A columnist and retired Pakistan Army officer Kamran Shafi has revealed it all - the rigged elections of Imran Khan, state-sanctioned killings and enforced disappearances under the present Pakistani regime. Shafi, who was Pakistan's former Ambassador to Cuba and press secretary to the late lamented Benazir Bhutto, has made startling revelations about the sorry state of affairs in Pakistan under the Imran Khan-led PTI government.
In a Twitter thread, Shafi suggested that the 2018 Pakistan general elections were "stolen" by Pakistan Army generals and accused Prime Minister Imran Khan of making "egregious and corrupt decisions" to help his party leaders. He also raised the issue of enforced disappearances and NAB putting people in jail without any charges.
"Let's face it, please. How many Generals TODAY will place their hands on their hearts and swear to the Almighty Lord that Election 2018 was not blatantly stolen by THEM? How many of them are happy to see grieving mothers and sisters and daughters cry out for their loved ones to be charged in a Court of Law so that they know their loved one is ALIVE?" he asked.
25/ react badly and uncivilly. Let's face it, please. How many Generals TODAY will place their hands on their hearts and swear to the Almighty Lord that Election 2018 was not blatantly stolen by THEM? How many of our Generals will say they do NOT look away when #SELECTED 26/
— Kamran Shafi (@KamranShafi46) May 25, 2020
Ever since Imran Khan came to power, there have been several reports claiming that the Pakistani Army helped him in the elections. One such report published by BloombergQuint claimed that the Army had asked Pakistani media to show Imran Khan in a positive light and members of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif's party PML-N were intimidated to quit.
Another serious issue that Shafi has raised is the enforced disappearances and NAB putting people in jail without any charges. Recently, prominent Pakistani dissidents had also raised the issue of state-sponsored killings and enforced disappearances of people. South Asians Against Terrorism and for Human Rights (SAATH), a grouping of pro-democracy Pakistanis had claimed that the situation in Pakistan has escalated several notches from being a hybrid democracy to a hybrid martial law.
The issues raised by the prominent Pakistani columnist are not new but the language he has used shows how grim the situation has turned in Pakistan under the Imran Khan rule. It also reveals the nexus between Army and government in suppressing people's voices in Pakistan. "PLEASE Gernail Sahiban: Please Un-Disappear the Disappeared...There is so much to be said, such as the fact that we are all one, we are ALL of us Pakistanis, that the need is for ALL of us to come together as one, but I am drained of all emotion," he wrote.
