It looks like the usual story is being played out in neighbouring Pakistan. Come national elections, the Army’s overarching influence becomes too glaring to ignore. As Pakistan, steeped in multiple crises impacting political, social, and economic spheres, gears up for the 8 February elections, a familiar drama, scripted and directed by the Rawalpindi bosses, is being played out. Like any predictable television soap, no one is surprised at the twists and turns that it offers. The back-to-back convictions handed out to Imran Khan, the fall guy of the Army, in corruption cases are part of a larger game to keep him and his party, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf out of electoral contention and potentially out of politics.
As a result, the poll outcome has become too predictable. In fact, it would be appropriate to call it ‘selection’, instead of election, as the ground is being prepared for the return of Nawaz Sharif at the helm. It was a role reversal five years ago when Khan, the cricket legend-turned-politician, was the blue-eyed boy of the Army while Sharif was its bête noire. In tune with the script, Sharif was removed from office in 2017 and sent to jail, while Khan, dubbed ‘Taliban Khan’ by his critics for supporting the terror outfit, walked away with crowning glory in what was widely seen as manipulated elections in 2018. Now it is Sharif who is soon going to be the political boss of Pakistan with the support of the Army while Khan, along with his wife, is in jail for alleged corruption.