If anyone had a scintilla of doubt about what lay behind the multiple convictions of Pakistan’s former prime minister Imran Khan, their timing was designed to dispel it. He was already behind bars and banned from running in Thursday’s election. Then, last Tuesday, he was sentenced to 10 years for leaking official secrets. Last Wednesday, he was handed another 14 years for corruption related to selling state gifts. At the weekend, he and his wife each received a seven-year sentence in a case relating to their marriage, which the verdict declared “un-Islamic” – hammering home the message to those still planning to vote for candidates from his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party.
That the delayed election is taking place suggests the army is reasonably confident it has seen off Mr Khan’s challenge, though he remains Pakistan’s most popular politician. Elections are welcome in a nation that has spent half its life under direct military rule. But no elected prime minister has completed a full term in office and, at the best of times, the generals have merely retreated backstage. In 2022, the outgoing army chief acknowledged its “constant” meddling.
