Conspiracy spiral

Whether it is the echo chamber created by yes men around him In Bani Gala and Zaman Park, it is clear that former prime minister Imran Khan is devolving. Gone are the days of “35 punctures”, when he was only throwing around false accusations of rigging. Gone are the days of “American conspiracy”, when he was only throwing around false accusations of treason. Now, the former prime minister is directly accusing a political rival of being behind an assassination conspiracy, and of course, this claim is also sans evidence.

The latest allegations came after PDM members accused Imran and the PTI of refusing to cooperate with the investigation into the November attack. Some of Imran’s opponents claim the PTI chief has been exaggerating the extent of his own injuries. Imran, on the other hand, had his own controversial investigation, whose findings are being ignored by Islamabad.

We must note that Imran also accused several political leaders and army officers — without evidence — of masterminding the November attack within hours of the incident occurring, but many observers were willing to ignore those claims because they fell into a previously established pattern of falsehoods. Much like the boy who cried wolf, even if Imran was telling the truth this time, nobody would believe him, because his long history of peddling falsehoods has melted away at the decades of goodwill he had developed as a national hero.

We believe that if Imran actually has evidence, he should present it to the authorities. If he honestly believes the authorities are not trustworthy, he can still share it with the media, and if he thinks the local media is controlled by his enemies, he can share it with foreign media. Of course, that would mean ensuring that his ‘evidence’ can withstand the scrutiny of a British court.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 31^st, 2023.

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