Pakistani opposition leader says ‘sweets would be shared’ after a military coup

All of you standing out there, tell me, if the military came [to power] in Pakistan, what would happen?" Imran Khan bellowed from a podium. He is Pakistan's main opposition leader and a former champion cricketer. Prone to provocative, even careless statements, he found his rhythm on stage while talking about this weekend's coup attempt in Turkey.

"Sweets would be shared! People would be made happy! People would celebrate!" he answered on behalf of the crowd.

Khan was once seen as a beacon of hope in the swamp of Pakistan's coup-ridden politics. He won the second-most number of votes in a national election in 2013, and his party, the Movement for Justice, controls one of the country's provinces. But support has waned as his populist rhetoric has failed to translate into real change.

That said, his auguring about grass-roots support for a coup in Pakistan isn't totally batty. Last week, posters sprang up all over the country bearing images of Pakistan's military chief, Gen. Raheel Sharif, next to the words "For God's sake, take over!" It is highly unlikely that the military has anything to do with the posters, but in a country where calling for a coup can be prosecuted with treason charges, it is a bold move by whoever did it.

Posters begging Pakistan's powerful army chief to launch a coup appeared last week in major cities, including the capital, Islamabad. (A Majeed/AFP via Getty Images)

Pakistan is no stranger to coups. Between 1958 and 1971, and between 1977 and 1988, and then again between 1999 and 2008, the country came under military rule after coups. The most recent one bloodlessly deposed Nawaz Sharif (not related to the army general), but now he is back in power.

Khan's calling for a coup, and the posters across the country, probably are less indicative of a desire for a military takeover than anger toward Nawaz Sharif. Sharif is widely seen as corrupt, though he manages to stay in power through the patronage of vote blocs. The Panama Papersrevealed that three of Sharif's children owned shell companies through which they had purchased expensive residences. Khan has said he will hire investigators to reveal the Sharif family's dealings.

Generally speaking, coups take place when the army is being prevented from doing what it wants. That is not the case in Pakistan, where the military wields a great deal of power.

But Nawaz Sharif has a couple of things going against him. For one, he supports a path toward peace with India, of which the military is hesitant at best and actively opposed to at worst. He also recently appointed a defense minister who is outspoken against military interference in public affairs. Lastly, his health is ailing, he rules with an air of indifference, and public opinion about him is souring, all of which leave the country prone to additional instability when the military is already overburdened in its fight against the Islamist extremists.

Khan's speech lacked any nuance, though. It was clear he was attempting to rouse his followers against Sharif, rather than incite a coup. And he took them for fools.

From the stage, he said that Sharif was a "looter" like Moammar Gaddafi and Saddam Hussein, and that Pakistanis need to save their democracy, just like the people of Turkey tried to. Gaddafi and Hussein were looters, yes, but military rulers, too, and Turkey's coup attempt was partly prevented by thousands of civilians and all political parties coming together to, if anything, save democracy from a coup, not through it.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2016/07/18/pakistani-opposition-leader-says-sweets-would-be-shared-after-a-military-coup/