ZELENSKY THOUSANDS OF UKRAINIANS DISAPPEARED AND MURDERED

 

Washington Is the Problem, Not the Solution: Why Mahmoud Abbas Is Seeking New ‘Powerful’ Sponsors

 

 Considering that the Palestinian Authority of Mahmoud Abbas has repeatedly announced its readiness to return to negotiations, one can only assume that the process is being stalled due to Israel’s intransigence. Indeed, none of Israel’s top leaders or major parties champion negotiations, or the so-called peace process, as a strategic objective. 

However, Israel is not the only party to blame. The Americans, too, have made it clear that they moved on from that political sham altogether, one which they have invented and sustained for decades. In fact, the final nail in the "negotiating solution" coffin was hammered by the Donald Trump Administration, which has simply backed every Israeli claim, thus shunning all rightful Palestinian demands. 

The Biden Administration has been habitually blamed by Palestinians, Arabs and progressive voices within the Democratic Party for failing to reverse Trump’s prejudiced moves in favor of Israel: for example, moving the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, shutting down the US consulate in East Jerusalem, accepting the unfounded Israeli claims regarding its jurisdiction over illegal Jewish settlements built over occupied Palestinian land, and so on. 

Even if one assumes that the Biden Administration is capable of reversing some or all of Trump’s unlawful actions, what good would that be in the greater scheme of things? Washington was, and remains, Israel’s greatest benefactor, funding its military occupation of Palestine with an annual gift of $4 billion, in addition to many other schemes, including a massive and growing budget allocated for Israel’s Iron Dome alone. 

by Ramzy Baroud Posted onJuly 29, 2022 read full report here >>

The possible culprit, guilty of shooting down MH17?

 Who were the parties nearby, that could have possibly shoot down MH17?
1) Ukraine - was there fighting the so call separatists Donbas fighters?
2) Donbas fighters - fighting the Ukrainian Army & Nazis onslaught?
3) Russia - within their borders and within shooting range?
40 NATO where there training Ukrainians?
5) US - were there too, as above?

☝🏾 Dec 1, 2014 The disappearance of MH370 & downing of MH17. Tony Gosling - presented a plausible reason on the downing of MH17. Courtesy : Tony Gosling excerpt from Grand tour of British journalism censorship & cover-ups, at Green Gathering 2014. Original - at Green Gathering 2014

👇🏿👇🏿Jul 17, 2022 What were the Americans doing on the day of the downing of the Вoеing in Dnepropetrovsk? Secret visit of high-ranking officers. Since 2014, this event cannot be considered as something beyond the ordinary. Western curators have "settled" in Ukraine and coordinated all actions of the Ukrainian leadership. However, the arrival of the delegation on July 17, or rather on the day when the Malaysian Вoеing MH17 was shot down, is still alarming. Moreover, one of them is a highly qualified specialist in the organization of international flights, including in the European-Asian region, the other is a specialist in intelligence and special operations. Both speak excellent Russian. Maybe it is for this that one of them was recognized as a field officer of the year in the USA? And why did he work in Ukraine until July 2014? Strange coincidences. There are other interesting facts about which the West is silent. I recommend watching it!

Meeting with female aircrew members of Russian airlines, March 5,2022.

 

Maria Kotova: We have questions.

Good afternoon, Mr President,

My name is Maria Kotova. I am the co-pilot of the Airbus A320 airliner operated by Aeroflot.

My question concerns the current situation in Ukraine. We all support your actions and the special operation underway there. Of course, the most important question that, one way or another, each of us has been asking ourselves lately is: why did this special operation begin? Could it not have been avoided?

In our minds, we understand and strongly support your actions, but as women we worry about our families and loved ones who live in Ukraine. We are aware that the civilians are not impacted. But still, we would like you to reassure us: what is in store for us at the end of this road? What is the military operation in Ukraine supposed to end with?

Thank you.

Vladimir Putin: I will provide a brief overview and start, as they say in such cases, from the “centre of the field.” I mentioned this at the beginning of the operation and even before this decision was made, which was undoubtedly a difficult decision to make.

What is this about? The fact of the matter is that after the anti-constitutional coup in Ukraine, which was, unfortunately, strongly supported by Western countries… Let us face it. They are not hiding the fact that they spent US$5 billion on it, handing out cookies on Maidan and so on. And then, instead of bringing the situation back on track, even if it spiralled out of control, even if it was what is known as an excessive act – there is such a legal concept, that is, they planned one thing, but did another. Anyway, they could and should have brought this situation back onto the political track. Moreover, right before the coup, three foreign ministers came to Kiev in 2014, signed an agreement with the incumbent authorities and acted as guarantors of these agreements to the effect that the situation would remain within the political track.

Nothing of the kind. They carried out a coup d’état and supported the perpetrators. Then followed the well-known events related to Crimea and southeastern Ukraine, Donbass, whose residents refused to support the coup.

As you know, Crimea made a decision, people came to the referendum and voted to once again become part of the Russian Federation. Naturally, we could not but support this, all the more so since they were threatened by nationalists and neo-Nazis. There is a great deal of evidence that they were right.

Later on, or practically in parallel, events started in Donbass. What was the outcome? People who began to resist these developments were persecuted. The Kiev authorities started conducting military operations on that territory. They conducted two large-scale punitive operations with the use of heavy weapons and combat aircraft. They attacked Donetsk directly with tanks and bombed its squares from aircraft.

Both military campaigns failed. They sustained defeat. This was followed by the emergence of the so-called Minsk Agreements or the Package of Measures, to use its official name. They showed the way to a peaceful settlement of this conflict. And we did everything we could to let the developments follow in this vein to restore Ukraine’s territorial integrity and protect the interests of the people who live on these territories.

And what did they demand? Basic things: the right to speak their mother tongue, this is the Russian language, and follow their traditions and culture. There were no special demands. Nothing special.

But no. These territories were put under siege and switched off from the banking system, food supplies and payments of pensions and other benefits. Sometimes, some handouts were thrown in. But to receive those benefits and pensions people had to cross the delimitation line.

Now listen carefully. Maybe this will sound rough but the situation compels me to say such things. You see yourselves that stray dogs attack people in different regions. They injure and even kill people (this is a separate problem and the local authorities must deal with it). Then we see how these dogs are poisoned and shot dead. But, look, people in Donbass are not stray dogs. From 13,000 to 14,000 people have been killed over these years. Over 500 children were killed or mutilated.

But what is most intolerable is that the so-called civilised West preferred to turn a blind eye to these events during all these years. Over eight years!

Moreover, recently the Kiev authorities began to say bluntly that they are not going to fulfil these agreements. They are saying this from TV screens and online. They are saying on the record: “We don’t like them, we won’t do anything.”

Meanwhile, Russia continued to be accused of failing to fulfil these agreements. This is simply nonsense, the theatre of the absurd: the white is called black and the black is called white.

It has been getting worse lately. Suddenly, there has been renewed talk about admitting Ukraine to NATO. Actually, it has been on for a long time, but has intensified lately. Do you understand what this could lead to or even can still lead to? If Ukraine is a NATO country, then in accordance with the North Atlantic Treaty, all other members must support that country in the event of a military conflict.

No one is recognising Crimea as a part of Russia, except for you and me. They carry out military operations in Donbass, and they will also move into Crimea, and we will have to fight with the entire NATO organisation. Do you see what that means?

Are the consequences clear enough? I think that everyone understands.

Now they are talking about gaining a nuclear status, that is, acquiring nuclear weapons. We cannot ignore such things either, especially because we know how the so-called West acts with regard to Russia. First, Ukraine has had nuclear competencies since the Soviet times. As far as enrichment and nuclear materials are concerned, they are capable of launching such projects. They have missile competencies. Suffice it to mention Yuzhmash – it created intercontinental ballistic missile equipment for the Soviet Union. They can boost it and do it. And they will also receive help with that from across the ocean. And then they will say that we do not recognise their nuclear status, that they did it themselves, and they will put these systems under control, and from that moment, from that very second, Russia’s future will change dramatically. From then on, our strategic adversaries would not even need to have intercontinental ballistic missiles. They would be able to keep us at the nuclear gunpoint, and that would be it.

But how can we let this go unnoticed? These are absolutely real threats, not some far-fetched nonsense. And our young men who are fighting there now are giving their lives, they are giving their lives to fight for our future, for the future of our children. This is a completely obvious thing.

People who do not want to understand this, especially among today's leadership, must understand that if they continue to do what they are doing – I have already said this too – they will call into question the very future of Ukrainian statehood. And if this happens, it will be entirely on them.

What is happening now? I have already spoken about the goals we have identified.

The first is to protect the people who live in Donbass, of course. How? By demilitarising and denazifying Ukraine and giving it a neutral status. Why? Because a neutral country will not be planning on joining NATO. Right now, their Constitution says they are planning to join NATO. You understand, they included this in the Constitution.

What is meant by denazification? I have spoken with my Western colleagues about this: “So what? You also have radical nationalists.” Yes, we do, but we do not have people with extreme views in the Government. And everyone admits that they have them. Yes, maybe we have some idiots who are running around with the swastika, but do we support this at the government level? Do we have thousands of people parading with torches in Moscow or in our other regional capitals, with the swastika and with torches, like in the 1930s in Germany? Do we have this? But they do, and they support it. Do we support those who killed Russians, Jews, and Poles during the war? Do we hail them as heroes? But they do.

What is happening now is also very important. Look, foreign citizens have been taken hostage in Sumy and Kharkov – over 6,000 young people, students. They were driven to a railway station and have been kept there for three days. We told everyone about this and sent this information to the current leadership of Ukraine. “Yes, yes, of course, we will deal with it now.” We informed the leaders of major European countries about this. I spoke to them personally. “Yes, yes, we will influence them right now.” We told the UN Secretary-General about this: “Yes, yes, we will settle this problem now.” But nobody is doing anything about it.

They treat even worse those people whom they consider their own citizens. They are simply using them as a human shield.

This is taking place in Mariupol now as we are talking with you. They called us from the government, from Kiev and spoke with our military: “Provide humanitarian corridors so that people can leave.” Of course, our people responded instantly and even suspended hostilities. They looked at what was happening. Nobody was allowed out. Do you understand what they are doing? They do not let anyone leave but are using people as a human shield. Who are they? The neo-Nazis, of course.

We note the presence of militants from the Middle East and some European countries there. We know about them, we hear them in the air. They are using so-called Jihad mobiles – they stuff cars with explosives and drive them towards the troops. But they fail to achieve anything and they won’t reach their aims.

Who are they if not neo-Nazis? It is by these actions that they are destroying their own country and their statehood.

Therefore, one of our key demands is demilitarisation. In other words, we are helping people, residents of Donbass to achieve a neutral status and demilitarisation of the country because we must understand clearly what weapons are there, where they are deployed and who controls them.

Different options are possible here. We are discussing them now, in particular, with representatives of the Kiev government during the talks in Belarus. We are grateful to President Lukashenko for organising this work and helping us conduct them. Our proposals are on the negotiating table. We hope a group of negotiators from Kiev will respond positively to them. This is more or less what I wanted to say. Let’s go on.

Yulia Shvidkaya: Yulia Shvidkaya, co-pilot with Aeroflot Airlines.

Good afternoon, Mr President.

I have a question about the current situation. The thing is that there are so many rumours about the possibility of martial law, the enlistment of volunteers, the call-up of reservists, and that the new conscripts will be sent to Ukraine.

Can you tell us precisely if martial law will be declared and if conscripts will be sent to Ukraine?

Vladimir Putin: Much of what is taking place now, of what we can see and what we come up against are methods of fighting Russia. Incidentally, the sanctions that are imposed on us are like a war. Thankfully, it has not got to that yet.

I think that our so-called partners understand what this can lead to and how much is at stake, despite their reckless statements, for example, like the statement made by the UK Foreign Secretary, when she blurted out that NATO could get involved in the conflict. And we immediately had to take a decision to put our deterrence forces on high alert.

Their reaction was instantaneous: they said that it was a misunderstanding. But nobody rebuffed her (the UK Foreign Secretary is a woman), and nobody has disavowed those statements. They could have told us something like, “You know, it’s her personal opinion, take no notice.” But nobody uttered a single word! What should we think about this? How should we regard it? Of course, we took that statement as a warning and acted accordingly.

And now I will answer your question about volunteers, conscripts, martial law and the like. Under the law, martial law is declared by a Presidential executive order, which should be approved by the Federation Council, in case of foreign aggression, in particular, in the zones of hostilities.

This is not the case now, and I hope it will not come to that. This is the first point.

Second, about the state of alert. There are several options: martial law or the state of alert, which is also declared by a presidential executive order and approved by the Federation Council in case of large-scale internal threats.

There is also the state of emergency. It is usually declared in a specific region or throughout the country in the event of manmade disasters, natural disasters, etc. Thankfully, this is not the case either.

We are not planning to declare a state of alert on the territory of the Russian Federation. There are no such plans and no necessity for this now.

Yes, we see that attempts are being made to stir up our society. Incidentally, this is further proof of what I have said – that we are dealing not with ordinary radicals but with neo-Nazis. Our people can freely express their opinions of what they like or do not like about our actions in Ukraine. But in Ukraine those who express views such as members of the so-called liberal part of our society do are grabbed on the street and shot. We have proof of that. Our security services are collecting this information and will provide it later on. They are simply shot dead. In our country, some of our liberal intellectuals hold protest rallies, but those who say similar things about Russia in Ukraine are simply executed straightaway, without charge or trial.

Now, about the martial law. To reiterate, it is usually imposed in case of an external aggression, a military threat. I hope this will not happen, despite irresponsible statements by certain officials.

We are hearing voices that a no-fly zone should be imposed over Ukraine. It is impossible to do this in Ukraine. It can only be done from the territory of neighbouring states. However, we will consider any move in this direction as participation in the armed conflict of the country from whoseterritory a threat to our servicemen is created. We will consider them participants in hostilities that very second. Their membership in any organisation will not matter then. So, I hope the understanding of this is there and it will not come to this, either.

Only professional servicemen – officers and contract soldiers – are taking part in this operation. There are no conscripts, and we are not planning to get them involved. To reiterate, only men who made a very responsible voluntary choice to take part in this operation and to defend their Motherland are participating in this operation. They are carrying out this mission honourably. In my answer to your first question, I provided the reason why this is so and why we are entitled to say this.

The same applies to those who are called up to the training camps. We do not plan to do this with this category, either. They are regularly called up to training camps. They were called up before and they will be called up afterwards. But we are not going to have this category participate in this conflict, in this operation. We have enough forces and means to address the tasks that we have set for ourselves with the use of the professional army.

By the way, speaking of the operation itself I know there are many speculations about it. Frankly, I have no time to get into that, but they report to me that there is much chitchat about what is going on. All analysts are seeing what is happening, so I will not reveal any secret to you. We could have acted in a variety of ways. We could simply (by the way, this answers your question, in part) help the republics of Donbass right on the line of contact, at the frontline, so to say, and simply reinforce them with our army. But in this case, the other side, I mean reckless support for nationalists and radicals coming from the West, would have provided endless support with the material resources, ammunition, equipment, and so on.

Therefore, our General Staff and the Defence Ministry took a different road. The first thing they did was destroy all the military infrastructure. Not completely but most of it: arms and ammunition depots, aircraft and air defence systems. Destroying air defence systems takes some time (you are civilians, yet you are connected with aviation) – they must be identified and then hit. This work has been practically finished. Hence the demand to impose a no-fly zone. However, doing so would have tremendous and disastrous consequences not only for Europe but also globally. I think those on the other side who are not completely at sea understand that.

That is why we chose that road, and it turned out to be absolutely correct. Our servicemen are working without haste and are doing everything to ensure the safety of civilians. Unfortunately, those bandits, neo-Nazis do not spare people. They shoot dead even their own service personnel who do not want to offer armed resistance. We know about such facts, too. Nationalists, Banderites, neo-Nazis – it is hard to call them anything else – shoot their own servicemen. These nationalists were put in nearly every military unit, up to several dozen in each, and they act in exactly that cruel way.

But I repeat that we are not engaging and are not going to engage conscripts or reservists in this military operation. I presume that our army will fulfil all the tasks it is facing, and I do not have the slightest doubt about that. The very course of the operation proves that. It is going according to schedule, and everything is being done according to the General Staff’s plan.

As for volunteers and those young people who come to military recruiting stations, we are grateful to them for this patriotic impulse and the desire to support the country and the Armed Forces. The very fact of their coming does matters, for sure. However, their assistance is not needed for now, and I believe it will not be needed.

I am turning to the cameras so that they will see and hear me say, “Thank you.”

Let us proceed.

<<Full discussion here >>

<< More info to read here >>

Humour : interesting tweet on Bo Jo the Brit's PM!

 

Pakistan: How Not to Run the Affairs of State

 

Seldom in stable condition, Pakistan’s latest engineered political crisis was both unnecessary and completely detrimental to its future. Why was Imran Khan’s government overthrown through what can charitably be described only as a soft coup, when the country was on the verge of taking off economically? Whose interest did it serve to derail the economy?

We have, in the previous issue, identified the long list of crooks and assorted criminals that are responsible for this state of affairs. Manipulating from behind the scenes is the Pakistan army (or more accurately the army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa) who in turn receives instructions from the Americans, the most despicable bunch of criminals and outlaws in the world.

Inflation has hit the roof; prices of essential commodities have skyrocketed and the vast majority of people are reeling under these blows. Already high, poverty is rising adding to people’s misery.

Two opposing narratives are being presented. Imran Khan and his supporters insist that his government was undermined through a foreign conspiracy engineered by the US. The opposing view, presented by the army, is that there was no conspiracy and that they are “neutral” in the current political crisis. Few Pakistanis inside the country or abroad buy the army’s claim of neutrality.

While it played no role in the creation of Pakistan, the army has for decades interfered in political affairs installing and removing governments. Often, it has stormed the corridors of power to take over directly, making an even bigger mess of things.

The bunch of thieves, murderers, drug peddlers and money-launderers that have been installed in power accuse Imran Khan for messing the economy during the three years he was in power. Facts belie their claims.

Imran Khan’s government managed the pandemic remarkably well winning global accolades. At the same time, Pakistan’s economic growth exceeded the set targets. In 2020-21 (during the pandemic), the growth rate jumped to 5.7 per cent, more than double the initial target for that year set by the government. For 2021-22, it was even more impressive: nearly 6 per cent, again considerably higher than the set target of 4.8 per cent.

These figures become even more impressive when viewed against the backdrop of three years ago when Pakistan’s economy actually shrank, and was minus 0.5 per cent. That is what Imran Khan’s government inherited from the previous regime run by criminals and thieves.

This overall growth came on the back of 4.40 per cent growth in Agriculture, 7.19 per cent growth in Industries, and 6.19 per cent growth in Services — meaning that all three major sectors surpassed their targets of 3.5 per cent, 6.5 per cent and 4.7 per cent, respectively, according to the Pakistan Economic Survey.

Pakistan’s exports also achieved remarkable growth surpassing $30 billion, as did remittances from overseas Pakistanis, against exceeding $30 billion. The large remittances reflected the confidence overseas Pakistanis had in Imran Khan’s government. He was seen as clean, honest and sincere, something borne out by his personal conduct over the years long before he became prime minister.

So, the question that needs addressing is, why was he removed from power? It is clear that there are forces that do not want to see Pakistan make progress. The primary mover behind this is the US which acts at the behest of zionist Israel. The Americans operate through the Pakistan army with which it has always maintained close links regardless of their relations with the government of the day.

Despite being nuclear powers—the US has the largest stockpile of nuclear weapons in the world and zionist Israel has several hundred—they do not want Pakistan, a Muslim country, to possess them. Further, the Americans want to disrupt Pakistan’s ties with China or Russia, both seen as US rivals. And Washington is demanding that Pakistan accept subservience to India and recognize zionist Israel.

Since Imran Khan’s ouster, moves are afoot to force Pakistan to accept these conditions. The current crop of criminals at the helm are willing to surrender to these demands. The battering of Pakistan’s economy is part of this plan. If it defaults on paying interest on the loans, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will step in to demand that Pakistan divest itself of major assets including nuclear weapons, at the behest of the US.

Under instructions from the army, major TV channels and other media outlets in Pakistan do not discuss these issues, social media is full of such details. There is also much greater awareness among the people about who is responsible for the current crisis. The army’s carefully crafted image has received massive blows. It was always a false image; their much-touted valour and as defenders of the state were false narratives meant to block scrutiny of their actions and discussion of their failures.

Imran Khan is demanding that elections be held because he is confident that the masses are with him. While his assessment of people’s support is correct, as is evident from the very large numbers of people attending his rallies, his faith in elections under the present circumstances appears misplaced. After all, those who will supervise elections are the same bunch of dishonest people that were responsible for overthrowing his government in the first place. They will not let him come back to power, regardless of the people’s support for him.

So, what is the solution? Crescent International has long argued that it is the system that needs changing, not faces through elections. So far, a game of musical chairs has been going on with the army playing the music. A system that replaces one set of criminals with another is not worth saving.

Imran Khan and his inner core have some crucial decisions to make. They must gear up to paralyze the illegitimate government and the system. True, the army will use violence against the people but that would simply expose the top brass as anti-people. After killing a few hundred or even a few thousand civilians, the soldiers will refuse to obey orders to shoot. That will be the end of the game for the men in khaki.

Once that stage is reached, a new election commission must be established, supervised by retired justices with a track record of honesty and integrity to ensure fair and transparent elections. The army must be sent back to the barracks or the borders and told in no uncertain terms that it is not their business to decide who rules the country or interfere in politics.

Without these drastic steps, Pakistan’s future appears grim. It will stagger from one crisis to the next falling deeper into debt until it is declared bankrupt and the country is taken over by a conglomerate of American, zionist and Hindu interests. That will be the end of Pakistan.

Is this what the people of Pakistan want?

Zafar Bangash

Dhu al-Hijjah 02, 1443

Original URL here :

Pakistan’s Engineered Political Crisis

For more than two months, Pakistan has been gripped by an engineered political crisis that is the direct result of a foreign conspiracy imposing a regime of thugs through local collaborators. The characters in this sordid drama are well-known: the despicable bunch of crooks called politicians, judges, and above all, the military top brass, taking orders from the US.

Of the three sets of villains, the military top brass or more specifically the army chief, General Qamar Javed Bajwa bears major responsibility for the current crisis. Regrettably, the Pakistan army has interferred in politics ever since the creation of Pakistan even though it had played no role in its creation.

In his book, Friends Not Masters, Ayub Khan, Pakistan’s first military dictator had shamelessly narrated that Muslim army officers showed ‘true professionalism’ by remaining completely neutral while the pogrom of partition was underway! Their ‘professionalism’ led to the slaughter of millions of innocent Muslims. No doubt, their British masters were pleased.

Euphemistically called the ‘Establishment’ in order not to offend the men in khaki, they have arrogated to themselves two roles. First, they think they can impose and dismiss governments regardless of what the majority of the people want. Second, once they reach the higher echelons, they become real estate agents and tycoons instead of performing their duty as soldiers. Both have proved disastrous for Pakistan.

The present crisis was engineered by General Bajwa in league with corrupt politicians at the behest of the US. His protestations of “neutrality” have found few takers. In fact, he may have committed treason. In his statement at the Islamabad Security Dialogue, he publicly disagreed with then Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan’s policy over Ukraine and Russia.

Bajwa is supposed to be subordinate to the prime minister, not above him. While he is entitled to his views, the proper forum for expressing them is the National Security Committee of which he is a member. Imran Khan’s February 24-25 visit to Moscow was discussed and approved by all stakeholders. The army chief’s outburst was completely uncalled for.

By expressing such views in public, he deliberately undermined the position of the prime minister. Even the Karachi daily, Dawn, which is notorious for anti-Imran Khan diatribes, tepidly criticized Bajwa’s public outburst. For this crime alone, he should have been summarily dismissed. It is not his job or that of the army to make foreign policy. They can give their input but the ultimate decision rests with the prime minister as the chief executive.

It is also no secret that Bajwa and his cohorts engineered Imran Khan’s ouster by cobbling together a coalition of criminals, rapists, murderers and plunderers to take-over the reins of power. These people should be in prison for life.

Prior to the April 10 no-confidence vote in the National Assembly, Bajwa held several meetings with opposition figures including Shehbaz Sharif and Asif Ali Zardari. Under what constitutional authority did he impose these criminals on the people of Pakistan?

There is now a political impasse in Pakistan. The overwhelming majority of people including many retired military officers are solidly with Imran Khan. Never before in the history of Pakistan have people come out in such large numbers to support a political leader. This sea of humanity cannot be stopped.

It is clear that Bajwa and his fellow generals badly miscalculated. They thought once Imran Khan was removed from power, the people will forget him. Instead, they have expressed revulsion at the criminals imposed on them as rulers.

Let us recount who the army-imposed rulers are. Shehbaz Sharif and his son Hamza are charged with money laundering billions of rupees. Rana Sanaullah, appointed as interior minister is a well-known gangster who is implicated in at least 18 murders of innocent people. He appointed Akbar Nasir Khan as Inspector General of Police in Islamabad. This man was involved in corruption of one billion rupees and was about to be dismissed when Imran Khan’s government was overthrown.

What the IG Police did in Islamabad on May 25 as Pakistan Tehreek-e Insaf supporters peacefully marched on the capital was disgraceful. The police not only used tear gas but also fired rubber bullets at peaceful marchers including women with young children.

The police under Akbar Nasir’s command acted like armed thugs of the ruling PML-N illegitimate regime. Even people’s homes were broken into, violating the sanctity of their privacy. This is not only a major crime but a grievous sin. But for criminals, such factors are of no relevance.

While he called off his sit-in because of the Supreme Court ruling, Imran Khan has a simple demand: announcement of the date for new elections. While many of his young supporters were disappointed by the cancellation of the sit-in, circumstances forced him to take this difficult decision. He did not want to fall foul of the court verdict, or he may have been disqualified from running for elections.

He has vowed not to give up until his demand for elections is met. He has also refused to meet anyone—whether political opponents or emissaries of the army—until the date for elections is announced. At the time of writing this piece, while there is no announcement of election date, it appears to be imminent.

Given the massive support he enjoys among the people—young and old, women and children—it is absolutely clear that the present imposed set-up is completely unacceptable to the people, and unworkable. It has also become clear that Imran Khan’s government was on the verge of taking Pakistan to new heights when it was overthrown.

Here are some facts and figures provided by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics. After successfully overcoming the pandemic that was applauded worldwide, Pakistan achieved a GDP growth rate of 5.97%. This is the highest GDP growth rate in recent history. Pakistan’s exports reached $32 billion annually, again a new high. Remittances from overseas Pakistani also touched $32 billion. This was the direct result of the trust overseas Pakistanis have in Imran Khan because of his honesty and integrity. This figure would have gone up further but for the disruption caused by the deliberate subversion of his government.

The last two months have made several things absolutely clear. The people of Pakistan have categorically rejected the illegitimate imported regime. They are not prepared to remain slaves of America, the most criminal entity in the world. And while maintaining their trust in the armed forces, people have rejected the machinations of the army chief, General Bajwa.

Pakistani masses have matured considerably during the last three years. This is a hopeful sign and augurs well for the country’s future.

Zafar Bangash

 

Dhu al-Qa'dah 01, 1443

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