Who runs the show in Pakistan?

We are publishing another piece by Bilal Qureshi authored for PTH. We are publishing it with the disclaimer that the views expressed are those of the author’s. PTH Admn

I have been studying, talking about, discussing, speaking about and writing about Pakistani politics for about 20 years and I have to admit that I still don’t have a clue about who runs the show in Pakistan. However, now, I have started to understand why almost every Pakistani is obsessed with the role of intelligence agencies in Pakistan’s politics.
For example, after 17 years, Brigadier (Retd) Imtiaz has told a television channel that the army chief, the intelligence wing of the Pakistan army and other people in uniform had conspired (not sure how else to describe it) against Mutihada Quami Movement (MQM) and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) in the past. Specifically, the charges against MQM were that MQM is interested in carving out a new county for itself, Junah Pur with the help of India. And against PPP, the army gave millions of rupees to all other parties to stop PPP from first coming into power and when despite all the hurdles, PPP was able to form the government, to topple Benazir Bhutto. This statement and these charges have literally opened Pandora’s Box in Pakistan. I have called journalists, people in the government and opposition to find out more about Brig. Imtiaz and almost everyone had awful and extremely negative things to say about him. The overall feedback about Brig. Imtiaz is that he is a dishonest man with a very dark background. His entire life he has been involved in funneling money to political leaders in order to buy their loyalties.