Message Behind the Madness in PTI ‘s Saudi Statements

We have witnessed some sweet and sour statements by PTI leaders about Saudi Arabia in the past few years. Whenever a statement is made that explicitly appears to be an offending statement addressing Saudi Arabia. It is always followed up by multiple statements clarifying that either the statement is taken out of context or it is not an official statement by the political party.

Whereas, if we see the other two major parties of Pakistan PPP and PML (N), no such behavior is observed. Therefore, it leads to a hypothesis that there might be some sort of Message behind the madness particularly in the present circumstance when we see PTI founder and ex-Prime Minister Imran Khan behind bars for the past year and a half.

On the other hand, there has been a very strong bond between the Pakistani Military Establishment and the Saudi Kingdom for more than half a century. Military and strategic cooperation at the highest level has been evident for the past 5 decades. Saudi Arabia has a massive influence on regional politics and especially on the internal political dynamics of Pakistan.

The message behind this madness of PTI.

Let’s dig a bit deeper into our hypothesis and try to figure out what is the message behind this madness of PTI.

Why now and then some statements are made apparently against Saudi Arabia which become controversial? A very calculated madness started in August 2020, when then-Foreign Minister, Shah Mehmood Qureshi appeared on a talk show on ARY News, the foreign minister had said that Pakistan expected Saudi Arabia to convene the OIC meeting. “If you cannot convene it, then I’ll be compelled to ask Prime Minister Imran Khan to call a meeting of the Islamic countries that are ready to stand with us on the issue of Kashmir and support the oppressed Kashmiris.” This statement was highly criticized by the opposition then PML (N) and the military establishment.

Then, a couple of years later in April 2024, Sher Afzal Marwat said: “These are the two countries, Saudi Arabia and the United States, with whose cooperation the regime change operation took place.” Questioned if he was also implicating the Saudi kingdom in the ouster allegation, Marwat doubled down and said: “Definitely. Saudi Arabia played the role of a conduit.” He had also alleged that the Saudi Arabian government “serves their (the US) purposes in the region on their directions”.

Recently, Bushra Bibi, wife of ousted Prime Minister Imran mentioned that the country did not like the Khan’s gesture of respect when he stepped barefoot on the holy ground of Madina. Though Khan’s official Twitter handle explained that it was a message being forwarded by the Chief of Army Staff then and the blame was shifted on Bajwa.

PTI along with its chief Imran Khan heavily emphasized similarities between the regime change in Pakistan and the regime change in Egypt in the recent past. When Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, the field marshal who overthrew Morsi in a July 2013 coup and restored military rule in Egypt. That process began when the then-defense minister ordered the arrest of the democratically elected president, who had appointed him, and proceeded to crack down on his supporters.

Parallels Between Egypt and PTI’s Regime

The massacre at the Rabaa Square sit-in six weeks later in which nearly 1,000 protesters were killed represented the largest single-day mass killing of civilians by security forces in Egypt’s modern history. In the years since, the el-Sisi regime has banned all forms of protest, shut down independent media, imprisoned tens of thousands of activists, and even engaged in extrajudicial killings. Presently, some of the self-exiled journalists and analysts who appear to be in support of PTI find similarities between the massacre at the Rabba and the grand operation that took place in Islamabad against PTI-led protesters. They also see Khan’s removal and imprisonment as part of the plan and they apprehend that Khan could be assassinated like the alleged poisoning of Morsi.

The regime change in Egypt was explicitly backed by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United States of America. Saudia and the USA appear to protect the regimes that serve their global strategic interests and back the regime change where the government(s) do comply with their respective greater interests. There might be a case, in which the sweet and sour statements of PTI leaders may refer to the alleged intervention of Saudi Arabia and as far USA is concerned PTI already claims that the Bidden administration was biased against the PTI Government and through Donald Lu, the regime change was initiated.

Hence, the sweet and sour statements now and then have some explicit and implicit messages that may implicate Saudia of not only backing the regime change but also the crackdown against PTI in the continuation of the present regime.

Report by: Pakistan Updates