The Capitals: Islamabad's game of thrones stacked against Imran Khan

New Delhi

In 1958, when the coastal city of Karachi was still Pakistan's capital, General Ayub Khan made the move to push the boundaries of country's administration inside military barracks as he staged Pakistan's first successful coup d'état. In the decades between General Ayub Khan and General Asim Munir, the capital of Pakistan shifted from Karachi to Islamabad, military-supported regimes replaced conventionally direct coup d'états but the dominance of Rawalpindi — Islamabad's satellite town that houses Pakistan Army's headquarters — remained a constant.

File photos of General Ayub Khan and General Asim Munir of Pakistan Army

This week, the lawyer of former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan alleged that the country's only World Cup-winning cricket captain is being "mentally tortured" in the Adiala Jail, where he is jailed since August after he was handed a three-year prison sentence in a corruption case.

Also read | To coup or not coup: Pakistan Army’s options after Imran Khan’s 'mini-intifada'

Country's election authorities have also banned Khan from running for office for five years.

With Imran Khan out of the picture, former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who has been dodging a corruption case against him since 2018 with a self-imposed exile, is set to return to the country, his brother and another former Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif confirmed this week.

Yes, India's neighbour has had too many prime ministers since its inception — twenty to be precise, none of whom could ever complete a five-year tenure amid military's dominance. 

But there is another cache in the evolving semblance of democracy in Pakistan.

By law, the next national elections should have been scheduled till or before November 12, 2023 — exactly ninety days after Pakistan's National Assembly was dissolved and Shehbaz Sharif was replaced as prime minister by Anwaar-ul Haq Kakar, an undistinguished politician from the restive Balochistan province. 

But the elections have been formally delayed till the end of January on account of redrawing of the national assembly constituencies.

However, the January may not bring the climax for the current phase of Pakistan's dance of democracy in the theatre of military-intelligence nexus.

This week, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, another former Pakistani prime minister, stated that elections in Pakistan could be further delayed beyond January. 

Abbasi said that elections may not be possible in January in several constituencies of the country due to heavy snowfall in the winter. The idea has been sown in Pakistani public sphere to the next potential trajectory of the most asked question of Pakistan: Mulk mein intekhab kab honge? (When will there be elections in the country?)

The small-talk of state of weather may very well determine the direction of larger conversation of national elections in Pakistan in the coming weeks.

Amid this small talk, here's how the concealed discourse of Pakistani politics looks for Imran Khan, country's most popular leader by most credible accounts.

There is a three-year prison sentence, five years ban on contesting elections, an ever-delaying election and the return of his foe Nawaz Sharif from an exile.

File photo of former Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif with Imran Khan

In Pakistan's Game of Thrones where the military wears the crown, Imran Khan remains stacked against the wall. 

That's all for The Capitals this week. See you next weekend. 

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