He had already managed to outwit the police once this year, but on Tuesday riot agents got hold of Imran Khan at the courthouse in the Pakistani capital Islamabad. The former prime minister was “mentally prepared”he had said about the arrest a few hours earlier in a video, because according to him the government wants to prevent him from campaigning.
The arrest resulted in dramatic images. Khan, now the country’s leading opposition politician, and his lawyers were ambushed by riot police at a branch of the court. On images that on social media and channel GEO TV are shownKhan is seen being dragged out of the room and pushed into a chariot.
Members of Khan’s party PTI immediately spoke up: this was not an arrest, but a kidnapping. Thousands of supporters went over the course of the day on the street. News agencies reported, based on information from local authorities in Quetta, that at least one person was killed in a demonstration there. People were also injured in the major cities of Karachi, Peshawar and Rawalpindi – the army headquarters. In Islamabad, gatherings were banned and the internet was blocked.
Khan’s arrest and backlash on the streets is another step in the political crisis surrounding the country’s former prime minister – which is also experiencing an economic crisis. Khan’s failure to improve the economic situation led to a no-confidence vote against him in parliament last year. He had already lost the support of the army, which has a lot to say behind the scenes about the position of politicians in Pakistan.
Collision course
Khan says his ouster was wrongful, and he has been on a collision course with the new government ever since. His successor Shehbaz Sharif and the army would be in league with the US. In the entire year since his impeachment, Khan’s lawsuit after trial has been filed; he himself puts it at more than a hundred. Khan is accused of fraud and is said to have kept gifts he received during state visits in violation of the rules as prime minister. There are also pending cases under the anti-terror law and for sedition, including because of the speeches he made about the alleged plot against him.
Read more about the lawsuits against former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan
Those legal cases, according to Khan, are attempts to silence him. Several arrest warrants were pending because of his refusal to appear in court. In March, he managed to evade the police when they came to his home in Karachi. Supporters clashed with police. Tuesday’s arrest came in connection with a fraud case for which Khan had now come to court.
Prime Minister Sharif responded on Tuesday through Twitter to Khan’s continued accusations. “It now seems abundantly clear to me that you, a former prime minister now on trial for corruption, are trying to claim legitimacy to overthrow the legal and political system,” he wrote.
The ruling power has had enough of Khan, but he still has popular support. The 70-year-old, a former top cricketer who managed to change his image from a wealthy playboy into that of a politician who wants to tackle a corrupt elite, speaks to many people with his message. Especially young people in the cities, who are suffering badly from the high inflation and the economic crisis, told the Pakistani writer and political analyst Shuja Nawaz rather on NRC: “Khan is big on the street. That factor will be taken into account in how the current rulers will deal with him.”
Khan knows how to use his popularity well. His forced departure led directly to protests and riots last year. He organized a campaign caravan with his party PTI. In November, a shooting took place at one such gathering in the eastern city of Wazirabad. Khan was hit in the leg, leaving one dead and several injured among his supporters. The politician and his PTI confidants saw that attack as proof that the current rulers are after his life. The perpetrator was said to be a religious fanatic who was soon apprehended in Wazirabad; not much is known about him.
Early elections
The PTI rallies were Khan’s main vehicle to push for an early election, which could see him return to power. This year expires the term of the parliament that took place in 2018, when he was elected himself. The next elections are scheduled to take place this fall.
Meanwhile, the scenarios for Khan are increasingly limited: if he manages to force that ballot box, he can continue a political comeback. But it is equally possible that one or more of the lawsuits against him will lead to a prison sentence.
Prime Minister Sharif himself has no interest in quicker elections, and at no time has indicated that he is considering them. Given the reactions to his arrest on Tuesday, the government may even be considering another option: it can use the unrest to postpone the elections even further.
Khan’s opponents have also hardened their tone in recent months. For example, in March, after the failed arrest attempt, the cabinet released a statement in which the PTI was described as “a gang of militants” who are “hostile to the state”. Hundreds of supporters of the party founded by Khan were already arrested. The Minister of the Interior was clear about the political rivalry: “Either Imran Khan exists, or we.”
A version of this article also appeared in the May 10, 2023 newspaper.