Thread by @Natsecjeff

Pakistan's populist demagogue @ImranKhanPTI said that if his demands for an election weren't met, the country would witness mass protests & chaos along the lines of #IranProtests2022.

This attempt to gain relevance & international attention is deceitful and inaccurate.

Thread:

The ongoing people's revolution against Iran's Islamic regime was catalyzed by the murder of Mahsa Amini at the hands of the regime's morality police. The youth of Iran, young women and men, are protesting in the streets of Iran, demanding justice and regime change, not reforms.

Worth noting here that Iran's mullah regime is a designated world's top state sponsor of terrorism. It is a criminal enterprise that has worked via its various proxies to not only destabilize the Middle East but its narco-terror networks operate from Pakistan to Latin America.

In stark contrast to #IranProtests2022, Imran Khan's #HaqeeqiAzadi #LongMarch is a cynical political ploy to pressure #Pakistan's military establishment, with the goal of forcibly removing incumbent federal govt & restoring Khan to "power" as face of a new hybrid fascist regime.

Many Pakistanis, esp. those who unquestioningly support Imran Khan, fail to realize that he is also part of the status quo. Many have also conveniently forgotten PTI's all-round incompetence from 2018 up to March 2022. In fact, PTI works best only as opposition political force.

A more accurate perspective would be to view Imran Khan more as Ahmedinejad or Raisi type of figure, because "supreme leadership" of Pakistan remains vested with the army chief. While Khan claims to have severed his umbilical cord, it's obvious he can be pacified with PM seat.

#IranProtests2022 are an indigenous, popular, youth-led, grassroots movement in reaction to the decades of oppression and control imposed by the Islamic Republic of Iran. It is a cross-sectional demand for regime change, which the mullah regime has been unable to quell.

Compare popular sentiment in Iran to public apathy in Pakistan: Pakistanis are bitterly divided along political, ideological, ethnic, linguistic & identity lines. No national cohesion, no common denominator. The Iranian youth's common denominator is: death to the entire regime.

The youth of Iran are protesting against the regime because, as Imran Khan frequently quotes from Islamic history, a regime of disbelief can function but a regime of oppression can never survive. Imran Khan was a proponent of oppression until it started happening to his people.

Imran Khan's 4 year tenure as PM saw many journalists/dissidents arrested, attacked & forcibly disappeared (including myself): but Khan claimed he wasn't responsible because he didn't know. Khan's gripe with establishment is a power game, not about civil supremacy or human rights

It is frankly repulsive that a right-wing Islamist ideologue like Imran Khan would make such a poor attempt to exploit the popular revolt against the Islamic Republic of Iran, just to try enhancing his own self-styled position as a "populist revolutionary" in Pakistan.

The youth of Iran are bravely fighting forces of armed oppression on daily basis to remove the undemocratic Islamic regime. Imran Khan's entire narrative is he was ousted in a regime change conspiracy which should be undone. He will always twist facts to suit his interpretation.

If Pakistan really was "awake" and conscientious as its people claim to be, youth of Pakistan would've been protesting the rise of militancy in KP province, or rampant DV-murder cases which expose how safe the country really is for women. But even #LongMarch sleeps every night!

Youth of Pakistan is mostly satisfied with over-simplistic answers, conspiracy theories & whataboutisms. Pakistanis always blame everyone else for making their lives worse, and similarly want someone else to fix things. They await a messiah. There's either indifference or excuses

Meanwhile youth of #Iran isn't waiting for US support to fight a hardline regime, a state sponsor of terror known for brutally repressing demonstrations over past decades. They demand justice for Mahsa Amini, and freedoms; they don't whine about facing riot control on 25th May.

Young Iranians leading #IranProtests2022 in their streets already know Imran Khan is viewed favorably by Iran's mullah regime. They will most likely not care about a Pakistani Islamist demagogue using their movement for his politics. Iran wants freedom from shackles of Islamism.

So, I think it's a travesty that Khan would compare his own movement for a simple power grab in connivance with his supporters in the establishment with the youth-led grassroots anti-mullah regime movement in Iran. It only shows that he can and will say anything to sell his BS.

THE END