From the country’s top sports star to Pakistani judiciary’s most wanted former prime minister, Imran Khan.
Khan made his first real steps in politics in April 1996 when he founded a party called Justice and Justice Movement (Movement for Justice), whose slogan was justice and humanity, and ran in the general election a year after launching his party to defeat with all the candidates from his party, and he did not get a single seat. However, in parliament he continued to march.
Khan then supported a military coup led by retired general Pervez Musharraf in 1999, but later opposed it, claiming he did nothing to fight corruption.
In the 2002 elections, Khan officially entered the Pakistani parliament, his party won the one seat that was his share, and he was one of the most prominent opponents of the late military president Pervez Musharraf and critics of Pakistan’s pro-American policies, so he was placed under house arrest until until he resigned from parliament in 2007, along with a number of opponents of Pervez Musharraf, on the pretext that his policies violated Pakistan’s constitution.
In the 2013 elections, his party became one of the most prominent Pakistani political parties, and he was accused of supporting the army and security services after Musharraf left. In these elections, the party won 30 seats in parliament and became the second largest party. in parliament after the ruling Muslim League, which received an absolute majority.
During the previous reign of Nawaz Sharif, Khan organized marches, protests and sit-ins, called for the overthrow of the government and called on the army and military to do so.
Regarding his relationship with the army and the judiciary, Khan earned the enmity of these people after marginalizing the parties.
Khan was close to the military and as a result, he came to power in the 2018 elections when the mainstream parties accused the military of supporting Imran Khan, which was rejected by both Khan and the military.
In addition to these accusations, Khan came to power and became prime minister, but gradually relations between him and the military establishment deteriorated for many reasons, the most important of which are: Khan’s attempt to determine the budget of the army, the discrepancies between his vision and what the military establishment for some international issues, including Afghanistan, as well as for other reasons. Others contributed to the deterioration of relations between the two parties, which led to the overthrow of the Khan’s government by depriving him of confidence in parliament in April last year, and as a result, the Alliance for Democracy came to power and Shahbaz Sharif became prime minister.
In addition, the khan’s anger towards the government and the military establishment did not subside, and he publicly claimed that it was the military establishment that overthrew his government and began to mobilize the people and demand early elections, which would not be in the interests of the government. due to the deterioration of the living and economic situation, which may tip the balance in favor of the khan against the allied parties in the government.
Notably, in the midst of ongoing political conflict, Pakistan is facing a severe economic crisis.
The government is trying to reach an agreement with the International Monetary Fund to restart a $6.5 billion lending program that has stalled since November to keep the economy afloat.
The fund presented a series of conditions in exchange for a $1.1 billion loan, including liberalizing the rupiah’s exchange rate and raising taxes.
Khan was also active in social, humanitarian and scientific activities, and among his notable works was the establishment in 1994 of the Shaukat Khanum Cancer Hospital named after his mother, which is considered one of the largest hospitals in Asia. and in April of the same year, he founded the “Namala Technical College” in the Mianwali district, i.e. Social actions, as his opponents say, were aimed at expanding his influence and paving the way for him to enter the world of politics, but those actions were widely recognition among the Pakistani people.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, dozens of security officials and Khan supporters were injured in clashes between the two sides as security forces tried to reach Khan’s home.