Shahid Bolsen on the abduction of Imran Khan

It's unavoidable that I have to say something about what's going on in Pakistan. I've been flooded with messages, people asking for my thoughts on what's happening. I've said before that I really don't feel qualified to talk about the internal politics of Pakistan. I'll be honest with you. I've always felt that Pakistan is an incredibly tangled and complicated issue.

My background is very limited with regards to certain issues in Pakistan, certain places in Pakistan, certain, phenomena in Pakistan. And all I've ever really been comfortable trying to talk about is Pakistan as it relates to US policy, the owners and controllers of global financialized capital, and the general geopolitics of the region and the the role that Pakistan plays in that. But the internal situation in Pakistan, subhanAllah. This is something that you would have to study your entire life to be able to talk about it with any authority. But what I can say is the obvious.

Everyone knows that Imran Khan has been arrested, detained, abducted, kidnapped, whatever word you wanna use. He's been taken into custody. That detention has been approved by the high court. Officially, it's all legal. We all know what happened with Imran Khan.

We all know that he was not going along with the western program. He was not cooperating with the owners and controllers of global financialized capital. He was not going along with the International Monetary Fund, and he was overthrown. That's what happened. There was a coup, and there have been multiple assassination attempts against him.

And I have no doubt that the owners and controls of global financialist capital, The United States intelligence agencies, and the Pakistani intelligence agencies would rather him be dead. And as long as he's not out of the picture, even if he's in jail, and maybe even especially if he's in jail, he will be a source of disruption and unrest in Pakistan for as long as he lives because he is an immensely popular figure. Now personally, I don't think he's a particularly good politician. I don't think that he's a particularly clever man when it comes to politics. That's not an insult, by the way.

I think he's a virtuous man. I think he's a decent man. I think he cares genuinely cares about his people, and he genuinely cares about Islam. But he's not particularly cunning. And I don't think he's particularly ruthless.

And you have to be ruthless to be in politics. And I think that's even more the case in a country like Pakistan. What I can say, I pray for the people of Pakistan, and I pray that they can approach this crime with some level of discipline, some level of calm and calculation, and not with what we have seen already, which is violent outbursts, violent protests, the burning of police commanders' homes and headquarters and whatnot. And while I hope that they won't do that kind of thing, based on the experience that I do have with Pakistani brothers and sisters, you may as well not hope it because that's gonna happen. It's a strange decision to me.

It's a strange decision to do this with Imran Khan. I understand why they wanna do it, but strategically, tactically, I don't know how the government thinks that it can rule when it creates a situation like this. Now I don't think that it's a good idea for there to be violent unrest in Pakistan. I don't think that it's gonna be useful. I don't think it's gonna be productive.

I don't think it's going to get a result that you want. I don't think it's gonna result in justice. However, it's the absolutely predictable result of, abducting Imran Khan. It was the absolutely predictable result of overthrowing Imran Khan. But the intelligence services and the military in Pakistan, frankly, are deeply nestled under the armpit of The United States.

Let's be honest. Let's be frank. And they have no problem in showing their complete contempt and disdain for the population. Now this to me could be. It's almost impossible for it to be, but it could be an opportunity to highlight, to put a focus on what has been an ongoing problem in the way we in the Muslim world deal with autocratic authoritarian rulers who have contempt for the population.

There's a problem with the way that we have always dealt with that. And I think that I really think that the key is something that I've mentioned before, which is that the ruler, the government, those who are in charge are put there or installed there, whether it's a democratic system, whether it's a monarchy, whether it's any kind of system, whether it's the an emirate like in the Khaleid or what what have you. The ruler of the government, the is put in power by the of the society. So your issue is always going to be who are the Are they people who care about our country? Are they people who care about our people?

Are they people who are they people who have a stake in the overall prosperity, the overall peace and tranquility and security and stability of our country or not? And if the are people who do not have an interest in those things, do not have a stake in those things, or who are in fact not even from your country, then there's not a way to resolve this problem. The way that we have always addressed these kinds of things is through some sort of popular resistance, some sort of popular uprising, the population against the government, as if these are the only two players involved. They're removed from the calculation, and I think that's a mistake. You have to identify who in Pakistan is the Al Al Harwalab.

It's the military. It's the intelligence. It's the rich industrialists who are basically like feudal masters, and who have allegiances outside of Pakistan, and who don't have interest necessarily in the stability and security and peace and tranquility of the country or the prosperity of the population. This is a problem. And unless and until that problem is resolved, unless and until you can change the configuration of who is the you will continue to have these kinds of problems, not just in Pakistan, in any country.

It's not even only in the Muslim countries because the principle of the, like I said, this applies across the board in societies just because of the reality of the fact that in any society, there will always be people who have more influence than others. And the people who have more influence than others will always be the ones who determine who the rulers will be. So we have to work on a strategy and tactics for changing the configuration of the or figuring out how we can put pressure on the Al Al Harwal Akt to make them responsive to what is in the interest of the population. Making the Al Al Harwal Akt accountable for the decisions that they make with regards to who they put in power. Don't make it between the government and the people because you're missing the key factor there.

The key factor is that segment of the population that is beyond the pale of government. They're in the private sector or they're in the so called deep state. But even the ones who are in the deep state are pursuing interests or are serving the interests of those in the private sector. I wish that there was a way for us to deal with these problems calmly, but when something like this happens, obviously, it's it's unrealistic to expect the people of Pakistan to not be emotional, to not be outraged, to not be enraged, and to not rise up. So, I mean, it remains to be seen how long, public outrage will go on and how serious it will get.

But you've got a lot of guns in Pakistan and a lot of people who are not afraid to use them. I don't see how this doesn't escalate. I don't see how this gets resolved. As long as Imran Khan is alive, he will be a disruptive factor in Pakistan. So there's no doubt that his enemies and the enemies of Pakistan would like very much to see him dead.

So there's grave concerns about his safety while he's on in custody. Grave concerns about his safety. And we'll see if if the if the international community has anything to say about that. If anyone in the international community expresses concern, any of the so called human rights organizations of the West, let's see if any of them have anything to say regarding the obvious threats and risk to the life of Imran Khan while he's in Pakistan, custody. From their point of view, they don't have an option.

They can't let him out because he's too popular, and disruptive. His popularity is dangerous for the interests of the Ahlul Halwal Akht in Pakistan because unfortunately, the Ahlul Halwal Akht in Pakistan do not have a stake in what's in the best interests of the people of Pakistan. So again, I say, unless and until that can get resolved, I don't see a solution. We pray for the people of Pakistan. We pray for Imran Khan that he'll be safe, and may Allah grant him a freedom immediately.