Imran Khan, prior to his political career, was a famous cricketer who is remembered for winning the 1992 Cricket World Cup as Captain of the Pakistan team. With his unprecedented fame, in comparison to other Pakistani successes, Imran Khan turned towards philanthropy and opened the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Hospital, a hospital where free cancer treatment and research is undertaken. Fund raisers, parties, the celebrity life. All these attributes are associated with Imran Khan the cricket captain. Now turned politician, Imran is faced with continuous court cases and allegations of corruption, the story behind these incidents is a setup of the greatest story of populism Pakistan has witnessed.

Imran Khan’s Tenure as Prime Minister

After winning the elections in 2018, Imran Khan made history so profound and filled with hope, that the Pakistani liberals came to the forefront, the religious extremism started to slowly diminish, and the wave of progress became visible.

Imran Khan’s government was filled with cabinet members who once played the game of dirty politics prior to joining Imran’s Party, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf, which literally translates to the “Movement of Justice”. Now the unusual suspects had joined Imran’s party and were key cabinet members who too became visible in political propaganda.

Imran’s political campaign and time as Prime Minister, even though wide and progressive in some spheres, was concentrated on the eradication of corruption. Even if you were Barack Obama, this was a little too idealistic for reality. However, Imran targeted The Sharif family for their open corruption and robbing the State of its funds and accused them of money laundering. Regardless of whether it was true or false, the Pakistani system fought back.

Imran’s government, too, was considered corrupt, with Zulfi Bukhari being blamed for robbing billions of Rupees in scandals, although none of this was proven in court. But then again neither was the Sharif scandal, hence the courts hold no credibility in this debate.

Similar to the nepotism of the governments of former President Zardari and The Sharifs, nepotism was a known practice in political spheres, as well as dynastic politics. Although Imran’s next of kin are not residing in Pakistan nor are interested in Pakistani politics, his cabinet members like Shah Mehmood Qureshi took minutes to appoint his son as a Member of Parliamentary Affairs. Pervez Khattak appointed his wife and his cousins to integral positions in government, both when he was Chief Minister in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and later as Defence Minister under Imran’s orders.

Imran’s combat against COVID-19 was applauded by many Heads of State, his development in the I.T. Sector too was giving Pakistan the face it needed in global politics. However, the ground reality was far from it. The local public is not equipped with knowledge of global economics, let alone domestic economic policies, thus the backlash of COVID-19 on trade deals and development sectors ended up being a fault laid on Khan.

Khan began to lose popularity and continued to do so, till he was ousted.

The Mistake by the Opposition

What the opposition did not realize, was that no one was willing to vote for Imran Khan in the upcoming elections. The notion within local groups, both private and public, were unhappy with Imran’s government, whether this was justified or not is a separate debate.

His constant ramble about attacking the Sharifs and bringing to them to their knees became a bore and the public was losing money. Even though the textile industry was given energy subsidies and many policies were integrated where the blackouts nationwide came to a halt, Imran still was not favored.

The night Imran was ousted in such speedy fashion, changed the tide for Khan. Leading to the birth of his cult that now compares him to a Messiah in some form.

Khan was ousted via a vote of no-confidence using constitutional machinery, or so it was theoretically. Speakers of the House’s resigned and changed as if it was a karaoke night and the mic was open to all. The military was seen picking up the Former Premier, and the High Court opened its gate at Midnight, the country was shocked.

All the hidden elements of Pakistani politics became visible. The characters that claimed justice to Islamic virtues and the State, were now all caught with their pants down. The nudity of Pakistani politics resulted in the revival of the Khan fanbase.

This decision of the opposition has cost them their own credibility within the political spheres, and the public. If the opposition had waited patiently for the upcoming elections, the chances of Khan winning were none.

The Results

Since the opposition took power, they still have not learned from their initial mishap. Now they have taken matters to an extremity and matters on a national level have become grave.

Pakistan suffers at the hands of a reckless IMF Deal, losing money and value of their currency due to indecisive and immature policies. Investors have moved from considering Pakistan a viable option due to constant instability in both the economic and political conditions of the state.

The Opposition continues to create more enemies for themselves. After placing all political opponents in jail, some dead, some hidden, some carried from their homes. Conspiracies of loots and rape, riots and deaths, all have been circulating social media with an underground movement to keep the “Khan Dream” alive, but now with a new enemy, The Army.

The Financial Times, The Economist, The Guardian, and many more respectable publishers have made headlines with the two constant words, “populist” and “army”. The Army may have all its shortcomings and this country may rule differently to others. But the foolishness of all characters involved in the open game of petty politics, hooliganism, and unnecessary protests, all they have achieved is the destruction of the credibility of Pakistan as a nation under control.

We see daily how hope is extended to the citizens of Pakistan in form or another, but the situation has become one where characters take loot. The lawyers to increase their reputation have taken difficult cases whilst knowing the outcome – a typical celebrity move. The Caretaker Premier has ignored the mentioning of Khan in any shape or form. Now the opposition are confident that Khan is gone, they have gone back to their old attacks and now call for elections, since now Khan is jailed and removed from Politics as a whole.

Pakistani politics is in shambles. The ground reality worsens as an exodus occurs with bright minds and labor fleeing the country seeing no future and stability. As the price of energy rises, along with unfair taxation, and an unfair IMF deal, incompetent ministers and the establishment, all try and take their cuts and drive the nation south, Pakistan suffers with little to no hope for survival.

Although the times are grim, nations survive even the worst of occurrences. Hopefully, Pakistan can find its footing, and restart its invention as a state, for as the former has collapsed.