Ever since Imran Khan married the daughter of Sir James Goldsmith in March1995, allegations that he is supported by, and beholden to, the “Jewishlobby” have followed him in Pakistan, a country where conspiracies arerelished.
Just a year after his marriage, Imran Khan founded the PakistanTehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), now the ruling party in Pakistanlink where Khanserves as Prime Minister.
Before he became an influential politician, Khan had been framed as anagent of the “Jewish lobby” by popular religious scholar, Dr Israr Ahmed,who enjoyed a following of millions, way before anyone took Imran Khanseriously as a politician.
Despite these allegationslink,Khan managed to make his way to the helm of affairs, capitalizing on hispopularity as a cricketing hero who helped Pakistan win the World Cuplinkin1992. Today, Imran Khan may have been prime minster for nearly four years,but his critics continue to claim that he is an Israeli/Jewish agent.
Moulana Fazlur Rehmanlink,the head of the Jamiat Ulema Islam- Fazlur Rehman and the PakistanDemocratic Movement (PDM) claimed just a few days ago that bringing ImranKhan’s government in Pakistan was a plot by international players,including Israel, which was now failing.
Last year, Rehman led an anti-Israel rallylink in Karachi, where he claimed that PMImran Khan aimed to establish ties with Israel. Moulana was flanked byShahid Khaqan Abbasi, a former Pakistani prime minister.
Even opposition leader Maryam Nawaz Sharif has not shied away from usingthe Jewish trope for political point-scoring against Khan. At a politicalrally, she accused Khan of being funded by Israellink,and named Barry C. Schneps, an American Jewish lawyerlink,as being a financial benefactor of Imran Khan’s PTI.
So common is invoking Israel as a delegitimizing slur in Pakistanidiscourse that senior journalists indulging in petty arguments on socialmedia use the “Israel card” to discredit their rivals.
On March 28, senior journalist Hamid Mir took a jibelink at his fellowjournalist Moeed Pirzada for what he alleged was advocating for better tieswith Israel, in contrast to what he said was his own endorsement of theviews of Pakistan’s founder Mohammad Ali Jinnah’s on Israel (Jinnahexplicitly rejected relations with Israel).
The next day, Moeed Pirzada hit back, writing on Twitter: “True to hissprit, Hamid Mir is distorting facts; it was a discussion in front of 40plus journalists in 2019, when it was mentioned that Israel may havesupported India’s attack on Balakot, I reminded PM that Arab countries (UAE& others) are forging close relations with Israel.”
Breaking news and analyses straight to your inboxClick here
This argument on Twitter may be considered something insignificant andpetty. However, on any given day, there is at least one mention of Israelin Pakistan’s news landscape, reflecting how much this small Middle Easterncountry is an obsessional part of the imagination of Pakistanis at alllevels.
Knowing this, Imran Khan and his team have not shied away from usingconspiratorial thinking, especially involving Israel, to their ownadvantage. Tuesday, Pakistan’s Information Minister, Fawad Chaudhry accusedformer Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, the head of the largest oppositionparty, the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PMLN) of meeting Israeli diplomatsin London. He offered no proof for his claim.
In an earlier speech this week, Khan referred to Nawaz Sharif as “the manin London” and questioned his meetings with dubious players.[image: Supporters of opposition groups take part in an anti-governmentrally in Islamabad, Pakistan as Prime Minister Imran Khan faces a noconfidence vote in the National Assembly]
Supporters of opposition groups take part in an anti-government rally inIslamabad, Pakistan as Prime Minister Imran Khan faces a no confidence votein the National AssemblyCredit: Rahmat Gul /AP
Nawaz Sharif’s brother, Mian Shehbaz Sharif, is the opposition’s jointcandidate as prime minister, and with over 190 National Assemblyrepresentatives now committed to voting Khan out, when a majority of 172 isrequired, the ascent of the younger Sharif seems inevitablelink.
But at the crossroads of his political innings, facing a no confidence voteand having lost his majority in parliament, Khan is brandishing the weaponwhich has been used against him all his life: Conspiracylinktheorieslink.
Waving a piece of paperlinkinfront of a charged crowd on Sunday, Pakistan’s premier claimed that the noconfidence vote against him was actually a plot by a foreign power toremove him from power, as punishment for his efforts to secure anindependent foreign policy in Pakistan.
His supporters charge that America is the prime mover in this attempted”coup,” and that the U.S. is particularly aggrieved by Islamabad’s failureto condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and by Khan’s refusal to progresstowards recognition of Israel .Khan has ratcheted up his populist anti-U.S.rhetoric at recent rallies, accusing his political opponents of being‘slaves of America.'”
He made a particularly inauspicious trip to Moscowlink,meeting with President Vladimir Putin (and with Chechen leader RamzanKadyrov) on the very day Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine, a visitwidely seen as a Kremlin manipulation play.
Accusing his political opponents of taking foreign money and being party tothis conspiracy to remove him, Imran Khan presented himself as the saviorof Pakistan’s autonomy in international relations.
Read Top Stories
Pakistan’s Foreign Minister, Shah Mahmood Qureshi also confirmed that thealleged letter had been shown to the military establishment, the powerbehind the scenes and kingmaker in Pakistan.
Why then is Pakistan’s all powerful military and intelligence servicesilent when the Prime Minister is claiming to be a victim of a hostileforeign conspiracy? Surely, if there was any truth in Khan’s allegations,they would be actively seeking to defend Pakistan’s sovereign politicalprocesses?
A senior serving Pakistani official told me that the letter Khan wasreferring to may actually be an internal communication by Pakistan’s formerAmbassador to the U.S., Asad Majeed Khan, who left office on 25 March.According to the source, the former envoy shared U.S. concerns aboutPakistan’s growing relations with Russia, especially after Khan’sbilateral meeting with Putin.
Wednesday, Khan handpicked a select group of journalists to a briefingabout the letter. One of the participants said that he claimed that theimminent no confidence vote was also mentioned in the letter. No tangibleevidence emerged from that meeting, either.
Practitioners of diplomacy and statecraft have privately commented that nostate issues threats in writing unless there are exceptional circumstancesand they are backed by international law.
This leads to the inescapable conclusion that even after Imran Khan becamea victim of conspiracy theories all his political life, he decided tocreate one, a big one, in order to extend his waning political capital.[image: Pakistani university students burn representations of Israeli andU.S. flags during a rally in support of Palestinians in Lahore, Pakistan]
Pakistani university students burn representations of Israeli and U.S.flags during a rally in support of Palestinians in Lahore, PakistanCredit:AP Photo/K.M. Chaudary
Consider: Imran Khan loses the vote of no confidence. He can then veryconveniently claim that he stood up against Western/Jewish powers, as aproud bastion of Islam, but failed. He will ask for votes for a chance totry again.
If he wins, Khan can claim that he defeated the Western/Jewish powers allby himself and that he should be elected again so he can continue to do so.
Such a narrative could become extremely popular with the masses of Pakistanwho have long been fed a steady diet of anti-Americanism and antisemitismlink.[image: Supporters of the Pakistani religious group, Jamaat-e-Islami, takepart in a rally in support of the Palestinian cause, in Peshawar, Pakistanlast year]
Supporters of the Pakistani religious group, Jamaat-e-Islami, take part ina rally in support of the Palestinian cause, in Peshawar, Pakistanlast yearCredit:AP Photo/Muhammad Sajjad
After the war on terror, subsequent governments as well as the Pakistaniestablishment have successfully indoctrinated the masses to believe thatAmerica is a fundamental enemy of Muslims. Imran Khan took this to adifferent level when he termed Osama bin Laden, a terrorist who isresponsible for the deaths of thousands and whose 9/11 plot triggered thewar on terror, a “martyr link.”
Despite having been an international playboy who indulged in a colorfullifestyle entirely contrary to the teachings of Islam, Imran Khan has beenable to rebrand himself as a reformed and devout Muslim who is willing tosacrifice anything for the interests of Pakistan and the Muslim *ummah*.
To this end, Khan has successfully pulled off two sessions of theOrganisation of Islamic Cooperation in Islamabad, the latest onelinkfeaturingChinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.
And despite successes in diplomacy with Russia, China and the Muslim world,Khan has not yet received a single phone call from U.S. President JoeBiden, a signal of how much the relationship between the U.S. and Pakistanhas weakened ever since the Biden administration came into power.
This is in contrast to PM Khan’s relationship with the Trumpadministration, who invited him to Washington in 2019 and called Khan a “greatathletelinkanda very popular prime minister,” and even volunteered to “campaign for him.”
But after the U.S.-Pakistan dynamic took a turn for the worst, Khan, whohas also been referred to as “Pakistan’s Trumplink,”is using an enigmatic and unsubstantiated letter to save his dwindlingpolitical capital.
Politicians using conspiracy theories involving foreign nations maytemporarily revive declining political fortunes. But it is the nation andits people who suffer from the promotion of manipulative fantasies overfacts and the truth, from incitement towards hate and scapegoats, and fromthe lost opportunity of cooperation with nations that could and should befriends.
*Hamza Azhar Salam is a Pakistani journalist based in London. He is theco-founder of The Pakistan Daily and Migrant News and has worked as areporter for Pakistan’s The News International. Twitter: @HamzaAzhrSalamlink*
