Opinion Express View on Imran Khan’s conviction: A PM bites the dust
If his predecessor launched Project Imran, General Munir is burying it. The real news from Pakistan is the rise of General Munir
On the face of it, then, we are back to the same old cycle in Pakistan’s politics, where the army leadership once again prevents an elected prime minister from completing a full term in office and locks him up. 
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The big news from Pakistan is not former Prime Minister Imran Khan being convicted on a corruption charge, disqualified from running for office and sent to prison. Part of the deal with occupying Pakistan’s highest political office is spending time behind bars when the leader falls out of favour with the Pakistan Army. The lucky ones come out alive and some even return to office. Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, a popular and populist leader, was ousted in a coup in 1977 and executed after imprisonment. His daughter, Benazir, who also served as PM, was convicted of corruption, and exiled. When she returned to Pakistan in 2007 to contest elections, she was assassinated during the campaign. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, ousted in a coup and jailed by General Musharraf in 1999, re-elected with a huge mandate in 2013, was dismissed on flimsy charges by a military-judicial coup in 2017, barred from contesting elections and sentenced to 10 years in prison. He managed to get a reprieve on health grounds and has stayed in London since 2019.
On the face of it, then, we are back to the same old cycle in Pakistan’s politics, where the army leadership once again prevents an elected prime minister from completing a full term in office and locks him up. Not so fast, though. Unlike his predecessors, Imran Khan has refused to bow to the army diktat and challenged the military leadership boldly ever since he lost majority in the National Assembly in April 2022. He mobilised the street in massive rallies and dared the army to get him. His arrest in May was followed by major rioting that targeted some army establishments. The army chief, General Asim Munir, seized the opportunity to crack down hard on the protestors, muzzle the media, and organise defections by leading members of Imran Khan’s party, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf. Yet, the temptation to frame Imran Khan’s arrest as a “crisis of democracy” and as an example of the brazen military interference in politics, must be resisted. There was never much democracy in Pakistan, and the army’s domination over politics has only grown in recent years.
It is important to recall that the army ousted Nawaz Sharif in 2017 as part of a project to install Imran Khan in power and run a “hybrid” civilian-military government; the army rigged the 2018 general elections to favour Imran, and when that was not enough, brought additional members to PTI and constructed a majority for him in the National Assembly. During his tenure, Imran Khan showed little respect for democracy, targeted the media and Opposition leaders, and tanked the economy with populist measures. His problem with the army was not based on any principle but on his claim for the army’s unquestioning support for his rule. The real news from Pakistan, then, is about General Munir’s consolidation of power. If his predecessor, General Qamar Jawed Bajwa, launched Project Imran, General Munir is burying it. He has strong support from a large section of the political class, especially Nawaz Sharif, in this enterprise. Delhi will closely watch how the alliance between General Munir and Nawaz will play out in the days ahead.
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