Imran Khan, Pakistan’s former prime minister, is currently under investigation for terrorism offences. For months, he has been trying to make a comeback. From 1843 magazine
t 11am on May 25th, Imran Khan boards a helicopter in Peshawar, a city near the border with Afghanistan. Less than two months earlier, the Pakistani parliament had dismissed Khan as prime minister in a vote of no confidence. In the aftermath, he had rallied supporters across the country.
A crane arrives to a flurry of huzzahs and a bulldozer is offloaded to move the mountain of earth behind the containers. The clearance operation seems to be going well. But then, from beyond the barricade, tear gas! The crowd scrambles back. Cars try to turn around, but they are stuck in the noxious smoke. Our eyes are stinging, our throats raw. A plume of smoke rises from the blockade, turning into a vast black cloud before gradually dissipating.
But Khan shrewdly depicted his falling out with the army as part of a conspiracy involving America, which, he claims, engineered his removal because of his friendly relations with China and Russia. Although there is no proof of this, and America denies it vehemently, it plays well with ordinary Pakistanis and has helped energise his campaign to reclaim power.
As a cricket captain, Khan ruthlessly replaced failing players. He conducted his premiership in the same vein In Islamabad, lawyers square off in the Supreme Court over the legality of the roadblocks. News filters out: the government has offered to open the roads and allow a demonstration, if it takes place anywhere other than the place that Khan had designated: D-Chowk, a large square near parliament. Khan rejects the offer. Police ahead of us are firing tear gas.s a cricket captain, Khan ruthlessly replaced failing players.
Towards the end of his premiership, many of Khan’s allies in Pakistan and outside deserted him. Relations with Washington deteriorated after America’s withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021 . After Khan’s downfall the new coalition government dusted off an agreement he had struck with the, but never implemented, to reduce fuel subsidies, among other reforms, in exchange for emergency loans.
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