Imran Khan vs Pakistan Army | Who will Win?

Imran khan : "This was planned." "Imran Khan is being put in jail." "The situation is worsening." Imran Khan or the Pakistani army? Who will win at last?

Hello, friends.!

 On 9th May 2023, Pakistan's former Prime Minister Imran Khan was arrested from Islamabad High Court.

 After a few hours, people all over the country take to the streets to protest. These heavy protests turn into riots in some places. There was widespread violence. More than 2,000 people were arrested. Imran Khan openly accused the Pakistani army. And that's why we witnessed some historical scenes during the protests. For the first time, average Pakistani citizens openly start protesting against the military. "We told you not to harass Imran Khan, Sir." "Sir, we told you not to harass Imran Khan." It is said that this level of instability in Pakistan was not seen in the last few decades. It is being called the biggest crisis in Pakistan since 1971. Let's try to understand it in this article. 

Friends, last year, in April 2022, when Imran Khan's government fell, when he lost the no-confidence vote in the Parliament. Since then, Imran Khan has been involved in a series of legal cases. Cases of corruption, murder, and even terrorism. Khan and other members of his political party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) have been accused of about 140 crimes. 34 of these cases are against Imran Khan. We know this from some documents that were accessed by Foreign Policy American News Publication. Now, the arrest of Imran Khan on 9th May was specifically done on corruption charges. These investigations were being led by Pakistan's NAB, i.e. National Accountability Bureau. 

So what was this corruption case exactly? 

 This case was related to Al-Qadir University Trust. This is a non-governmental welfare organization which was set up by Imran Khan and his third wife Bushra Bibi. This trust was formed in 2018 when Imran Khan was the Prime Minister. Even as a Prime Minister, he promoted this trust in official events. This trust runs a university which is devoted to spirituality and Islamic teachings. In June 2022, Imran Khan was accused of buying land worth millions of rupees to build this university from Malik Riaz, a property tycoon. Pakistan's NAB claims that Imran Khan's government had a deal with this property tycoon  which caused Pakistan's government to lose $239 million. This is approximately 70 Billion Pakistani Rupees and ₹20 Billion rupees. This was a quid pro quo arrangement. A favour in exchange for another favour. The same accusations that are often levied against several political-corporate nexus. Now on 9th May, Imran Khan had gone to Islamabad High Court to attend a hearing in some other case. And then, the NAB arrested him using paramilitary forces. The scenes of this arrest were very scary.

 As you can see on the screen. The way Imran Khan is being escorted and the sheer number of officers surrounding him. 

 Imran khan : I am sitting in the high court, they had no justification to arrest me. I have been abducted, I was only shown warrants when taken into jail, this happens in the law of jungle , I was abducted by the army.

 NAB claimed that it was necessary to arrest him because despite giving notices, Imran Khan was not appearing in front of them. The former prosecutor of the NAB, Imran Shafique,

 says that although NAB has the authority to arrest someone in case of repeated absence, the case against Imran Khan is very weak. According to the revised amendment, NAB has to complete its inquiry first. And the report needs to be shared with the accused. 

Additionally, there is another case in which Imran Khan is badly entangled. In October 2022, a court in Pakistan ruled that Imran Khan cannot hold any political office for the next 5 years. He cannot contest in elections. This was in the Toshakhana case. In Pakistan, Toshakhana is basically a treasury of gifts. If the price of a gift is less than a certain value, the receiver can keep the gifts with him but the expensive gifts have to be sent to Toshakhana. The major accusation, in this case, was that Imran Khan was given many expensive gifts and Imran Khan misled officials regarding those gifts and sold them at very exorbitant prices in the market. In this case, he found respite later on when the court said that he would still be allowed to contest the elections. But after he was arrested in the Al-Qadir case, in the Toshakhana case too, he was detained in police custody for 8 days. Because of this, Imran Khan's supporters were out on the streets and heavy protests were seen in Pakistan. Several interesting videos emerged. Like a video where an unaccompanied girl was seen shaking the gates  of the military headquarters in Rawalpindi.

In Lahore, many protesters gathered outside Imran Khan's house. There were roadblocks, tires were set on fire, police used water cannons and in many cases, tear gas was also used. Pakistan's current Prime Minister, Shehbaz Sharif,

 warned that violent protests will not be tolerated. Many Imran Khan supporters set fire to cars and petrol bombs were also thrown at the residence of the current Prime Minister. Pakistan's Army released a statement saying that these days of protests will be remembered as a dark chapter in the history of Pakistan. Talking about international reactions, UK's Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak,

said that this is Pakistan's internal matter. But on the other hand, the opposition leader in the UK, Jeremy Corbyn,

has condemned Imran Khan's arrest. Countries like America and Canada have not taken any side here. They have merely issued travel advisories to their citizens stating that it is not safe to travel to Pakistan. A famous human rights international organization, Amnesty International, has strongly condemned the actions in Pakistan. Especially, blocking the internet. Access to many social media websites has been cut off. And internet restrictions were in place all over the country. Because of this many common people had to incur losses. Now, the thing is, friends, this political crisis is not the only crisis that Pakistan is facing. In fact, there is a devastating economic crisis in Pakistan. Currently, inflation is at a record high. Inflation has reached up to 30%. With inflation this high, it is expected that the International Monetary Fund will have to bail out Pakistan. 

 The third problem is the numerous terrorism attacks in Pakistan. There was a recent attack in Balochistan. Before this, there was an attack on the border of Pakistan-Iran. In January, there was a horrific explosion in a mosque in Pakistan, killing 60 people. The situation is very unstable, but here, let's try to understand things better. The political game between Imran Khan and the Pakistan Army. In November 2022, there was an assassination attempt on Imran Khan. He was participating in a protest march when someone fired a bullet at his feet.

 Imran Khan directly accused the Pakistan military and said that the Pakistani army is trying to k*ll him. He claims that the Major General of ISI, Faisal Naseer, is conspiring with Prime Minister Sharif and Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah to k*ll him. On 7th May, Imran Khan called Faisal Naseer a Dirty Harry. And the media wing of Pakistan's army ISPR, the Inter Services Public Relations, strongly criticized Imran Khan's statements but Imran Khad stood firmly on his point. He kept repeating the same claim. Before being arrested, on 9th May, he said the same thing in a video.

 Imran khan : "ISPR sir, when an institution takes action against its black sheep, it improves its credibility. This man tried to k*ll me twice and whenever there is an investigation, I will prove that he was the man and that he has a gang with him." 

 An interesting point to note here is that in 2018, when Imran Khan won the elections and became the Prime Minister, many people believed that it was with the support of the Pakistani army and military establishment. the army in Pakistan is very powerful. For many decades, the Pakistani army ruled directly over Pakistan. There was a military dictatorship. But even after democracy was adopted and other politicians came to power, it is said that the Pakistan army has indirect control over the government. Pakistan's army not only has heavy control over the country's politics but also exerts a heavy influence on business. 

 Ahmad Waqass Goraya : "They are Pakistan's largest military and largest corporation as well. Industrial Corporation. "If you need cement, use the Army's cement." It was like a funny way to tell people that our military is doing business." 

It is said that the Pakistani military was looking for a new face in 2018. And they found a new face in Imran Khan. This is why during the first few years as the PM, Imran Khan passed many pro-military policies. Many military generals were given important portfolios of the government to control. There was tight control over the media. The opponents of Imran Khan faced heavy crackdowns and many opposition leaders were also put behind bars.  But it is said that with time Imran Khan lost his favourable position with the military when he lost the No Confidence vote last year. Since then Imran Khan has been openly against the military and since the recent assassination attempt on him, he has been directly accusing the Pakistani army saying that they are trying to k*ll him. Actually, it is believed that Pakistan's army does not like it at all when any political leader becomes so popular that he starts overshadowing the military establishment. Whenever Pakistan's former prime ministers tried to take a stand against the army it ended badly for them. Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto

 was hang*d to de*th in 1979 by Pakistan's military dictatorship after a controversial trial. His daughter Benazir Bhutto,

another military dictatorship, put her under house arrest. And within a few weeks after the end of the house arrest, she was assassinated. Nawaz Sharif, when Imran Khan was the Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif was locked up in jail. The reason is said to be military influence. In Pakistan, the history of military dictatorships has been so long that it was only in 1970 that that the first general elections took place in Pakistan. Compare this to India. Both countries got independence in the same year, but India's first general election was in 1951. It took Pakistan almost 20 years longer to conduct elections. So, in this context, India has a golden history in this regard. We had peaceful transfers of power from one Prime Minister to the next.  You can say that Imran Khan's problems with the military started in 2019. General

Asim Munir was the Chief of ISI. It is said that he was investigating corruption allegations against Imran Khan. When Imran Khan shortened his tenure. A new ISI Chief was appointed. But in November 2022, Pakistan's army made General Asim Munir the Chief of Army Staff. The head of the army. Today, this Pakistani establishment is after Imran Khan with its full might. They are trying to suppress, arrest and maybe even k*ll Imran Khan. But it would not be wrong to say that when Imran Khan was the Prime Minister, he had a chance to change the system. He had the chance to reduce the influence of Pakistan's military. To try to set up a new healthy democracy. But he did not do that. 

Now the question arises, what will happen next? Will Pakistan's military establishment, be successful in suppressing Imran Khan, like the other PMs? Or will Imran Khan, his protests, and his supporters be successful in destroying the Pakistani army's power? \

If we look at history, there's always a military coup in Pakistan in such cases. When the military has a hard time dealing with democracy, and they want to be in control of everything, they decide to establish military dictatorship. So far, there have been 4 military coups in Pakistan. In 1953, 1958, 1977, and 1999. Apart from this, there were 3 unsuccessful coup attempts. In 1951, 1980, and 1995. 2008 was the most recent year when Pakistan was under a military dictatorship. And since then, thankfully, democracy has remained strong. The protests that are taking place in Pakistan today, it cannot be denied that this is the first time that the public has shown so much anger against Pakistan's military. Another reason for Imran Khan's unmatched popularity is said to be that the military is, perhaps, not as strong as it was before. Apart from Imran Khan's political career, another major reason for his popularity is that when he was a cricket player, he had won the world cup for Pakistan. Till now, Pakistan has won the cricket World Cup only one back when Imran Khan was a cricketer. This is why it is said that if a military coup is attempted by the Pakistan military, the public response will be even stronger. On the other hand, if there is no military coup, and elections are held, many experts believe that obviously, Imran Khan will win the elections. 

 Imran khan : "Because I knew I was saved. And what about now? I mean, are you scared? Well, I mean, the threat of assassination is probably even more now than before. Because the three people, who I knew were responsible for this, they're still sitting in power. And they're probably more worried now than ever before. Because all indications are that whenever there are elections, my party is going to sweep the elections." 

If this happens, what he does after winning the elections will also be very interesting to watch. But if he doesn't win the elections, or if there's fraud in the elections, or if a military coup is attempted, then for the stability of Pakistan it will spell doom in the coming days. Many people have already started demanding early elections. For now, the elections have been planned for October 2023. If we talk about the recent arrest, Imran Khan finally got relief from the Supreme Court of Pakistan. The Pakistani Supreme Court ruled his arrest as illegal and so he was released on bail on 12th May. After this, for now, the protests have cooled down to a large extent and have turned into celebrations. People are celebrating on the streets. We need to wait and watch what happens next. If you liked the article. plz comment down below . Thank you very much!