted $100m in overseas litigation”, they decided on the first option. But the million-dollar question is, why did the PTI government allow the individual from whom the money had been forfeited to benefit from its return?

Moreover, it would have been the NCA’s job to initiate criminal proceedings against Mr Riaz, if it chose to do so. Its website says: “Parties may (and indeed often are encouraged to) settle civil proceedings without coming to court”.

Also, in cases where suspected proceeds of crime are found to have originated overseas, the NCA returns the stolen money to the affected states. It is also worth asking why Mr Khan did not choose to enlighten his cabinet members who, at a meeting in 2019, were asked to give their consent to the contents of a sealed envelope presented by his aide on accountability Shahzad Akbar.

That they did so can hardly be termed an informed decision; and to put the onus on the “entire cabinet”, which is how Mr Khan styled it in his video address, is rather specious. Resultantly, the £140m that was recovered — minus £50m at which the as yet unsold 1 Hyde Park Place is valued — went into the Supreme Court account set up to receive the real estate tycoon’s civil liabilities in Pakistan. This includes Rs460bn the apex court had ordered Mr Riaz’s firm, Bahria Town, to pay as settlement for thousands of acres it had illegally acquired in Karachi.

In one respect, however, Mr Khan is spot on. He has rightly questioned the credibility of the Al Qadir Trust case without investigating the other party to the alleged quid pro quo, Mr Riaz. Instead, the government is assiduously avoiding even the mention of the extremely well-connected real estate developer’s name.

Published in Dawn, May 26th, 2023

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Nawaz continues verbal assault on judiciary

LONDON: PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif once again criticised the superior judiciary, this time in a tweet about the failings of the Pakistani justice system, which he said is “ranked 129 out of 140 in the world”.

Mr Sharif appeared to be referring to a 2022 ranking by the World Justice Project, an independent organisation founded by an American lawyer William Neukom in 2006.

The body had said Pakistan held the 129th position out of 140 on their rule of law index, and that this position was a five place fall from the previous year.

Mr Sharif tweeted, “The judiciary invented the doctrine of necessity. It embraced dictators, legitimised dictatorship and gave certificates of Sadiq and Amin to the Ladla (beloved). Elected prime ministers were executed or imprisoned on false charges; banned for life for not taking a salary from their son. And now it rewrote the constitution by fixing the bench.”

He continued, “It is unfortunate that our justice system is 129 of 140 but some of our honourable judges are adamant that we have fall to the 140th rank, come what may.”

It was evident that Mr Sharif was hitting out at the Supreme Court and its judges, who held a hearing about elections today in the apex court. Mr Sharif in the past has been critical of Chief Justice Bandial for showing the PTI chairman undue leniency. A few days earlier, he lamented in a tweet that the treatment meted out to him is in sharp contrast to the amnesty given to Mr Khan.

A journalist on Twitter responded to Mr Sharif’s tweet asking whether the former prime minister believed the judiciary was acting against him “on its own” or whether he would hold Gen Bajwa and Gen Faiz accountable.

Published in Dawn, May 25th, 2023

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Ex-ISI chief Faiz ‘architect, biggest beneficiary’ in Al-Qadir corruption case, claims Vawda

Former federal minister Faisal Vawda on Wednesday accused former director-general (DG) of the Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI) Lieutenant-General (retd) Faiz Hameed of being the “architect, mastermind and biggest beneficiary” of the Al-Qadir Trust case.

The case alleges that the former premier and his wife obtained billions of rupees and land worth hundreds of kanals from Bahria Town Ltd for legalising Rs50 billion, which was later identified and returned to the country by the UK during the tenure of the PTI government. The case also involves the role of former accountability czar Shahzad Akbar in the repatriation of the Rs50bn.

Talking to the media in Islamabad today, Vawda, a former PTI leader, said many names were being taken in the media pertaining to the case, including Akbar, Imran and others’.

“But one name which everyone has forgotten is that of the architect and designer of all this, who benefitted the most from this corruption scheme. His name is Faiz Hameed and you know he was the former DG ISI.”

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Vawda said he hoped that the relevant institutions would “connect the dots” in the case since there was no “pay order for corruption”.

“If there is a man whose salary began from Rs100 before the start of his career and then he went on to become someone earning Rs10,000 and gained assets worth Rs100 million, I don’t think you need to go far [in determining the truth].”

Vawda said he was only shedding light on the former spymaster’s alleged corruption for the moment and exhibiting responsibility by not expounding on his “other deplorable crimes”.

Reiterating his claims about Hameed being the biggest beneficiary of the case, Vawda said he was only talking about the former spymaster’s domestic assets for the moment instead of his foreign wealth.

“If you’re moving forward for Pakistan’s sake then by and large there will be accountability across the board. It won’t happen that there will be [accountability] of politicians, police officials, bureaucrats, media persons and businessmen while some people will be above the law.”

Vawda said he had submitted his claims in writing but added that he did not need to provide documents for his allegations. “If any institution concerned has an issue today then I can take it to Chakwal and tell them this [property] is worth this much and if they undervalue it then I will buy it myself by paying more,” he further said.

The former PTI leader also criticised accountability czar Akbar for his role in the Al Qadir Trust case, adding that he had had a “severe argument” with him on the matter.

Vawda claimed he had told Imran that Akbar would flee the country one day, adding that Hameed also had a role in this and other relevant individuals’ escape.

Regarding the mass quitting of PTI MNAs and MPAs from the party, Vawda said he had already informed Imran about “snakes” in the party, adding that many more would hold press conferences in the days to come and criticise the PTI chief for the events of May 9.

Vawda also strongly criticised President Dr Arif Alvi and accused him of being responsible for the current state of the party. “Arif Alvi sahib has a big role in [creating] these misunderstandings,” he added.

Hameed under corruption investigation

In March, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah had said that a probe was under way against the ex-ISI boss and his brother over alleged corruption and accumulating assets beyond means. However, he had said it would be premature to say anything further.

When it was pointed out that any probe into assets beyond means would fall in the domain of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), the law minister had said an investigation was already under way.

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