Prime Minister Imran Khan's facilitated 'creeping coup' is becoming more apparent in the International eye as the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf-led federal government "readily suppresses" anti-government and anti-military dissent, as reported by Asia Times.
In an article titled 'The military seeds of Pakistan's discontent', written by Salman Rafi Sheikh, mentioned that a 'creeping coup' has allowed Pakistan's military to control and manipulate government "without firing a shot or rolling a tank."
"Khan's facilitated "creeping coup" is becoming increasingly more apparent in the international eye...Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf-led regime often and readily suppresses anti-government and anti-military dissent, acting similar to previous repressive military dictatorships under the guise of democracy, Sheikh wrote.
The author further wrote that the former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, now Pakistan Muslim Leauge-Nawaz supremo, who was ousted in 2017 through the disqualification verdict by the Supreme Court on the grounds of corruption claimed that an "alien force" was behind the verdict.
The Pakistan Democratic Movement -- a coalition of 11 opposition parties -- is "now angling to knock" the PTI government from power, is a direct response to what they see as Khan's "hybrid martial law" regime.
The author further said that Pakistani history shows that electoral democracy usually lasts about a decade before the military seizes control again.
"Enter, instead, the "creeping coup." Without firing a shot or rolling a tank, the Pakistan Army and the wider security establishment now overtly or de facto run key ministries and departments, giving security forces power over the nation's day-to-day administration," it read further.
Sheikh said further that Pakistan's Army, coup-prone and institutionally bound to act as the nation's "guardian", has re-established its political clout through appointments to civilian bureaucratic posts, re-cementing its previous day-to-day administration of the country.
"It's a phenomenon opposition critics now agitating on the nation's streets refer to as a "creeping coup", one that sportsman-turned-politician has willingly facilitated in exchange for the trappings of elected power," it added further.
The Imran Khan government has been facing immense backlash from the 11-party opposition alliance, where members of the Opposition have labelled him as "worse than COVID-19".
According to a Geo News report, Pakistani Muslim League (PML-N) Vice President Maryam Nawaz in her address at Minar-i-Pakistan on Sunday urged supporters to answer the call for a march to Islamabad, while Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari formally announced that PDM is now headed to the capital.
Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) chairperson Bilawal Bhutto Zardari had slammed the Imran Khan government during the sixth Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) rally, saying that the country is suffering because of the "fake, incompetent and illegitimate government."
