New Delhi: Three months after becoming the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Imran Khan had in November 2018 said his government and the nation’s military were “all on one page”.
It was a statement that communicated Khan’s comfort with the most powerful institution in Pakistan (and perhaps cemented the opposition’s suspicions that he came to power with the backing of the military). At the time, there were high hopes from the cricketer-turned-politician’s vision for a “Naya Pakistan (New Pakistan)”.
In 2020, when the Covid-19 pandemic raged, Khan once again asserted that he had the “most harmonious” relationship with the Pakistan army brass.
However, much has changed since then, with Khan’s subsequent fallout with the military, his ouster from office, an alleged attempt on his life last year, and now his arrest in a corruption case, all while the 2023 Pakistan general elections are just months away.
On Tuesday afternoon, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief was arrested in the Al-Qadir Trust case outside the Islamabad High Court. His lawyer was reportedly left bleeding after a scuffle with the paramilitary Pakistan Rangers who came to arrest Khan.
The development comes a day after Khan and Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif engaged in a Twitter spat where the latter accused the former PM of “routinely maligning and threatening” the Pakistan army.
ThePrint details the key incidents that led to Khan’s downfall and how his relationship with the military soured over the years.
Also read: Pakistan drama not over. It’s on between ‘short-term’ Shehbaz, ‘honest’ Imran, ‘mature’ Bajwa
Ascent to power
In 1996, after retiring from cricket and toying with the idea of politics, Khan launched his own political party, the PTI. But it wasn’t until two decades later that the party tasted success.
In July 2018, the PTI won 116 seats in the National Assembly, of the 270 it contested in that year’s general election. Around that time, former PM Nawaz Sharif was sentenced to 10 years in jail in a corruption case, but his party, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), managed to secure 64 seats, emerging as the opposition.
Sharif and his daughter Maryam made repeated claims that the army and Khan had plotted to remove him from office.
Excitement was running high with Khan’s victory, and there was a glimmer of hope that, for the first time, a Pakistani PM may serve a full five-year term.
“When I came into politics, I wanted Pakistan to become the kind of country that our leader (founder of Pakistan) Muhammad Ali Jinnah wanted,” Khan said in a national address in July 2018 following his victory.
In an interview with Al Jazeera in September 2020, Khan was asked to describe his relationship with Pakistan’s powerful army — believed to be the institution that dictates politics in the nation.
Acknowledging that there had been a “chequered history” between the army and previous civilian governments, he stated: “I honestly think it is the most harmonious relationship. We have complete coordination, we work together, the military completely stands by all the democratic government’s policies whether it is with India, whether it is for peaceful solution in Afghanistan.”
But soon after, Khan began receiving criticism for his government’s failure to make progress on economic promises and effectively handle the Covid-19 pandemic. Then came the controversy involving Lt General Faiz Hameed, Pakistan’s powerful spy chief at the time.
Start of the descent
In 2020, Khan’s government was repeatedly criticised by the opposition for mishandling Covid-19. The government’s performance on the economic front also took a blow in April that year, after a sugar-price-fixing scandal came to the fore.
By 2021, his government’s performance appeared to be losing public support, and even spurring memes. In March, a YouTube personality’s remixed version of Khan’s catchphrase “Aap Ne Ghabrana Nahi Hai (you need not worry)” — in which he poked fun at the PM — went viral.
In October that year, the first sign of a potential rift between the civil and military leadership of Pakistan appeared.
It was with regard to the appointment of a new head for Pakistan’s spy agency — the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). Khan reportedly wanted incumbent Lt Gen Faiz Hameed to continue, but a new man was appointed in November 2021, Lt Gen Nadeem Anjum.
By the beginning of 2022, Khan appeared to become more and more outspoken, and some said he was trying to send a stern message to the military leadership.
In a viral video address in January 2022, Khan warned that if anyone tried to unseat him, he would turn dangerous. Opposition leaders interpreted this as Khan’s acceptance of “defeat” while others suspected he was throwing hints to the army about the consequences they may face if he were sacked.
It was a telling video that drew sharp reactions from the general public and the opposition.
In April 2022, Khan’s government lost power. The PTI’s key ally, Muttahida Qaumi Movement Pakistan, joined hands with the opposition, forcing the government to lose its majority in the parliament.
Shortly afterwards, Khan lost a no-confidence vote in the National Assembly and was ousted from office.
PML-N’s Shehbaz Sharif, the brother of Nawaz Sharif, replaced him.
After the ouster
After his ouster, an embittered Khan gave several interviews to local and international media accusing the US of orchestrating a coup against him. He also said he was closer to former US President Donald Trump than to incumbent Joe Biden.
In June 2022, he claimed that the opposition was afraid he would appoint Lt Gen Faiz Hameed as Pakistan army chief in October 2021.
Khan went on to use his ouster from office as an opportunity to portray himself as wrongly maligned and mobilised his support base in a “jihad”, demanding snap elections and reiterating the conspiracy that the Americans wanted him out of power. His rallies attracted huge crowds and support for him began to grow significantly.
In October 2022, he was disqualified by the nation’s election commission from running for political office for five years over “corrupt practices”.
What appeared to further ramp up support for Khan was when he allegedly suffered an assassination attempt shortly after the election commission’s decision.
In November 2022, he suffered bullet injuries in the right leg when gunmen fired at him during a rally in Wazirabad. During this rally, he was advocating for snap elections in Pakistan.
In March this year, in what was viewed as an attempt to muzzle Khan who continued to attract large crowds at his rallies, Pakistan’s media regulator banned television channels from broadcasting speeches and news conferences by the former PM.
By April, Khan was appearing in court to fight for bail in several cases against him. A video of him making his way to the anti-terror court in Lahore with a bulletproof “bucket” over his head went viral.
Afterwards, Khan failed to get an extension of bail in the cases, ultimately leading to his arrest Tuesday.
According to the police, Khan has been arrested in the Al-Qadir Trust case which pertains to accusations against the former PM, his wife and leaders of PTI around the establishment of Al-Qadir University, under construction in Pakistan’s Sohawa.
This is an updated version of the article.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
Also Read: Not your marzi: Islamabad HC has a message for Imran Khan on Toshakhana gifts