More relevant than ever

Imran Khan's political rise and persecution highlight his challenge to Pakistan's status quo.

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Since his ouster from the premiership in April 2022, Imran Khan has remained at the centre of political, media and public discourse, for good reasons for most, and bad for the rest. Notwithstanding the reasons behind his ouster and the aftermaths, Khan remains more relevant than ever. And with his support base expanding - as evidenced by the February 8 elections and the response to his calls for rallying - he is being subjected to increasingly desperate and draconian measures. The relentless persecution, including arbitrary arrests, politically motivated charges and the suppression of his party, is a testament to the growing insecurities of his opponents.

Khan's supporters, comprising the educated middle class, the general population and the diaspora, view him as their ultimate liberator from its oppressive claws of the status quo. For them, the repeated betrayal of the unrepresentative forces on their political pledges, the religious façade of the clergy, the PPP's liberal and socialist pretense, and the PML-N's reiterations of civilian supremacy have contributed to this sorry state. Other political parties - reflecting ultra-nationalistic, sensationalistic, dynastic and tribal-feudal tendencies - as well as the incumbent judiciary, bureaucracy, mainstream media and capitalist elitism, thriving under the status quo, are viewed in the same vein by them.

To them, Khan also exposes the false narratives that the people have been made to accept since the country's inception. He challenges the shambolic democracy and the public's internalisation of it as the best possible system. Unlike all his predecessors, he encourages people to ask questions, speak out and resist whenever injustice confronts them. He educates the masses about their rights, their real stake and their status in the country, encouraging them to have a say in the policymaking that affects their lives. In doing so, he undermines the faint-heartedness, fear and fallacious narratives that the people have been made to live with as their fate for decades.

Khan might have been accused of being propped up to power courtesy the hidden forces, he tends to shift the axis of power to where it should belong. This way, he aims to diminish the influence of traditional power brokers by moving the same from closed rooms to the open public sphere. Furthermore, he attempts to expose the deceptive legacy and lies propagated to the people by successive hybrid regimes for over three quarters of a century. Therefore, the people unconditionally and unquestionably stand with Khan, hoping he will help dismantle the democratic façade of the successive hybrid systems and usher in an era of genuine democratic social contracts, a transparent socio-political culture and an inclusive economic order.

To the public, Khan's political candidness threatens the traditionally peddled fallacious narratives and the fabricated support base of favourites, as well as the dynastically despotic forces intertwined with the status quo. To them, only Khan can salvage the country from the Machiavellians and Orwellian characters cloaked under the guise of democracy, nationalism, religion and constitutionalism.

This makes it understandable why the architects and beneficiaries of the status quo view Khan's potential success as their defeat and, hence, an existential threat. However, all tactics aimed at suppressing his political capital through manipulation of laws and the Constitution inevitably have a rebound effect. The paradoxical outcomes of the actions arise from their questionable legitimacy, people's weariness with the oppressive status quo, and their afflictions under it, as well as Khan's ever-growing public appeal.

Whether or not Imran Khan lives up to the people's expectations and undoes the oppressive status quo, he has made the public politically conscious. This political consciousness could facilitate Khan's return to power and position him as a key architect in evolving an inclusive socio-political and economic system in the country.