Like millions of Pakistanis that day, seeing Imran Khan drive his car as he left the Prime Minister House at midnight, making the victory sign was a feeling I will never want to relive. From finally being in a position where you saw your country thriving to suddenly losing any form of stability and being betrayed by those you thought were your guardians left this nation completely shattered. April 9Th, 2022 marked the beginning of perhaps the darkest time for Pakistan. What unfolded was a series of events that would break all records of cruelty, corruption and marked the death of law in the country. But what it also set in motion, was the evolution of a people that had forgotten their worth. 21 months after the Regime Change Operation (RCO), I look back and see the events that unfolded as a blessing in disguise. I see Qaidi No. 804 being vindicated. I see the rebirth of Allama Iqbal’s Shaheens. I finally see a Naya Pakistan.
On the eve of 9th April, 2022, Imran Khan was ousted as the Prime Minister of Pakistan after a No-confidence Motion was brought against him in the Parliament. The first realization that set in was had the election of 2018 been fair, Imran Khan wouldn’t have had to form a coalition government that ended up playing a vital role in ousting him as Premier. When he left, the country like the rest of the world was recovering from the Covid-19 Pandemic. However, unlike the rest of the world, Pakistan was accelerating with an economic growth of 6% and was listed in the countries that had the best mechanisms to deal with the pandemic. The country’s forex reserves were at an all-time high at $16.2 billion, exports (Jul-Apr) at $26.8 billion and record remittances (Jul-Apr) at $26.1 billion. They say the higher you go, the harder the fall. In the case of Pakistan, truer words could not have been said. The fall that followed was bone-crushing.
On April 27th, Imran Khan held a political gathering in the country’s capital, Islamabad, with the intention to tell the nation “The Truth” behind his ouster. He waved a white paper(symbolizing the Cypher) in front of the nation and told us that he was paying the price for standing up to the West. “Absolutely not”, he said to American interviewer Jonathan Swan when asked if Pakistan would allow the US its use of territory to carry out cross-border action against Afghanistan. As a result, a cypher from Washington was received at the Foreign Office of Pakistan addressing Khan’s interview and claiming that “all would be forgiven if Khan is ousted from Government through a vote of No Confidence.” The second realization, Pakistan’s sovereignty had been compromised. The old wounds from War onTerror felt fresh again. The words of the cypher reignited the anger of George W Bush’s “you’re either with us or against us” or “we will bomb you to the stone age”. Egos were hurt, our sacrifices ridiculed. The anger was brewing.
What followed were massive protests across the country spearheaded by Imran Khan. Millions followed him on their own accord. This wasn’t the first time a government was ousted from power in Pakistan. It was however, the first time that the public had such a strong reaction to it. Tear gas (mostly expired), baton charge, rubber bullets became the norm. The third realization set in. The state had a new adversary. Its own citizens.
On 3rd November, 2022, while leading a rally in Wazirabad, Imran Khan was shot in the leg multiple times in an assassination attempt. The shots fired were meant to kill him had it not been for a youngster named Ibtisam who deflected the shooter as a result of which the shots fired ended up being non-fatal. Wounded, bleeding and in pain Imran Khan was brought down the container held up by his companions when he stopped, smiled and raised his fist in the air in an attempt to calm his people. People screamed in unison. Chanted slogans for him. Cried for him but understood that the fight was only going to get harder now. The fourth realization; Imran Khan was no longer a politician or a leader, he had become an ideology.
Then came May 9th, 2022 when the whole world saw masked Rangers (military) drag Imran Khan by the collar and shove him in a bomb proof state vehicle from inside the premises of the High Court of the country’s capital, Islamabad. I felt the world still that day as I’m sure did millions of others. It was us they grabbed by the collar. It was us they shoved and pushed and kicked. The blow was personal. Each conscientious Pakistani felt that things would never be the same henceforth. It was decided that they system had to collapse when wild, angry and bloody and most importantly, unannounced protests broke out across the country demanding Imran Khan’s release. Two days later, after the protest were only getting bigger and angrier, the Supreme Court in an emergency hearing of the case, ruled in favor of Imran Khan deeming his arrest unconstitutional. The fifth realization set in; the people of Pakistan realized for the first time how powerful they are.
August 5th, 2023, Imran Khan was arrested again from his residence in Zaman Park, Lahore and taken to Attock Jail. With over 200 (bogus) cases against him, he had mentally prepared the nation that this was to happen. He had challenged the status quo. He had to pay the price. The sixth realization set in; Qaidi 804 had done all that he could. It was now for the nation to decide the next course of action.
Over the course of the last two years, more than a dozen people have died because they dared to protest against the tyranny of the state. More than 10,000 people incarcerated for exercising their right to protest (article 16 of the Constitution of Pakistan). The country’s most popular leader is in jail. His party Pakistan Tahreek-e-Insaaf (the biggest political partyof the country) has been completely dismantled. Its remaining leaders and political workers either incarcerated, hiding or on the run.
The visuals post-RCO are one for the history books. We saw little kids with bloody hands dragging and helping bodies to safe spaces away from the wrath of the police. We saw old women wiping the tear-soaked and maimed faces of young girls and boys. We saw families with babies in their cars going around giving water bottles and tissues and first aid to people as they fought on ground. We saw politicians and young political workers cover the car of their leader with their bare bodies as the state machinery unleashed hell on them. We learnedwhat it felt like to have our voices muzzled and censored from everywhere. Yet the voices have only grown louder and greater. The apathetic Pakistani nation has learned to speak up. For every mouth the state shuts, a few more gain the courage to shout even louder. We learned to laugh through tear gas, we learned to dance in the face of state brutality. We learned to make victory signs from behind prison bars. We learned to question those we dared not even speak to.
Our fight was and never will be against the Army. They are from us and we are from them. BUT we will challenge the status quo. We will challenge the system. We will challenge the establishment. We will challenge anyone who challenges the will of the people and the sovereignty of Pakistan. Qaidi no. 804 is no longer a person. He is an idea. And in the words of Victor Higo, “no power on Earth can stop an idea whose time has come”.
Every drop of innocent blood spilled and every tear shed led to the rebirth of Iqbal’s Shaheens in the form of Sanam Javed, Tayyaba Raja, Hassan Niazi, Haider Majeed, Aliya Hamza, Azhar Mashwani, Faizan, Wasim Wazir and dozens more. Politics in Pakistan has changed forever. And for the better. A new leadership has emerged in the country largely represented by an educated and passionate youth with no political backgrounds. This nation has transformed from being consumed in its own self-seeking interests to realizing that the prosperity and integrity of the country is of precedence.
Welcome to Naya Pakistan.
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