 "Imran Khan")
Cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan is getting ready to create a condition in Pakistan that could make or break the government led by Nawaz Sharif. And, the country's army is watching. On Wednesday, Islamabad will be in a lockdown called by Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf party to protest what it terms the corruption and nepotism of Sharif. Khan's terms for calling off the stir? Either Sharif submit to an investigation under terms agreeable to the opposition or step down immediately.
With army chief General Raheel Sharif set to retire on November 28, it is possible the sit-in might aid in changing his mind about riding into the sunset, as he reckons he'd done such a splendid job of crushing terrorism via the Zarb-e-Azb, the campaign to quell insurgency in Waziristan. The government has offered, the Islamabad chatterati says, to make him Field Marshal, an offer he has turned down. Maybe keeping bigger targets in his sights.
The government meanwhile is not twiddling its thumbs. Last week, Mushtaq Ahmed, the capital city's top administrator, outlawed gatherings of five or more people, display of firearms by anyone other than security forces and the use of loudspeakers in public for two months. Imran Khan has said he will defy the order - and, the protests would force the closure of schools, public offices, roads into the capital and the airport, until Sharif resigned or agreed to be investigated.
Leaked documents from the Panama-based Mossack-Fonseca law firm appear to show Sharif's daughter and two sons own offshore holding companies registered in the British Virgin Islands. Sharif's family deny wrongdoing. Holding offshore companies is not illegal in Pakistan but Khan has implied the money was gained through corruption. Khan acknowledged in May that he used an offshore company to legally avoid paying British tax on a London property sale.
The issue is not corruption. It is the legitimacy of the Sharif government and the army's sense of alienation from it. The general impression is if an election were to be held tomorrow (they are due in May 2018), the results would not be too different from today. Sharif has used kid gloves while handling the army but has lately been getting a bit too assertive, as Dawn journalist Cyril Almeida informed us. This sort of thing is as rare in Pakistan as hurricanes in Hampshire.
Khan is seen as a proxy of the army, though he has loudly denied such charges. That is why the timing of the challenge thrown by him is interesting. Whether Nawaz Sharif will treat Imran Khan's rally as an assertion by the army or simply as another law-and-order problem will tell us how seriously he is taking the sit-in. Either way, Pakistan is set for a troubled phase for at least 30 days.
