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We look at the political crisis in Pakistan as the Islamabad High Court on Friday granted two weeks’ bail to former Prime Minister Imran Khan after his arrest sparked mass protests. Paramilitary forces arrested Khan on corruption charges, but Pakistan’s Supreme Court later ruled his arrest was “invalid and unlawful.” Khan served as prime minister from 2018 to 2022, when he was ousted from office in what he called a “U.S.-backed regime change” plot carried out by his political opposition. Mohammed Hanif, an award-winning writer and journalist based in Karachi, says the corruption accusations are part of a larger power struggle in the country, pitting the extremely popular Khan against the country’s establishment, including the military. “Elections are due, and they want to keep him out of the election race. Either they want to disqualify him or put him behind bars,” says Hanif.
AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org. I’m Amy Goodman.
We turn now to Pakistan. Earlier today, the Islamabad High Court granted bail for two weeks to former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, whose arrest earlier this week sparked mass protests. On Tuesday, paramilitary forces arrested Khan on corruption charges, but then, on Thursday, Pakistan’s Supreme Court ruled his arrest was invalid and unlawful.
Khan had served as Pakistan’s prime minister from 2018 to 2022, when he was ousted from office in what he described as a, quote, “U.S.-backed regime change” plot backed by his opposition. He’s now blamed the military. Supporters of his political party, the PTI, say the latest charges are politically motivated and part of a broader campaign to silence Khan.
In an attempt to quell the protests, Pakistan’s police issued an emergency order earlier today to ban gatherings in Islamabad. Pakistan has also suspended mobile broadband and blocked access to social media apps, disrupting the lives of millions. Meanwhile, human rights groups accused Pakistani forces of using excessive force on supporters of Imran Khan who have taken to the streets in recent days. At least 10 protesters have been killed. Nearly 3,000 Khan supporters have been arrested.
We’re joined now by Mohammed Hanif. He’s an award-winning writer and journalist based in Karachi. He’s the former editor of the BBC Urdu service in London, where he’s joining us from today.
Welcome back to Democracy Now!, Mohammed Hanif. It’s great to have you with us. Explain what’s happening. Why was Imran Khan arrested? And now why was he released?
MOHAMMED HANIF: I think they’ve been trying to arrest Imran Khan for quite a few months now. The main purpose is quite obvious. Elections are due, and they want to keep him out of the electoral race. Either they want to disqualify him, or they want to put him behind bars. That seems to be the obvious purpose, because he was just thrown out of the government a year ago, and since then, he has been on a warpath. And that’s not new. Almost every single prime minister in Pakistan’s history at some point has fallen out with the Army, which is considered to be all-powerful in Pakistan. But what Imran Khan has managed to do is that he’s managed to polarize what’s called establishment in Pakistan, which is the higher judiciary and military itself.
So, people are hoping that after they put him behind bars, maybe manage to throw away the key, and that’s where he will stay. But he was there under arrest two days, and then the Supreme Court, the chief justice himself, called him, said, “I’m really happy to see you,” then, from a lockup, put him into a state guesthouse, asked him to basically invite his friends over and have an easy night’s sleep. And then, today, he appeared in the court again, and he was granted bail, so now he’s a free man to move.
So, basically, what Imran Khan has managed to achieve is — which no other politician has, I think, in the past — is that he has managed to polarize the establishment itself. So, they don’t quite know what to do with him, because they put him behind the bars. And as Imran Khan has warned, “If you arrest me, the country will burn.” And the country did burn. And now they’ve released him, but there are dozens and dozens of cases against him, some very flimsy, some substantial. And I think they will probably go after him again.AMY GOODMAN: He seems to be extremely popular throughout Pakistan. Can you explain who his supporters are? And just give us the overall political landscape, why at this point they arrested him0
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