New Delhi: From best friends to frenemies to cold-blooded enemies, Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s relationship with former Army Chief Gen (Retd) Qamar Javed Bajwa has run the gamut of emotions. The twists and turns are fodder for gossip, but the drama comes as no surprise given Imran Khan’s ability to switch sides with ease.
Zarrar Khuhro in conversation with fellow Pakistani journalist Shahzeb Jillani called Khan the political equivalent of a non-stick frying pan. “Those things are great,” he said, to which Jillani replied, “Nothing sticks to it.” Both journalists are co-hosts of a show named ‘Zara Hat Kay’ on Dawn’s YouTube channel.
They describe the fraught relationship between the two leaders as ‘the nastiest breakup in all of human history.’ They say it has a lesson for future politicians and military leaders—to understand that at the end of it all, the country suffers.
The great falling out
There was a time when the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader was Bajwa’s most ardent defender. In October 2020, when Pakistani Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Nawaz Sharif attacked Khan’s government and the military, Khan accused him of “playing India’s game.”
“Now he [Sharif] has gone [to the United Kingdom] and is playing India’s game. He is attacking Pakistan sitting over there. He is 100 per cent getting backing [from India], he is a coward and without that, he could not be doing anything,” he said.
After completing a year in office as prime minister, Khan granted Bajwa an extension of three years in August 2019 “in view of the regional security environment.”
Hamid Mir, journalist and writer, in a column for ThePrint, recalled that Khan had criticised then PM Yousaf Raza Gilani when he granted General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani a similar extension in 2010. He had said, “If you want to make Pakistan strong, you must make its institutions strong and institutions can only become strong when you don’t give preference to individuals over institutions.”
According to Mir, the consensus was that Khan could not survive without Bajwa. “I became Prime Minister because like me, General Bajwa also believes in Naya Pakistan,” Mir quoted an interview given by Khan.
But the friendship was not meant to last. The relationship between the two began to deteriorate, and things began to fall apart when Khan was ousted from power in April.
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Betrayal, attacks & murder
After Bajwa retired in November 2022, Khan in an interview with a local TV channel, said that he regretted putting his trust in him and for thinking that they shared a common goal to “to save the country.” Calling his decision a “big mistake,” Khan accused Bajwa of playing a “double game” against his government.
Later in an address to the nation from his Lahore residence, Khan accused Bajwa of favouring members of the Shehbaz Sharif-led government, especially members of the Sharif family. “What Gen Bajwa did to Pakistan, even an enemy could not have done so,” he said.
The accusations and attacks continued into the new year as well. In January 2023, Khan alleged that the Bajwa wanted him dead when he was the PM, with the ultimate goal of imposing a state of emergency in Pakistan.
Critics are growing tired of keeping up with Imran Khan’s changing colours. In the show ‘Zara Hat Kay,’Jillani and Khuhro pose a pertinent question: When will Imran Khan evolve?
The journalists cited his most recent U-turn—a broader geopolitical instance—when Khan decided to mend his ties with the US after repeatedly accusing Washington of toppling his government.
(Edited by Ratan Priya)