A poster with a picture of Imran Khan (top) and the inscription “Revenge oppression by voting” hanging on a tree in Islamabad (French)

Yesterday, Wednesday, former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan was sentenced to 14 years in prison in a corruption case, a day after a separate 10-year prison sentence for leaking state secrets.

Khan, a former cricket star, is very popular in Pakistan, especially among young people, and his imprisonment and deprivation of elections will provide relief to his political rivals during the general elections scheduled for next Thursday.

Khan was accused of buying numerous gifts from rulers and government officials and reselling them for an undisclosed profit. The court imposed a fine of millions in addition to a prison sentence on his wife, Bushra Bibi. The special court - which was held in the prison where he has been held since his previous conviction - did not give him any opportunity to defend He himself was not present during the sentencing.

Search for the army

Observers consider that the timing of the ruling is not innocent, as it comes a few days before the elections, with the aim of removing him from the ballot boxes and discrediting him and his party. They also believe that all of this comes under the direction of the army, the most powerful institution in the country.

At the beginning of his term as Prime Minister in 2018, Khan enjoyed the support of the army and intelligence services, but his reduction of the defense budget while he was in power and his attempt to prove his independence from the military led to them turning away from his support.

In the 2018 elections, the PTI party led by Khan won 115 seats in the National Parliament (National Assembly) out of 272, inflicting a severe defeat on the leaders of traditional political parties, especially the People’s Party and the Muslim League.

During his political career, Khan raised the slogan of combating rampant corruption in the country as a way to win his fans and attract those dissatisfied with political parties and traditional feudal families, such as the Sharif family in Punjab and the Bhutto family in Sindh.

Part of the election campaign in a street in the city of Rawalpindi near the capital, Islamabad (French)

Criticism of America

Khan, who was educated in Britain, was not a friend of the West, and he usually criticized the West and America, specifically their policy towards his country.

When he became prime minister, Khan was keen to strengthen relations with China and Russia. He even visited Moscow two days after Russia launched a war on Ukraine, then rejected America's demand to vote to condemn Moscow at the United Nations. He has long criticized the American attacks directed against Islamic militants in Pakistan, considering them a violation of his country's sovereignty.

In contradiction to Washington's approach, Khan was known for his support for the Afghan Taliban movement, and he also celebrated the departure of American forces from Afghanistan in August 2021. This was one of the factors that led to a worsening of relations with Washington, which is believed to have encouraged his overthrow.

As for the upcoming elections, the competition is expected to be intense between the two traditional parties, while the PTI party is experiencing the deprivation of its leader and many of its leaders from participating in the elections, in addition to divisions in the party, due to pressure from the army and reality.

Khan was known for his support for the Afghan Taliban movement, and he also celebrated the departure of American forces from Afghanistan in August 2021 (Reuters)

Sentencing Bushra Bibi

The latest sentence issued against Khan to 14 years in prison included his wife, Bushra Bibi, in the same case, which is a corruption charge related to gifts that Khan received while he was in power. A spokesman for the Tehreek-e-Insaf party commented in a message to the media, saying, “Another sad day in the history of our regime.” Broken judiciary.

Khan's current wife, who is accused with him in this corruption case, is the third, after his divorce from Jemima Goldsmith (their marriage lasted from 1995-2004) and Reham Nayyar Khan (their marriage lasted from 2014-2015).

The law requires the Prime Minister to announce all gifts he receives, and he is only entitled to keep gifts whose value is less than a certain amount, or he can purchase them at an officially specified price.

Imran Khan was ousted as prime minister under a no-confidence motion in April 2022 after he lost the support of the powerful military in Pakistan. He has since accused the military establishment of being behind his troubles with the judiciary to prevent him from returning to power.

Addressing voters, Imran Khan said in a statement published a few days ago on his account on the X platform, “You must avenge every injustice by voting on February 8th. Tell them that you are not sheep that can be directed with a stick.”

Nawaz Sharif waves to his supporters during an election rally in Lahore at the end of the month (French)

The Pakistan Muslim League, led by former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who served as Prime Minister three times without completing any of his terms, remains the most likely to win the elections.

Sharif returned to Pakistan in October after four years of exile in London. Some political analysts believe that he concluded an agreement with the army, which he had recently accused of removing him from power in 2017, to encourage Imran Khan’s victory in the elections a year later.

The army has remained in power for about half of the country's 75-year history, and still has significant political influence.

The Tehreek-e-Insaf party, which Khan leads, said that today’s new ruling also prohibits him from holding public office for a period of 10 years, stressing that Bushra Khan was arrested shortly after the ruling was issued.

Source: Al Jazeera