Lukashenka Is About To Be 'Betrayed'

There are three pieces of evidence for this.

After the visit of the ruler to Pakistan on November 25-27, the state propaganda trumpets the great prospects for the development of economic relations with this state. Salidarnasc lists the reasons why this is unlikely to happen.

Pakistan is experiencing acute economic and political crises

Lukashenka's desire to demonstrate that he is "handshaked" at least somewhere is understandable. But he chose an extremely unfortunate time for a visit to Pakistan.

In recent years, the economic situation in this country has been rapidly deteriorating, about 40% of the population is below the poverty line, the state is heavily dependent on foreign loans. The current Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif openly called Pakistan a "country of beggars" a few years ago.

This country has consolidated its status as the largest borrower of the IMF in the Asian region. Last year, Pakistan was given another $3 billion to support the economy before the parliamentary elections.

But this did not bring political stability. Nawaz Sharif, who returned to the country after his exile, counted on the victory of his party, but a significant number of votes were won by supporters of former Prime Minister Imran Khan. They accused the authorities of falsifying the election results, and protests broke out.

The authorities had to create a coalition government, and instead of Nawaz Sharif (as planned), his younger brother Shehbaz became prime minister. They hold power thanks to the support of the military, which actually controls the political life of Pakistan.

Lukashenka flew to Pakistan just during a new wave of protests: supporters went to the country's capital Islamabad with a demand to release the former prime minister from prison. Security forces blocked the entrances to the city, clashes occurred – the number of deaths is unknown.

It is unclear what Pakistan can give to Belarus in such a situation.

Lukashenka's partners are corrupt officials

The ruler of Belarus held talks not only with Shahbaz Sharif, but also met with his more influential brother Nawaz. Their names became well known in the world after the publication of the Panama Papers in 2015: the brothers owned numerous offshore companies through relatives.

The scandal led not only to the shameful resignation of Nawaz Sharif from the post of Prime Minister, but also to his sentence to 10 years in prison. However, the politician and millionaire lived in London for several years, having achieved bail in his homeland due to health problems.

In 2023, the political situation changed dramatically: Nawaz Sharif was able to return to Pakistan, and his rival Imran Khan was sentenced to prison.

In any case, until the Sharif clan sees personal benefits in cooperation with Belarus, it is not worth counting on the development of relations.

It should be added that Lukashenka also held talks with the commander of the Pakistani army, Asim Munir. Most recently, Pakistan extended the terms of senior military officials, including Munir. The network writes about the "end of democracy" and the "iron grip" of the security forces. The military directly ruled Pakistan for almost half of its history.

Lukashenka's words testify: he admits that the promises of the Pakistani authorities will remain promises

Despite all the beautiful words spoken by both sides, it can be concluded from the statements of the ruler of Belarus: he admits the likelihood that the Pakistani authorities will "betray" him again.

This was already the case in the mid-2010s under the premiership of Nawaz Sharif – grandiose promises to establish trade ended in nothing (trade turnover is only about $50-60 million per year).

This time Lukashenka tried to make Shekhbaz Sharif uncomfortable to ignore the agreements.

– And Shahbaz says: our specialists are ready to be in Minsk in two weeks in order to see and clarify some agreements and contracts. And in February, he is ready to come to us, and we will already sign the relevant agreements and contracts in the development of our current intentions. A good plan, "Lukashenka publicly revealed the details of Lukashenko's communication, adding that" we definitely need to monetize our political relations. "

But from the outside, the attempt to establish cooperation with a distant impoverished country under the control of corrupt officials and the military looks very frivolous.

Mark Dziuba, Salidarnasc

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