NEW DELHI: On Thursday, February 8, Pakistanis did cast their ballots for a new National Assembly. The country’s potent military was widely believed to have put its big fingers on the political scales in order to enhance its preferred candidate, former cricket star Imran Khan, during the last vote, which took place in the summer of 2018.
Past three-time prime minister Nawaz Sharif, Khan’s primary enemy, had been removed from office and imprisoned for corruption.
Not much has altered. Except that Khan was imprisoned for alleged bone and removed from office in 2022 this time. He still has to deal with lots of new legal charges, each of which has wildly different significance and trust.
While his reputation as a “prisoner not.” In Attock prison, 804″ had already barred him from running, so last month, as if to lock and triple-lock his mobile, he was found guilty in three additional cases: one for corruption, one of leaking state secrets, and one in marrying his second wife in an “un-Islamic” way.
The supporters of Khan are understandably incensed by what they perceive as a coordinated effort by the military, court, and political opposition to maintain their fiery leader out of office. They find it more difficult to understand that, two decades after he began a political career known primarily for profound anti-Americanism and repeated political failure, it was the judiciary and the defense that initially propelled him into office.
Sharif, whose nephew Shehbaz held the position of prime minister for 16 months prior to Khan’s removal and the establishment of a pre-election caretaker government, is nevertheless hoping to run for office again. If the commanders are in fact on his side, promise has somewhat triumphed over experience. All of Sharif’s past term as prime minister ended with the martial ousting him, once through a coup d’etat.