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Bani Gala

An Experiment Gone Wrong

Former prime minister and PTI chairman Imran Khan has not only been undermining the country’s democracy for years now, he’s been provoking the army and then went as far as calling for mutiny and sedition.

By Meriam Sabih | September 2023

The Prime Minister of Pakistan, Shehbaz Sharif, has stated that he will soon hand over the reins of power to a caretaker government in August. On August 12th, the tenure of the current Parliament will have completed its five years in office. After which a caretaker government takes over and preparations will be made for general elections to take place in October. If for some reason the parliament is dissolved prior to the completion of its term on August 12, then the elections can take place latest by November. This is good news for those who wanted general elections in Pakistan. But what will those elections look like?

In the aftermath of violent protests that took place on May 9th, in which mobs of PTI supporters stormed public and army installations and set fire to the Corps Commander’s house in Lahore, much has changed. On that day, PTI leadership was seen in recorded messages and tweets encouraging supporters to head towards army installations. Their leadership has been rallying to “steal azaadi” or freedom, and threatening that the arrest of PTI chairman Imran Khan amounted to crossing the “red line” all while throwing the institutions of the country under the bus. A prior attempt to arrest Khan was met with mob violence also, as scores of his supporters camped outside of his home and threw a kind of a crude bomb called Molotov cocktails at police. His arrest was threatened by his party members to be a “red line” never to dare be crossed, no matter what the accusation.

What made some of Imran Khan’s supporters dare to ransack military installations and even steal peacocks and other items justifying their own theft by claiming the peacocks were bought with the money of the people of Pakistan? Within the PTI such allegations are thrown around with no need of evidence and in a matter of fact way their leader labels all those who are not part of his party with a broad stroke as all being “thieves.” Whatever accusation their leader makes, his supporters believe, surprisingly even when the story is changed completely the next day.

The crime, according to him, which took place was that he was replaced by the Opposition in a ‘no confidence’ vote in the Parliament. And he refused to accept the results calling it an international conspiracy against him that was concocted in America. How did a suggestion or warning become a conspiracy? Before he could get to the bottom of it, he took back his words and realized it was actually Pakistan’s powerful Establishment which concocted this conspiracy. While he talks repeatedly about the powerful not being above the law in this justice-driven society he wants to create (but apparently failed to create in his years in office), he offers no acceptable alternative scenario in which he is not still holding onto power. If he and his parliamentarians were elected by the people, so were the other opposition parliamentarians elected in that same election.


It’s hard to say what is the future of PTI, or a more pertinent question, who is the future of PTI? Will Imran Khan remain its top leader? Or will he soon be in jail for the part he played in inciting violence and calling for the interference of the army in politics, even calling for mutiny? Imran Khan is facing over 180 legal cases, including charges of terrorism, incitement to violence, and corruption. If he is charged before elections, he will not be able to run. Another possibility is that he can be disqualified as the party head of the PTI.

The Establishment has in the past tried to break up political parties such as the PPP and the PML-N. But the plan rarely ever worked.

While much is unknown about the political fate of the PTI chairman, what we do know is that it’s not looking great. Defectors of his party have criticized him openly and formed new political parties. Imran Khan says they have been blackmailed by the Establishment in doing so. Nonetheless, Pervez Khattak, who is former defense minister, is the latest to start his own party. He claims that 57 other PTI leaders have joined him. The party will be called “Tehreek-e-Insaf Parliamentarians.” Former members of PTI Jahangir Tareen and Aleem Khan, who had been discharged for corruption, also formed a new party called the Istehkam-e-Pakistan (IPP).

These tactics have been used in the past to try to weaken certain political parties. In fact, all the tactics Imran Khan says are “unprecedented” have both precedence and prevalence in Pakistani politics. Similar attempts have been made in the past to divide political parties by pressurizing leaders. Yet attempts of dividing the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) or the Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N) were not successful as their voters and leaders remained steadfast and loyal amidst political victimization and even martial law. Their party leaders stood by their principles and proved their cases in court rather than make bargains or get blackmailed.

Benazir Shah, a Lahore-based analyst, recently told Al Jazeera, “The Establishment has in the past tried to break up political parties such as the PPP and the PML-N. But the plan rarely ever worked. These political parties proved to be resilient due to a loyal party base, which was willing to endure long jail terms and court cases for the leadership.”

Why was it deemed dangerous when former U.S. President Donald Trump spoke of unsubstantiated election fraud? It was because he is placing doubts and undermining the essence of democracy. Imran Khan has not only been undermining the country’s democracy for years now, he’s been provoking the army and then went as far as calling for mutiny and sedition. Everyday a new story unfolds in his YouTube speeches with the Pakistani flag and his PTI flag behind him, as if he were still in power. When the Establishment had said they wouldn’t intervene, Imran Khan began a vengeful attack saying that only “animals” are neutral.

Some have called Khan an experiment gone awfully wrong. As it’s no secret he was favored by the Establishment. Imran Khan and his supporters continue to ask for talks with the military. Does this not further weaken the democracy of Pakistan and had it not been better he worked with those in power in Parliament and found solutions through democratic debate rather than steer agitation? He could also have presented his evidence in court of the wrongdoing of any parliamentarians who took part in any ‘conspiracy’ against him? After all it was his own party members who defected and voted against him. Some of his supporters even openly asked for military dictatorship which would be detrimental to Pakistan itself and its standing internationally and the military itself clearly said they would not intervene.

If all goes as planned, though that hardly ever happens in Pakistan, and free and fair elections take place in the fall, it will soon be determined by the people of Pakistan where the PTI will stand.

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