The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party’s recent actions of writing letters to international organizations and foreign authorities about events in Pakistan are concerning. These letters are examples of the party’s strategy to discredit its institutions through falsehoods, fabrications, and exaggerations. Two of these letters have recently surfaced, one written by a group calling itself “Physicians of Pakistani Origin in the USA” and addressed to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, and the other written by PTI Senior Vice President Dr. Shireen Mazari and addressed to UN Special Rapporteur Dr. Alice Jill Edwards. Both letters request action from UN authorities on alleged human rights abuses against the writers’ supporters by the Pakistani government.
These letters are noteworthy in three ways. First, they show the PTI’s disregard for the implications of externalizing Pakistan’s political problems. Second, the central argument in both letters is based on a purposeful fabrication of details and deception of the situation. Finally, Mazari and the PTI-supporting American physicians entirely ignore the fact that PTI supporters not only hindered the execution of the law but also attacked law enforcement agents with weapons, petrol bombs, slingshots, rods, and clubs.
The police have performed their duty by apprehending those who used such violence against the state. Nobody should be permitted to use violence against the government. Yet, Mazari and the PTI-supporting American physicians choose to ignore this fact and instead misrepresent the situation. Unfortunately, Imran Khan, the leader of the PTI, believes he is larger than the state and above the law. This attitude has trickled down to the party’s second-tier leadership, including Mazari, who has gone from advocating US action in Pakistan to becoming an American apologist.
The PTI American doctors have exceeded everyone else when it comes to self-caricature. Their letter to the UN Secretary-General illustrates how political poisoned minds may turn against their country and prioritize local political objectives over those of the whole world. Fortunately, UN representatives are not as uninformed about the truth as the PTI people may anticipate. They are fully aware that Imran and his supporters have turned politics into a weapon against the government. The party is gradually turning into a militia and will use all measures necessary to regain power, including organized violence directed by the leadership.
However, the law will operate according to its natural course, and it is the obligation of the government to ensure that no citizen gets away with breaking the law. By employing its followers as cannon fodder while assaulting the state and then posing as a victim, the PTI is doing itself no favors. Imran and his followers should be taught that following the rules is necessary to play the game.
