Regime change plot and the American NSA

Bolton’s admission of interference in countries is likely to inject fresh life into Khan’s regime change narrative

In retrospect, it has become quite obvious that not enough thought went into the possible fallout of the vote of no confidence (VONC) against Imran Khan. The world had just begun feeling the heat of the Russian invasion of Ukraine but the then opposition parties and facilitators were only interested in forcing Khan out of power. Nor did the primary and secondary drivers of the VONC possibly imagine a former National Security Advisor (NSA) John Bolton would deliver a thunderbolt on the US practice of regime changes abroad.

Bolton’s admission of interference in other countries is likely to inject fresh life into Khan’s regime change narrative. The former advisor delivered startling remarks during an interview with CNN’s anchor Jake Tapper on July 12 after the day’s congressional hearing into the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol:

“Trump was not competent enough to pull off a carefully planned coup d’etat,” he said while later adding, “As somebody who has helped plan coups d’etat — not here but you know other places — it takes a lot of work. And that’s not what he [Trump] did.” Bolton also mentioned the situation in Venezuela during the interview: “It turned out not to be successful. Not that we had all that much to do with it but I saw what it took for an opposition to try and overturn an illegally elected president and they failed.”

This is of course not the first time such a revelation has made headlines, but coming from a former NSA amounts to admitting planning and collusion against unwanted governments abroad. For Bolton, the re-election of the Venezuelan socialist President Nicolas Maduro was illegitimate and he had publicly supported opposition leader Juan Guaido’s call for the military to back his effort to oust the socialist President.

In view of this, why shouldn’t the people of Pakistan believe former PM Imran Khan’s allegation of US interference and the fact that one State Department official, Donald Lu, was driving the effort in collusion with the PDM opposition.

As far as the domestic situation before the VONC is concerned, supply chain disruptions induced by the post-pandemic recession were already battering economies around the world. Pakistan — already short on financial resources, locked in excruciating talks and loaded with callous conditions of IMF — was no exception. But the movers of the VONC cared less for the volatility that their move would usher in.

In the absence of a plan on the looming economic challenges, PDM simply failed to foresee the two critical consequences of their move: One, Pakistan’s political and governance system suddenly lost its credibility. Even old friends like China, Saudi Arabia, UAE and Turkey stepped back from financial dole-outs. Second, almost every one including PTI’s hardcore veterans went wrong on the public response to the ousting of Khan’s government. The outpouring of sympathy for Khan — evident at rallies across Pakistan, including those unusual crowds at pre- and bye-election rallies in regions considered as strongholds of Jehangir Tareen, Khusro Bakhtiar and the always on-sale Makhdooms — was unimaginable for most of Pakistanis.

All the players involved in the VONC are now struck by this double whammy: John Bolton’s admission of regime change plots in other countries, and, the overwhelming crowds at PTI gatherings. The Supreme Court’s detailed ruling released on July 13 also dealt with the regime change issue and found this allegation devoid of substance. One wonders if the Court would have argued the same way had John Bolton made these remarks when the hearing was underway. Bolton’s statement would have provided some context to Khan’s assertions, which he is now likely to play up with greater ferocity.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 21^st, 2022.

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