The true protagonists in the February 8 national polls in Pakistan were two individuals — Army Chief General Asim Munir and former Prime Minister and founder of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) party, Imran Khan. Munir used all levers of state power from behind the scenes and through other institutions and individuals to try to grind Khan into electoral dust. With results of 250 of the 266 general seats contested in the elections announced so far, it is certain, that he has failed to do so.
Archiv: Imran Khan
Delays spoil the party for PTI backed independents
Even after a lapse of more than seven hours, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has not given any reason for the delay leading to the expression of suspicions from contesting parties.
Prior to the elections, the electoral watchdog had introduced a new system called the Election Management System (EMS) to organize the results, but so far, the performance of the system has belied the ECP claims.
Twitter down in Pakistan after ‘controversial election under internet blackout’
ISLAMABAD: Social media platform ‘X’ is down across Pakistan as reported by Netblocks, on Saturday.
“Live metrics show a nation scale disruption X/Twitter across Pakistan: The incident come amid political turmoil after controversial election held under an internet and mobile network blackout”. the post on ‘X’ by Netblocks read.
Delays, deals, nepo babies, trends and vote rigging: Five takeaways from Pakistan’s elections
Candidates observing the count at polling stations said they saw significant leads suddenly disappear or results that were announced in their favor only to be reversed to declare an opponent the winner. They said they were marched off polling station grounds or barred from entering once voting ended and that polling agents were stopped from collecting results.
The majority of irregularities and impediments were reported by independent candidates backed by imprisoned ex-premier Imran Khan’s party.
Nawaz Sharif declares victory in Pakistan‘s election, despite failing to win a majority of seats
Mr Sharif‘s party won the most seats by a single party in Thursday‘s election, but supporters of imprisoned former prime minister Mr Khan, who ran as independents instead of as a single bloc after his party was barred from the polls, won the most seats overall.
In shock result, allies of jailed ex-leader Khan win most seats in Pakistan election
(Updated 3:01 AM EST, Sat February 10, 2024)
Khan’s opponent, former Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, claimed that his PMLN party had emerged with the largest share. He admitted that his party did not have the “majority to form a government” and was looking for coalition partners.
Sharif, who once saw one of his terms end in a military coup, is considered by analysts to be favored by the country’s military establishment. The military has previously denied backing Sharif.
Pakistan: Election-day internet shutdown is a reckless attack on people’s rights
(08.02.2024)
On 6 February, Amnesty International and other members of the #KeepItOn coalition — a global network of over 300 organisations from 105 countries working to end internet shutdowns — wrote to the caretaker Prime Minister Mr Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar and Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja, to ensure unfettered access to the internet, social media platforms, and all other communication channels throughout Pakistan’s general election.
Pakistani authorities have already imposed multiple shutdowns that violated the rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly, including of opposition leaders and parties, during this election cycle.
After the whole system has been sent in panic mode by #MassiveTurnout for PTI, they have stopped the results and now filling alternate Form 45. Pakistanis, protect your vote by going back to polling stations to get results before they change the results.
We have heard that they are planning to tell PTI Polling Agents and supporters to collect Form 45 from another location e.g. Election Commission office. All polling agents and supporters are requested to stay at the Polling Station as per Rules, this is where Form 45 shall be given. Stay peaceful as they might try to create chaos to push people away.
#ProtectTheVote #RespectTheVote
Despite every possible method employed to undermine the will of the people, our people have spoken via #MassiveTurnout for vote today. As we have repeatedly stated, „no force can defeat an idea whose time has come.“ It is now critical to guard the vote by getting Form 45.
Despite jailing and sidelining, Imran Khan’s party leading
Imran Khan complicated the possibility of Washington providing moral support, even if it were inclined, by framing his removal from office through a vote of no confidence as a U.S.-backed regime change conspiracy. This move heightened anti-American sentiment in the country.
Pakistan elections are a sham without Imran Khan
It is election day in Pakistan. But in the world’s fifth largest democracy, people are not able to vote for the most popular leader, former Prime Minister Imran Khan, who cannot contest elections after having been disbarred. Khan will spend today – and potentially 14 more years – in jail. So how did the situation get so bad and what lies ahead?
Khan and his party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), are leading in opinion surveys, but their electoral symbol has been banned, and observers are predicting that the vote will be a fait accompli for former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif of the Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N).
Pakistan’s former premier Imran Khan and wife convicted of marriage law violation in a fourth case
(04.02.2024)
Analysts say Khan’s multiple and apparently hasty convictions are seen by his party and supporters as punishment for his rhetoric against Pakistan’s powerful military leadership, which has ruled the country for half of its 76-year history. During his final months in power, Khan had broadened his fight with opponents to include the military.
Pakistan sets election for January, likely minus Imran Khan
(September 21, 2023)
The election commission has already questioned the impartiality of the caretaker government led by Kakar, who comes from a pro-military party, saying it appears to be aligned with the opponents of jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan.
As it stands, former premier Khan, the main opposition leader, cannot fight this election after he was barred from public office for five years after a corruption investigation.
Did US ask for Imran Khan’s removal as Pakistan PM after he visited Russia?
(10 Aug 2023)
Khan was sacked from power in April 2022 after he lost a no-confidence vote in parliament. He alleged he knew of the “cypher” while he was in office which, according to him, proved the US hatched a conspiracy with the help of his political opponents and the Pakistani military to remove him.
He later made a U-turn, saying he wants good relations with the US, but continued to blame his successor Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and the military for orchestrating his removal.
Secret Pakistan Cable Documents U.S. Pressure to Remove Imran Khan
(09.08.2023)
One month after the meeting with U.S. officials documented in the leaked Pakistani government document, a no-confidence vote was held in Parliament, leading to Khan’s removal from power. The vote is believed to have been organized with the backing of Pakistan’s powerful military. Since that time, Khan and his supporters have been engaged in a struggle with the military and its civilian allies, whom Khan claims engineered his removal from power at the request of the U.S.
The text of the Pakistani cable, produced from the meeting by the ambassador and transmitted to Pakistan, has not previously been published. The cable, known internally as a “cypher,” reveals both the carrots and the sticks that the State Department deployed in its push against Khan, promising warmer relations if Khan was removed, and isolation if he was not.
چیئرمین عمران خان کا خصوصی پیغام (گرفتاری کے امکان کے پیشِ نظر یہ خصوصی بیان پہلے سے ریکارڈ شدہ ہے)
چیئرمین پاکستان تحریک انصاف عمران خان کا خصوصی پیغام (گرفتاری کے امکان کے پیشِ نظر یہ خصوصی بیان پہلے سے ریکارڈ شدہ ہے)
Imran Khan’s pre-recorded video goes viral after his arrest in Toshakhana case
The clip, which was recorded before much-anticipated arrest, was shared by PTI accounts as the arrest of popular politician holds potential of changing country’s political landscape.
In the 2-minute clip, the ousted PM said ‚My dear Pakistanis, this clip of mine will reach you by the time I got arrested in an unlawful case.‘
Pakistan’s Imran Khan sentenced to three years in prison, arrested
In a video recorded before his arrest and posted on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, Khan called on his supporters to take to the streets in protest.
“I only have one request, one appeal for you. You must not sit quietly inside your homes. The struggle I am doing is not for my own self, it’s for my nation, for you. For the future of your children,” he said.
“If you don’t stand up for your rights, you will live lives of slaves and slaves don’t have a life.”
Two of our senior members from the negotiations committee I had formed, Pervez Khattak and Asad Qaiser, were called for a meeting by the intelligence agencies. They have now been illegally detained in a safe house and are being forced to quit PTI for their release.
(Jun 1, 2023)
In the law of jungle, might is right and the weak have no protection.
Today the oppression and repression of all martial laws has been surpassed. There’s a complete crackdown on PTI plus anyone who dares to criticise the blatant violations of all fundamental rights of our citizen. Jibran Nasir‘s abduction only reinforces the fact that we are headed to the Nazi Germany era post 1933.
(02.06.2023)
Imran Khan finally leaves IHC premises after hours-long drama
Khan was at the IHC for hours after he decided to stay within the court’s premises till he got a written verdict of his bail as he feared that the police might arrest him again once he got out.
When he got the written order, Khan tried to leave, but a police officer told Khan — a former prime minister who was ousted through a no-confidence move last year in April — that he had „orders from above“ to not allow the PTI chief to leave the IHC premises.
“Open Islamabad’s routes within 15 minutes or I will announce my next plan of action,” Khan had told police officers stationed at the high court for security. After his assistance, senior police officers reached the IHC, ended the deadlock between PTI and the law enforcers, and allowed Khan to leave.
Imran Khan’s video message.
Breaking News Imran Khan has released a video message calling for a protest.
Imran Khan will address the nation as soon as he leaves the court.
عمران خان کورٹ روم نمبر 2 سے کورٹ روم نمبر 4 جارہے ہیں ایک اور درخواست پر سماعت وہاں ہوگی۔۔!!!
Islamabad Court granted 2 weeks bail to Imran Khan #imranKhanPTI #bail
Pakistan court orders ex-PM Imran Khan’s release
A Pakistani court has granted a two-week bail to former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, who was arrested earlier this week.
The Islamabad High Court on Friday granted the bail to the country’s main opposition leader arrested by the country’s National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Tuesday.
Imran Khan reaches IHC amid strict security
Former prime minister Imran Khan arrived in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Friday in line with the Supreme Court’s orders for bail in multiple cases, including Al-Qadir Trust case.
The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman was brought to IHC from the rest house of Police Line Headquarters amid tight security as a huge number of his supporters have gathered there.
Imran Khan, Pakistan’s Ex-Leader, Is Arrested
(May 9, 2023)
Mr. Khan and his supporters deny the charges, characterizing them as a misuse of the justice system by the government, led by Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif, and the military to keep him out of politics. Political and military leaders deny those claims.
The tensions surrounding Mr. Khan broke into violence in November, when he was wounded during a rally after an unidentified man opened fire on his convoy, in what aides have called an assassination attempt. In recent months, Mr. Khan has accused a senior intelligence official of playing a role in that shooting.
Top Pak Army General Involved In Senior Journalist‘s Murder: Imran Khan
(May 07, 2023)
Arshad Sharif, who was critical of the Army, was killed in Kenya last October as he fled the country citing threats to his life from the security agencies.
The killing of the investigative journalist by police in Kenya caused outrage in Pakistan.
Kenya‘s police, in an initial report, had said the 49-year-old was shot dead in a moving vehicle in a case of mistaken identity.
Khan, 71, had earlier accused Gen Naseer along with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah of an assassination attempt on his life in November last year in Punjab province‘s Wazirabad wherein he received three bullets in his leg.
PTI rejects Mohsin Naqvi‘s appointment as Punjab caretaker CM
(January 22, 2023)
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Fawad Chaudhry took a jibe at the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to appoint PML-N’s nominee Syed Mohsin Raza Naqvi as Punjab caretaker chief minister saying that the electoral watchdog never failed to disappoint. (…)
He called on party workers to prepare, saying that a large campaign would be launched under the leadership of party chief Imran Khan.
My condolences & prayers go to the Govt & people of Afghanistan for the loss of lives suffered in the earthquake. I have asked the KP Govt to especially facilitate provision of all medical assistance.
Wishing all our Christian citizens a happy Easter.
What happened in Punjab Assembly was condemnable & against all democratic norms & constitutional provisions. No one was in the Chair conducting the supposed elections – a total violation of all norms. We reject this sham mafia-captured „elections“
Tens of thousands of people turned out in Karachi to protest against the removal of former Prime Minister Imran Khan from power. Imran Khan has accused the US of being behind his downfall because he asked Russia for economic help.
Pakistan: Key players behind PM Imran Khan’s removal
The brother of three-time prime minister Nawaz Sharif – who has been disqualified from ever again running for office and is currently in exile in Britain – Shehbaz is the main candidate to replace Khan.
Why Pakistan’s Leader Is Facing the Risk of Ouster
(April 8, 2022)
Pakistan’s military has outsized power for a country conceived as a democracy. There have been three successful military coups. When Khan became prime minister, it was only the second time since Pakistan achieved independence in 1947 that a civilian administration had transferred power to another. Even when elected governments have ruled, the military, especially the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency, has played a forceful role.
(…)
Khan, who has been critical of the U.S. while seeking better relations with Russia and China, has said he would continue to pursue an “independent” foreign policy. His opponents have vowed to improve ties with the U.S. and Europe if they win.
Imran Khan attempted to sack Pakistan army chief Gen Bajwa: Report
According to BBC Urdu, “two uninvited guests” reached the Prime Minister’s House, which was blanketed in extraordinary security, by helicopter on Saturday night and met Khan in private for about 15 minutes. An hour before this meeting, Khan had ordered the removal of a senior official who was at the meeting, the report said.
However, an official notification was not issued by the defence ministry for dismissing this senior official and appointing his successor, “thus thwarting the Prime Minister’s House’s attempt at a ‘revolutionary’ change”, the report said
US asked Pakistan not to proceed with Prime Minister Imran Khan’s visit to Russia: Qureshi
Qureshi talked major foreign policy issues, especially the alleged regime change being plotted by the US in Pakistan.
“Today Pakistan is standing at a historic juncture and the people need to decide whether they want to live in an independent state or become slaves [to the West],” the 65-year-old politician said, acknowledging that today might be his last day as the foreign minister of Pakistan.
Imran Khan ousted as Pakistan Prime Minister
The no-confidence motion, which required 172 votes in the 342-seat parliament to pass, was supported by 174 lawmakers.
The assembly will now appoint a new prime minister.
That person will be able to hold power until October 2023 when the next election is due to be held.
Earlier today I spoke with EU Council President @CharlesMichel about the Ukraine situation. Shared concern over continued military conflict, highlighted its adverse economic impact on developing countries, stressed urgent need for ceasefire & de-escalation.
(07.03.2022)
Khan duels with EU on Russia-Ukraine ‘neutrality’
Many analysts attribute Pakistan’s “neutrality” in the Ukrainian crisis to the country’s growing military and economic dependence on China, which is an ally of Russia. Beijing has refused to refer to Russia’s intervention in Ukraine as an “invasion” and blamed the US and West for precipitating the crisis.
Pakistan, Russia to ‘coordinate’ positions on Afghanistan
Pakistani PM Imran Khan and Russia’s Vladimir Putin hold talks ‘focused on the need for peace and stability’ in Afghanistan.
Peace in Afghanistan to enhance regional connectivity: Pakistani PM
An Afghan parliamentary delegation, headed by Rahmani, arrived in Pakistan on Friday to discuss relations between the two parliaments and Pakistan‘s role in the Afghan peace process, and also to boost economic ties.
Seize ‘historic moment’, Pakistan tells Kabul, Taliban
“I warmly welcome the announcement regarding commencement of Intra-Afghan Negotiations on 12 September 2020. Finally, our combined efforts have brought forth the day that the Afghan people have been yearning for,” Prime Minister Khan said.
Shows the fascist mindset of the Indian govt‘s RSS ideology that has continued the siege of IOJK for over 100 days, subjecting Kashmiris to the worst violation of their human rights while the powerful countries remain silent bec of their trading interests.
Kartarpur Corridor, Imran Khan Adds Kashmir Sting to Formal Ceremony
(9.11.2019) On his first ever visit to Pakistan after he left his village of Gah as a young boy during Partition, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said, “It is a good thing for both countries that the corridor has opened after a demand of 72 years”.
Pakistan’s PM leaves for Iran, Saudi Arabia to ease tensions
Khan will meet Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Hassan Rouhani. This is Khan’s second visit to Tehran this year. He also had a bilateral meeting with Rouhani on the sidelines of the UN summit in New York last month.
Khan will later travel to Riyadh after his talks with Iranian leaders.
USA now wants India to rapidly lift Kashmir restrictions
Trump met separately this week with both Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, who are both due to address the UN General Assembly on Friday.
PM Imran Khan Press Conference at United Nations Headquarter | 24 Sep 2019
24.9.2019