New Political Flashpoint In Pakistan: The arrest of Shehbaz Gill, a key aide of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Party chief Imran Khan, had sparked a political crisis there. This political tension in Pakistan escalated on Monday when Pakistani police announced to file terrorism charges against ousted Prime Minister Imran Khan. These charges were filed against Imran for allegedly threatening public officials in a speech during a rally on Saturday.
In a hurry, Imran’s party PTI warned of protests across the country if he was arrested. Hundreds of his supporters gathered around his residence to prevent his leader from being taken into custody. Meanwhile, Imran moved the Islamabad High Court, and was granted pre-arrest bail from there till August 25. been given. After all, what are the reasons that Pakistan is facing the crisis of this political animosity, here we will talk about that.
After all, why did the period of political crisis come in Pakistan?
Shahbaz Gill, a key aide of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Party chief Imran, was arrested on August 9 over his comments on TV. This is where the period of troubles started in Pakistan. Gill’s comments were taken into account by the country’s media regulator, the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority-Pemra, as “seditious” and “inciting the armed forces to revolt”.
Since then PTI has been claiming that Gill is being tortured in custody and that his life is in danger. In Saturday’s rally, Imran targeted a judge in his speech. this judge only
Gill’s 48-hour physical remand was approved. In the same rally, the PTI chief had vowed to register a case against top officials of Islamabad Police. What was then, soon after that a case was registered against the former PM for threatening and intimidating the police and judiciary in his speech. A case was registered against them under Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act, which provides for punishment for acts of terrorism.
What does Imran Khan want?
PTI Chief Imran seems very excited and eager to turn this period of turmoil in his favor. He is insisting on early elections in Pakistan. His popularity had waned in April before his ouster from the post of Prime Minister, but political developments in Pakistan changed dramatically when he was ousted from the post of Prime Minister by bringing a no-confidence motion against him. After this, Imran used this development to make the wind in his favor. After this, the dramatic story told by him under the patronage of America regarding the change of power also seemed to be successful in creating an atmosphere in his favor. In this, he claimed that he had been ousted from power for following an independent foreign policy. This greatly affected his supporters. Most of these supporters are youths and come from the Pakistani middle class.
Based on this, the PTI President also indirectly told those who remained neutral during his ouster from his post. Questioned the alleged role of those taking a neutral stand in promoting governance. He has been saying the same for Pakistan’s army. He has backed this with his talk of creating a “Naya Pakistan” free from corrupt politicians. PTI has won a landslide victory in the by-elections held in Pakistan’s Punjab province, which is the stronghold of the Sharif family. PTI Chief Imran is constantly participating in processions and rallies. With this activity, his motive is not only to defame the regime that ousted him from power, but he also hopes that this pressure will help him in holding the scheduled elections for the National Assembly ahead of schedule.
A comment by his close aide Shehbaz Gill has put former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran in trouble. Gill had said that people working at the lower-middle level in the army and their families were with Imran. The government was angered by this statement of Gill. It is believed that PTI is counted as the party of the country which has the support of a part of the Pakistan Army. Even before he lost power, the former prime minister was said to have exercised his loyalist then ISI chief Lt Gen Faiz Hamid to make him the next army chief. This was the reason why Imran refused to confirm the appointment of Lt Gen Nadeem Ahmed Anjum as the next ISI chief for three weeks.
Lieutenant General Nadeem Anjum Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa is considered close, but he is not Imran Khan’s choice. Until then, the Bajwa-Faiz-Imran trio were believed to be working together to preserve the Pakistani military’s experiment of “hybrid” governance. This trio brought PTI to power in 2018. But in the end, Imran had to pay a heavy price for his efforts to make the army the center of power for his loyalists. He had to pay the price for this by losing his military supporters and his Prime Minister’s post. Now, while there is talk of Imran getting some support from the army, one thing is also that the army does not want PTI to win whenever the next elections are held. The reason behind this is that it will be difficult for the army to control such popular rule again.
Where is Pakistan going next?
Two important events can be noted for what the current political crisis feeds in Pakistan. The first is the date when the tenure of the current army chief is ending. COAS Bajwa is going to retire in November this year. But he still has a chance to remain in this position. He is now 61 years old, while the retirement age of the army chief is 64 years in Pakistan. In such a situation, the possibility of getting extension of service cannot be ruled out. The picture is likely to be clear by mid-September. However, it is not clear if Army Chief Bajwa continues in his post or if he goes to the army after cleaning before he retires. Meaning if Imran’s supporters go away, then how will PTI Chief Imran write the script for the victory he is hoping for.
The second important event is the general elections of Pakistan which are due next year. The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) announced in April that it would not be in a position to hold elections before May 2023. The ECP is planning to start a delimitation exercise on the basis of a special census in January, and will complete it in three months. Meanwhile, the political battle is expected to continue on the streets and through institutions. Is. These battles are known to play an important role in the power struggle of Pakistan. The ECP recently ruled that PTI has received foreign money which is illegal in Pakistan. As a result, this decision of the ECP can ban PTI from politics. This is something that Imran’s opponents are already demanding.
Imran has made it clear that his party will continue to protest till the elections are announced. In turn, the PML-N has been accusing him of trying to challenge the “authority of the state by inciting rebellion”. An X factor could be the return of former PM Nawaz Sharif to Pakistan from London. However, his arrival can activate the PML-N (Pakistan Muslim League-N). However, here the distrust of the army for Nawaz Sharif and their support of current PM Shahbaz Sharif can worsen the situation of the party. Another thing is Pakistan’s precarious economic condition. The ruling government blames PTI and Imran for the current financial mess, but on the other hand, it has no time to write a script for change before jumping into the electoral battle. The present government will not be able to do anything special about the economic condition of the country in such a short time.
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