It’s been one year since Imran Khan was in jail, and his party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), organized a big gathering in the KPK province where his party is running the government to show solidarity with Imran Khan. The gathering was quite large, as many party leaders and supporters came across Pakistan to show their support for Imran Khan.
No doubt this year was the toughest year for Imran Khan, as he went through many challenges, both legal and political, and showed that he has never been a leader like Imran Khan in the whole political landscape in Pakistan who faced such challenges to that extent. If we make an actual count, then we must accept that this is not only a year where Imran Khan faces many challenges because, before his arrest last year, he went through many challenges inside and outside the court, where it was challenging for Khan’s opponent to suppress his voice and the stance that he took regarding civil supremacy in Pakistan.
Although Khan got bailed in many key cases, e.g., the Chiper case, the Toshakhana case, etc., he is still in jail, which raises many serious concerns and makes the common people living in Pakistan think that Iman Khan is in jail due to any legal cases or that there is something else behind this. Well, to find the answer, we have to go through the history of Pakistan.
In Pakistan, power is driven by military establishments, and in the past, if any political leader stood up against these powers, these leaders faced many challenges, either through the court in Pakistan or through direct interference of these powers or so-called establishments in Pakistan. E.g., we have two key examples in this case: Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and Sheikh Mujeeb. Zulifqar Ali Bhutto was sentenced to death by a court in Pakistan, while Sheikh Mujeeb resisted and threw out the political system, which later made a separation from Pakistan in 1971.
Surprisingly, the Pakistani Court recently gave a new decision that contradicts the old decision of Zulfiqar Ali Butto about his death sentence, which shows that whenever someone in Pakistan takes a stance on civil supremacy or a threat to these powers, they face many consequences, either directly through the Pakistani establishment or through the judiciary, which somehow is in control of the Pakistani establishment.
When we relate these past events to Imran Khan, who is currently going through the same challenges but is not giving up, even though Khan is in jail and his wife is also in jail with him, Though all of his cases were dismissed by the court, he is still in jail, which clearly indicates that these same powers who did the same job in the past are now trying to do the same with Khan, but the way Khan deals with these powerful elites and military establishments is not something that happened in the past in Pakistan.
We can say that this is the first time when these powerful elite, especially the establishment, who have control everywhere in Pakistan, are facing great challenges to control Khan. It seems quite impossible, as the people in Pakistan stand up with Imran Khan rather than these powerful elites and show their moral support for Khan.
Pakistan always faces challenges from the democracies, and if we relate the past events to the present, then it’s hard to believe that there is a true democracy in Pakistan or that it’s just a fiction because in democracies, the people have the right to choose their leader, and when we see the recent election in Pakistan, the people of Pakistan give their vote to Khan to show their unconditional support and reject the narrative of other political parties and establishments.
Today, the judiciary in Pakistan also shows resilience to the establishment through their judgments, e.g., a judgment about the PTI political symbol, a reserve seat judgment, etc. Let’s hope Khan will be out of jail and play his role for a better Pakistan where the political leader has absolute power to run the country and everyone works in their own domain and makes contributions for a better Pakistan. Otherwise, they may face the same challenges that Bangladesh Prime Minister Hasina Wajid has faced recently.
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