Islamabad, Aug 10 (IANS) Citing the imprisonment of former Prime Minister Imran Khan, a report has highlighted that, in Pakistan, PMs are allowed corruption, incompetence and theatrical nationalism but not interfere with the army’s external rent-seeking model.
Writing in Parrhesia News, Italian journalist Francesca Marino mentioned that Khan has been held for months in conditions described by his family, party and lawyers as solitary confinement, with access to relatives, lawyers and doctors restricted, interrupted or denied despite court orders.
“His isolation is not only punitive. It is pedagogical. It teaches Pakistan what happens when popularity challenges the barracks. It teaches judges how far their orders matter. It teaches parties how quickly an election symbol, a candidate list, a mandate and a leader can be dismantled. It teaches foreign capitals that the army remains in control,” wrote Marino.
In Pakistan, mentions Marino, the civilian government performs sovereignty, the army exercises it, and the international community tolerates it. Imran Khan’s mistake was not that he opposed the system as he also became Pakistan’s PM after receiving the support of the same establishment. The arrangement of Khan and the establishment stopped working after the cricketer-turned-politician became too popular, too erratic, too convinced of his mandate, and too dangerous for a system where Prime Ministers are chosen for absorbing responsibility instead of governance.
“His imprisonment therefore served two purposes. Domestically, it decapitated the only political force capable of mobilising millions against Rawalpindi. Internationally, it reassured Pakistan’s patrons that the adults had returned to the table. With Khan in prison, the army could again speak directly to Washington, Riyadh, Beijing and the Gulf without the inconvenience of an elected civilian leader imagining he had a veto,” wrote Marino.
According to the report in Parrhesia News, the elections held in Pakistan in 2024 exposed the problem of legitimacy as the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-backed candidates performed better in polls despite repression, arrests and the stripping away of the party’s electoral symbol. Following the elections, the military rule was constitutionalised as Pakistan’s Army Chief Asim Munir was made Field Marshal.
“His release would not merely free a former Prime Minister. It would reopen the whole chain of events: the cypher, the vote of no confidence, the military’s role, Washington’s pressure, the election manipulation, the judiciary’s collapse, the transformation of Munir from army chief into constitutional sovereign. Khan is no longer only a politician. He has become evidence. And evidence, in Pakistan, is either disappeared, intimidated, exiled, buried or imprisoned,” stated Marino.
“The geopolitical context matters because Pakistan’s internal repression is never only internal. Every domestic crackdown is also an external transaction. The army sells stability to Washington, strategic depth to Beijing, Islamic military usefulness to Riyadh, counterterrorism theatre to Europe, and nuclear responsibility to everyone frightened enough to pay attention,” she added.
Khan has remained in prison since August 2023 after convictions that his party, PTI, has termed politically motivated. Since his ouster from office in 2022 following a no-confidence vote, he has faced several cases.
“The bargain says that Pakistan may remain formally democratic as long as democracy never threatens the army. It may hold elections as long as the wrong winner does not win. It may invoke sovereignty as long as sovereignty belongs to Rawalpindi. It may complain about foreign interference while surviving on foreign indulgence. And it may imprison the most popular politician in the country while telling the world that the rule of law is alive and well. In Pakistan, absurdity is not a deviation from the system. It is the system speaking honestly for once,” emphasised Marino.
–IANS
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