IMRAN KHAN VS PAKISTAN ARMY , Who Will Win? 




 "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?

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.

"Sir, we told you not to arrest Imran Khan."


It is said that this amount of instability in Pakistan was not seen in the last few decades.
It is being termed the biggest crisis in Pakistan since 1971.



Last year, in April 2022, when former prime minister Imran Khan's government fell, when he lost the no-confidence vote in the Parliament. Since then former prime minister Imran Khan has been involved in a series of legal cases. Cases of corruption, murder and even terrorism. Khan and other party members of his political party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has been accused of about 140 crimes. 34 of these cases are against former prime minister Imran Khan.


We know this from some documents that were accessed by Foreign American News Publication. Now, the arrest of former prime minister Imran Khan on 9th May was specifically done on corruption charges. These investigations were commanded by Pakistan's NAB, i.e. National Accountability Bureau.

So what was this corruption case exactly?


This case was linked 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 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. 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 other case. And then, the NAB arrested him using paramilitary forces. The scenes of this arrest were very scary. The way Imran Khan is being escorted and the sheer number of officers around him.


NAB claimed that it was necessary to arrest him because despite giving notices, former prime minister Imran Khan was not appearing in front of them. The former attorney of the NAB, Imran Shafique, says, although NAB has the authority to arrest someone in case of repeated absence, the case against former prime minister Imran Khan is very weak.


According to the revised amendment, NAB has to complete its inquiry first. And the report has to be shared with the accused.


Additionally, there is another case in which former PM Imran Khan is badly entangled. In October 2022, a court in Pakistan ruled that former PM 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 amount, the receiver can keep the gifts with him but the expensive gifts have to be sent to Toshakhana.


The major accusation was , Imran Khan was given a very expensive wrist watch and Imran Khan misled officials regarding this and sold it at very exorbitant price in the market.


In this case, he found respite later on when the court said he would still be allowed to contest the elections. But after Imran Khan was arrested in the Al-Qadir case, in the Toshakhana case too, Khan 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.


In Lahore, many protesters gathered outside Imran Khan's house. There were road blocks, tires were set on fire, police used water cannons and in numerous cases, tear gas was also used.



Pakistan's current PM Shahbaz Sharif warned that violent protests will not be tolerated. 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 almost all over the country.
Because of this many common people had to incur losses.


Now, the thing is, this political catastrophe is not the only crisis that Pakistan is facing. In fact, there is a disastrous economic crisis in Pakistan. Currently, inflation is at a record high.
Inflation has reached up to 37.97%. With inflation this high, it is expected that the IMF will have to bail out Pakistan.


The third problem is the numerous terrorist 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 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 Pakistani army is trying to k*ll me. Khan 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 former PM Imran Khan stood firmly on his point He kept repeating the same claim.


Before being arrested, on 9th May, Imran Khan said in a video message "ISPR sir, when an institution took 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."

An interesting point here is that in 2018, when 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 has a heavy influence on business. "They are Pakistan's largest military and largest corporation as well. Industrial Corporation. "If you want cement, utilize 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 and they found a new face
in Imran Khan. That's the reason why during the first few years as the PM, Imran Khan passed many pro-military policies. Many military generals were given important positions 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 facing trials.


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 former prime minister Imran Khan has been openly against the military and the assassination attempt on him, he has been directly accusing 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 exerts.

In Pakistan, the history of military dictatorships has been so long that it was only in 1970 that the first general elections took place in Pakistan. Compare this to India. Both countries got independence in the same year 1947 but India's first general election took place in 1951.
It took Pakistan almost 20 years longer to conduct elections. So, in this context, India has a golden democratic history in this regard. India had peaceful transfers of power from one Prime Minister to the next.

It is said 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 and may 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 former prime minister 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 then they decide to establish military dictatorship.

So far, there has 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 taking place in Pakistan today, it can not be denied, it's 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 reason for his popularity is, he had won the world cup for Pakistan when he was a cricket player. Till now, Pakistan has won the cricket World Cup only one back when Imran Khan was a cricketer and he built a cancer hospital after his late mother's name Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital.

This is why it is said that if a military coup is tried 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. In an inteeview Khan said,

"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 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 PTI) 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 Imran Khan's arrest as illegal and so Khan 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 is going to happen next.