Imran Khan, the former prime minister, may be the biggest domestic challenge Pakistan’s generals have faced
Save time by listening to our audio articles as you multitask, will now run the country’s most powerful institution and self-appointed arbiter of Pakistani democracy. Army chiefs are hired by the prime minister. They often return the favour by deposing their appointer. This is the main reason none of Pakistan’s 22 prime ministers has completed a full term, and none knows it better than the incumbent, Shehbaz Sharif.
If Shehbaz Sharif fares better at General Munir’s hands, it may be because of his predecessor, Imran Khan. A former army favourite , Mr Khan was ousted in a vote of no-confidence in April which, yet again, had the army chief’s handprints all over it. A charismatic rabble-rouser and conspiracy theorist, Mr Khan promptly accused General Bajwa of plotting with America against him. After this accusation helped his party win a clutch of by-elections, he upped the ante.
General Munir must be worried. Yet his best hope of foiling Mr Khan, General Bajwa’s blundering suggests, is to sit tight. Mr Khan wants an election and is threatening to dissolve the assemblies of Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, which his party controls, to try to force one. But dissolving Parliament is Mr Sharif’s prerogative, and he has vowed to carry on until its term ends in August. The army chief should support that constitutional process.
He has duties of his own to attend to. The Pakistani Taliban have abandoned a ceasefire. Relations with the Afghan Taliban are poor. And the economy, stricken by pandemic shocks, political turmoil and floods, cannot afford any additional stress. Pakistan has enough foreign-currency reserves to cover only a month of imports. The risk of default in the bond market has soared. Past army chiefs might have considered that such dire circumstances warranted a military intervention. General Munir would distinguish himself by utterly disdaining such nonsense.Asia
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