Several high-profile leaders belonging to Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) have either quit or are in prison after the army warned of stern action against protesters who attacked its properties on May 9.
On Tuesday, PTI leader and vice president Shireen Mazari, who had been detained multiple times over the past few weeks, said she is quitting politics entirely, citing health and family reasons.
She was the latest high-profile leader to exit the party.
The departures began last week with Mahmood Baqi Moulvi, who resigned from the party and his National Assembly seat, in protest against the violence.
Many more have followed since, including national and local lawmakers, despite Khan’s denials his supporters were involved in the attacks.
Soon after Mazari’s exit on Tuesday evening, Fayaz-ul-Hasan Chohan and Mian Jalil Sharaqpuri, two senior provincial leaders also quit.
Former Pakistan foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and senior party leader Musarrat Jamshed Cheema were arrested within 24 hours of the unrest. Both the leaders were briefly released on Tuesday before being re-arrested again.
Coup de grace
With Imran’s back to the wall, the Shehbaz Sharif government as well as the army are now planning a coup de grace by threatening to ban his political party altogether.
In a televised address, defence minister Khawaja Asif said lashed out at the “pre-planned” violence that erupted on May 9 and said the government is considering banning PTI.
“Whatever happened on May 9 wasn’t spontaneous,” Asif said, talking about the violence that erupted when Khan was briefly arrested by the country’s graft agency and some angry protesters attacked military offices and buildings.
Khwaja called the May 9 violence a “coordinated and pre-planned” attack, saying the government may ban PTI for alleged the vandalism of military installations across the country.
While no decision has been taken yet, a possible ban may spell more trouble for Imran Khan who is himself facing several cases.
PTI’s senator barrister Ali Zafar has dismissed the Pakistan government’s threat, saying that even if they do ban PTI, the order will be declared “null and void within a day” by the Supreme Court since “a political party cannot be banned.”
What happened on May 9?
Imran Khan was dramatically arrested by paramilitary rangers during his court appearance earlier this month, triggering deadly clashes across Pakistan.
Imran’s surprise arrest by the military forces triggered an unprecedented fallout since protesters took their anger out on the all-powerful military.
Scores of PTI workers vandalised a dozen military installations, including the Lahore Corps Commander house, Mianwali airbase, the ISI building in Faisalabad and also torched sensitive defence installations.
The Army headquarters (GHQ) in Rawalpindi was also attacked by the mob for the first time.
The military imprint behind Khan’s arrest was clear since he was arrested a day after the army rebuked him for repeatedly accusing a senior military officer of trying to engineer his assassination and the former armed forces chief of being behind his removal from power last year.
From blue-eyed boy to eye sore
The relationship between Imran Khan and the Pakistani military, known unofficially as the “establishment”, has witnessed an interesting arc of love and hate over the last few years.
Khan became the prime minister in 2018 with the tacit support of the military, though both sides denied it at the time.
The military saw Khan, with his conservative, nationalist agenda, as likely to ensure the protection of its interests.
His detractors often called Khan the “military’s puppet”.
However, Khan later fell out with the generals after he allegedly tried to interfere in key promotions in the security sphere. He was soon ousted as prime minister after losing a confidence vote in 2022.
Ever since then, there has been growing acrimony between Khan and the miliary which came to a boiling point on May 9.
Over the last few months, Khan has often lashed out at the military and ISI, accusing them of hatching a plot to assassinate him.
Before his dramatic arrest on May 9, Imran claimed that Major-General Faisal Naseer, a senior ISI officer, was behind his attempted assassination in November 2022.
Khan also alleged that Naseer was involved in the killing of TV anchor Arshad Sharif, who was critical of the Army, and the torture of PTI politician Azam Khan Swati .
While civilian organisations have historically been unable to stand up to the military’s might in a country where no elected prime minister has completed a full term, Khan is unlikely to be a pushover.
Khan has shown an uncanny ability to mobilise crowds and some analysts say he still has the support of many in the rank-and-file of the military. “Khan has weaponised the resentment his followers feel about his removal into a frontal assault on army leaders,” said Aqil Shah, an academic and author of the book “The Army and Democracy in Pakistan”.
However, Khan is vulnerable on many fronts. If he is found guilty in any of the numerous cases against him, ranging from corruption to inciting terror, it would in all probability disqualify him from participating in the polls.
The army’s vast intelligence apparatus has already started turning the screws on PTI’s leadership, which is clear from the exits of top party leaders.
(With inputs from agencies)