Before his ouster last year, former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, a cricketing hero-turned-politician, whipped up popular support amid decades of high inflation and a crippling economic slowdown. Even after being wounded in a November attack on his convoy while leading a protest march to Islamabad calling for snap general elections, the 70-year-old has shown no signs of slowing down. His ascension to power in 2018 came nearly two decades after he founded his political party, the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI).
Imran Khan began attracting large crowds of young Pakistanis disillusioned with endemic corruption and unemployment crises in 2011. In the years since, he has gained even more support, with educated Pakistani expatriates leaving their jobs to work for his party and pop musicians and actors joining his campaign. Imran Khan told supporters in 2018 that his goal was to transform Pakistan from a country with a small group of wealthy and a sea of poor into an example for the world of what an Islamic welfare state is. He won that year, marking a rare ascension of a sporting hero to the pinnacle of politics. However, Pakistan's generals remained powerful and retired and serving military officers were given command of more than a dozen civilian institutions.
Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan has done something few politicians in his country have done: he has taken on the Army. They say the three A's rule Pakistan: Allah, Army, and America. Khan is at odds with two of them: the Army and the United States.
The manner in which he was apprehended—rudely pushed by heavily armed Rangers, caught by his collar, in full view—shows that the Establishment, which includes the military and bureaucracy, is not in a conciliatory mood. Despite the fact that he is a hugely popular leader, this is the case. He was a national hero even before he became a politician. One of the greatest all-rounders in cricket history, he captained the team that won the World Cup in 1992, the first and only time Pakistan did so. He received little support when he announced his intention to enter politics. He almost single-handedly built his party, the PTI, and worked tirelessly to establish it as a political force. He became Prime Minister in 2018, but only with the assistance of the Army. The generals expected Khan to be a pliable tool in their hands, a puppet to be manipulated. However, his main point of disagreement was regarding ties with the West in general and the United States in particular.
He was also outspokenly anti-American. This did not sit well with America or the Army.
Khan, formerly one of Pakistan's most Westernised public figures, has become increasingly Islamist. Khan is popular and believes in democracy, the democracy he envisions is not India or other liberal democracies; his so-called ideal is ‘Riasat-e-Medina', an Islamist utopia that is unlikely to be hospitable to non-Muslims or even moderate and other sects within Muslims.
Unsurprisingly, as in vogue in Pakistan, the Army turned against Khan, leading to his deposition and the resurgence of his political adversaries, the Sharif family and the Pakistan People's Party. As a result, the National Accountability Bureau, which had previously tormented Khan's enemies over corruption allegations, became his adversary. Such are the ups and downs of Pakistani politics.
