A visibly upset prime minister

In a long and rambling but aggressive speech at the inaugural ceremony of the Havelian-Mansehra section of the Hazara motorway on November 18, 2019, Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan lashed out at his political opponents in his trademark style. Needless to say, the thrust was on corruption, accountability, and not offering any 'NRO' to them, which he characterised as an 'unforgivable sin'. He also lambasted the sit-in staged by Maulana Fazlur Rehman in Islamabad in which the two main opposition parties' leadership also put in an appearance as a 'circus on a container', aimed solely at avoiding accountability. Boasting of being an expert at dharnas (sit-ins, a reference to his 126-day dharna in 2014), he took a swipe at the opposition's sit-in by saying he had promised the protestors he would accept all their demands if they stuck it out for a month. He criticised the maulana and the leaders of his Jamiat-i-Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) for remaining cosy in warm rooms while their workers braved the cold and the rain and said innocent seminary students were duped into participating. He also levelled the charge that the timing of the dharna distracted attention from the crisis in Kashmir. He went on to argue that Shahbaz Sharif and Bilawal Bhutto Zardari joined hands when asked to return looted wealth. He then mocked Bilawal by mimicking him, a new low even by Imran Khan's 'lofty' standards. Questioning Bilawal's credentials as a 'liberal', Imran dubbed him 'liberally corrupt'. Bilawal gave it back to Imran Khan in similar vein.

But through all the familiar rhetoric and fire and brimstone the PM delivered, the really important message was the one he sent to the judiciary. Addressing the Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Asif Saeed Khosa and senior judge of the Supreme Court Justice Gulzar Ahmed, he asked them to restore public trust in the judiciary by ensuring speedy, quick justice for all, high and low. What was surprising about this 'message' was the fact that in the past Imran Khan and his Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaaf (PTI) had benefited greatly from this same judiciary. The only way to make sense of this diatribe was logically to surmise that the PM was angry at the verdict delivered by the Lahore High Court (LHC) allowing ailing Nawaz Sharif to travel abroad for treatment on a personal surety of returning. Imran Khan sarcastically said the government had 'only' asked for indemnity bonds of Rs 7 billion from the Sharifs, which for them was small change. In the next breath he questioned the undertaking accepted by the LHC. Repeating (ad nauseam?) his 'ruthless accountability' mantra, Imran Khan used analogies from his cricketing days to indicate he was up for the challenges confronting him. Political and legal circles have criticised the PM's speech as below the dignity of his exalted office. It was a polarising speech, as though the country did not have enough of that commodity already. Commentators are weighing in with analyses that argue the LHC decision has really got Imran Khan's goat because his alleged scheme to extract Rs 7 billion in indemnity bonds from the Sharifs could have been used as ammunition to argue he had recovered this looted wealth as he has been promising to do for years now. Others are speculating whether the speech portends some kind of pressure or apprehension in Imran Khan's mind that the present set-up may be unravelling. Discontent amongst the PTI's coalition partners, Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q), the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and Sindh's Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) has grown and is now being openly expressed. On the other hand, Director General Inter-Services Public Relations Major General Asif Ghafoor has felt compelled to reiterate the 'same page' mantra. The flurry of speculation and conspiracy theories may or may not be the harbinger of political change in the offing, but Imran Khan's speech and the other developments mentioned above are feeding into the rumours furnace.