The victim card 

Pakistan’s long sought agreement with the IMF is expected to be finalized soon, according to top officials. But earlier, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, frustrated by the delay in concluding the bailout deal, resorted to a long familiar tactic. He held “geopolitics” responsible for the delay. In other words, he implied a conspiracy to deny Pakistan access to the much-needed Fund program, warranted by the country’s deepest ever economic crisis. In March, he even attributed the delay in securing the deal to ‘pressure on Pakistan’s missile program.’ 

In his remarks on “geopolitics” the finance minister was of course treading a well-worn path of political leaders deploying a victim narrative to explain a setback. Never mind that the government, after crying conspiracy, went ahead with several policy actions, including additional taxes, expenditure cuts and rise in interest rates, to meet IMF conditions in order to clinch the deal. This however only laid bare the hollowness of the claim that geopolitical, rather than economic factors, were obstructing the agreement. 

It was only the latest example of the habit of those in power to explain adverse developments by conspiracist claims. Last year, opposition leader Imran Khan famously accused the US, without a shred of evidence, of conspiring to remove him from power. This was played out in the so-called ‘cypher’ drama which dominated headlines for months. Khan was to later shift his position. But he never gave up talking about a ‘foreign conspiracy’ while his party leaders continued to call Shahbaz Sharif’s ruling coalition an “imported government.”

Stagecraft can hardly be a substitute for statecraft.

- Maleeha Lodhi

In fact, the narrative of victimhood is frequently used by political leaders on diverse issues which range from the country’s economic difficulties, downturn in relations with key countries, diplomatic setbacks to dealings with international financial institutions and other multilateral bodies. Unfortunately, this is also reflected in assertions sometimes made by managers of the country’s foreign policy. Officials constantly bemoan how unfairly Pakistan is treated – as if saying that will influence the world or put the country or multilateral institution in question on the defensive. 

This is often accompanied by an inordinate focus on the past, and recount of the history of being wronged. This is especially the case with official characterization or recall of Pakistan’s admittedly mercurial relations with the US and history of mistrust. Defense minister Khawaja Asif’s speech in Parliament last week is the latest case in point in which he harped on the theme of how poorly Pakistan had been treated and suffered for being an ‘ally of the US.’ 

This has made whining an unseemly aspect of official explanations and assertions. But a whining tone only reflects helplessness and frustration. It also conveys an impression of being stuck in the past and bereft of anything substantive to say about the future. Far from invoking sympathy, this narrative is tiresome for others and only exposes the country’s vulnerabilities especially to its detractors. 

The victim narrative is self-denigrating as well as disempowering. It does nothing for national self-confidence and instead corrodes self-esteem and holds up the country as a weak and powerless target of malign actions by outsiders. If everything is someone else’s fault it also takes away the incentive to solve our own problems. In fact, the resort to conspiracy theories conveniently frees government officials from any responsibility or accountability and also from having to do anything to remedy the issue at hand. 

Moreover, constantly referring to conspiracies by outsiders builds an image of the country as having a siege mentality and does nothing to address whatever problem is being attributed to the conspiracy. It also trivializes the real threats Pakistan faces and shifts focus away from them. Sinister moves by the country’s prime adversary are a reality but they have to be assessed and responded to with sobriety and seriousness, away from the glare of publicity. Talking about them won’t make them go away. 

It can be argued that conspiracy beliefs and victimhood, which go together, are deeply embedded in societal attitudes and prevail across the world for reasons too complex to discuss here. They include social and political factors, perceptions of powerlessness, anxiety fed by an atmosphere of uncertainty and historical experience. That accounts for the general public’s readiness to buy conspiracy theories. Social media also fuels and amplifies these as there are no fact-checks; disinformation and anything unproven can go viral simply because it is sensational. Political leaders in and out of government play off that reality. But in so doing they further reinforce such attitudes, encourage a victim mentality and a culture of blaming others. 

And on issues where they know better, they mislead people by invoking conspiracy as an expedient digression from owning up to their own responsibility. But leadership should be about guiding and shaping public attitudes not leveraging societal prejudices and irrational fears for political benefit. Stagecraft can hardly be a substitute for statecraft. 

- Maleeha Lodhi is a former Pakistani ambassador to the US, UK & UN. Twitter @LodhiMaleeha