US-backed coup in Pakistan will meet powerful resistance
April 11th, 2022
Featured Guest: ZAFAR BANGASH, Islamic scholar and editor at Crescent International.
Description (27 minutes):
Phil Taylor interviews Zafar Bangash about the “earthshaking” events of last week in Pakistan in which the US engineered the overthrow of Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan.
From the beginning of the crisis on Feb. 24th, when Khan visited Russian President Putin in Moscow, against the wishes of the US government, to April 9, when Khan lost a no-confidence motion in the Pakistani National Assembly, Bangash details all the intervening events, including the following:
– a statement by Khan, responding to the March 1 letter from 22 Western diplomats which called on Pakistan to drop its neutrality and join them in condemning Moscow, to which Khan replied, “What do you think of us? Are we your slaves that whatever you say, we will do?”
– an ultimatum on March 7 by Donald Lu, Assistant US Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs, to the Pakistani government to dump Imran Khan;
– the outright bribery of Pakistani legislators to bring down Khan’s government in a no-confidence vote;
– the prorogation of the Pakistani National Assembly to avoid the no-confidence vote;
– the instantaneous intervention of the Pakistani Supreme Court to force the vote;
– huge popular demonstrations in major Pakistani cities in support of Khan.
Bangash points out that, under Khan’s government, the US was not allowed to establish military bases in Pakistan or conduct drones strikes into Afghanistan from Pakistani territory. On April 11, 2022, the US conducted its first drone strike on Afghanistan from Pakistan territory since Khan come to power in 2018.
According to Bangash, the exciting events of the past six weeks in Pakistan has made Khan even more popular in Pakistan than before and will lay the groundwork for major political changes to come in Pakistan.