ISLAMABAD -

Some of the charges against former Pakistani Prime Minister and PTI leader Imran Khan have recently begun to fall one after the other, giving Khan and his party a leeway in their struggle with the government.

On Monday, Pakistan's Supreme Court dropped the terrorism charges brought against Khan by police, based on allegations that a female judge and high-ranking police officials were threatened.

The Islamabad High Court on Thursday again issued a decision not to charge Khan in the contempt of court case in relation to the charges against him of threatening Judge Ziba Chaudhry and insulting the judiciary through his previous statements regarding the same case.

The Islamabad High Court expressed its satisfaction with Imran Khan's apology, as he stated his willingness to apologize to Judge Chaudhry for his remarks.

For its part, the Lahore High Court has suspended the contempt of court notices issued by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to Khan, and former information minister and party leader Fuad Chaudhry, and the court said it will hear the case again on September 29.

Extensive security tension in Pakistan since the ouster of Imran Khan as prime minister (Reuters)

An apology gives him a break

Writer and political analyst Zigam Khan says that the terrorism charge had no solid basis, and accordingly, the court ordered that the terrorism charges be dropped, while the other charges could be investigated.

The writer adds in an interview with Al Jazeera Net, that "the courts adopted a stricter interpretation of the laws during their dealings with the opposition parties to Imran Khan when he was in the government, which is now forming the government."

For his part, journalist and political analyst Javed Rana told Al Jazeera Net that Imran Khan was hesitant about the issue of an apology even shortly before the session, but the judges were resentful of the contempt of the judiciary greatly, and in fact there were fears that Imran Khan would be judged incompetent, and this is what He made him apologize, and he had no other choice.

When asked about the impact of court decisions on Imran Khan's actions, Zigam Khan said, "The court's stance towards Imran Khan provides him some space, and he is already determined to give impetus to his anti-government movement."

Khan continues, saying that Imran Khan did not stop even when the floods hit parts of Pakistan.

He does not want to lose the momentum he prefers, in the absence of such momentum, it may become easy for the government to counter it.

This is confirmed by Javed Rana, who said that Khan's apology and the court's decision to suspend his sentence give him "relief" in his political struggle with the government.

This will make Imran Khan focus more on opposing his opponents in the government, as well as his political opponents in the military establishment, Rana adds.

Pakistan Army Chief Qamar Javed Bajwa (C) who Imran Khan is seeking to appoint as his successor after early elections (Getty Images)

The struggle for the appointment of the army chief

Khan continues his anti-government moves, calling for a long march on Saturday;

To get to the capital, Islamabad.

The police and security forces have taken strict security measures in the vicinity of the red zone, which includes government headquarters.

Khan had previously sharpened his statements after the government made some amendments to the National Accountability Office law, which Khan described as stripping the office of its power to hold corrupt public officials accountable, and Khan directed some of his letters to the court to overturn these amendments.

In addition, the issue of appointing a new army chief has added a special conflict between Khan's PTI and the government, as Khan seeks to delay the appointment of a new army chief until new elections are held.

Which he proposed to the government, but it refused.

The Pakistani newspaper, The News International, quoted a leader of the PTI, who preferred to remain anonymous, that the party is studying legal options, including going to the Supreme Court, to block the appointment of the new army chief by the current Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif. .

In this context, Zigam Khan says that Imran Khan owes his success to a large extent to the support of the military establishment, and he wants this support to continue in the future.

He adds that "Khan, in his first term in office, sought to consolidate the dominance of a single party, and he may follow the same path in the future, and therefore he will need the support of the military establishment."

While Javed Rana says, "The appointment of a new army chief is of great importance not only to Imran Khan, but to all politicians in Pakistan, because the army is the one who directs political life, and it can be said that the army chief is the one who chooses the prime minister from behind the scenes."

Rana says that Khan has real concerns about the possibility of appointing a new army chief who is close to the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz Sharif's wing) and is taking action against him for the benefit of the PML-N and the People.

Imran Khan relies on wide support in the Pakistani street, especially in the provinces of Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab (Reuters)

New pressures on the government

Rana believes, Imran Khan has a belief that this is the right time for elections;

Due to the increase in his popularity during the last period, and the decline in the popularity of the parties participating in the government, and this is linked to the appointment of a new army commander, as Khan wants to hold elections before that.

Rana says that the main goal of Imran Khan at the present time is to announce early elections, before the appointment of the army chief, or to extend him until elections are held, and Rana expects that during this process Khan will impose some conditions that increase pressure on the government.

He adds, "If we talk about the Long March, the current political situation is in the interest of Imran Khan, as the two provinces - Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab - to the capital are under the control of his party."

"The main problem now is the question of appointing the army chief," Rana continues.

For his part, Zigam Khan says, Imran Khan wants to keep the government in a state of instability to force early elections.

He believes that "the early elections will be in his favour, because the ruling coalition has lost its popularity and is destined to win easily."

He adds, that the government can stop the march from entering Islamabad, however, Imran Khan has the ability to put pressure on the government.

Zigam Khan continues, saying that if the march "fails", it may harm the PTI, as was the case on May 25.