Project Imran Khan was allegedly an unofficial political project of the Pakistani military establishment to launch the cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan as a mainstream national leader and his party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf as the third force in the country along with Pakistan Muslim League (N) and Pakistan People's Party. The project started in 2011 and ended in 2022 with the no-confidence motion against Imran Khan.

Background

Since the 1958 Pakistani military coup, the armed forces have been playing an active role in politics both directly in the case of martial law and indirectly by creating, promoting, and supporting favorite politicians and political parties. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Nawaz Sharif, and several other politicians were members or products of the military establishment in one way or another.[1][2][3]

History

The Project Imran Khan was initiated in 2011 by Ahmad Shuja Pasha, the Director-General of Inter-Services Intelligence. After his retirement in 2012, the project was taken forward by the Pasha's successor Zaheer-ul-Islam and allegedly used Imran Khan to force Nawaz Sharif's to resign from the government. Imran Khan's march towards Islamabad in 2014 and then the dharna at D Chowk was also allegedly the result of ISI's planning but it failed. After the retirement of Zaheer-ul-Islam, the file of Project Imran Khan was temporarily closed.[4][5][6][7]

The file was reopened when General Qamar Javed Bajwa became the Army Chief. Bajwa and the establishment allegedly favored Khan in the 2018 Elections. The relaunch of Project Imran Khan in 2018 was aimed at bringing many constitutional and political reforms in the country. Khan, on the other hand, began working on his agenda of "cleansing the country from corrupt politicians", something his rivals claimed was solely political victimisation.. </ref> [8][9]

Failure and unforeseen consequences

In 2019, differences between Bajwa and Khan began to arise. Bajwa wanted the removal of Faiz Hameed as the DG ISI but Khan refused to do so.[4] Also, the Chinese government was reportedly unhappy working with Khan's team on the CPEC project.[10] The rumor was later denied by Chinese spokesperson Zhao Lijian, who was quoted, "So-called claim that little has been achieved and no programme was approved over the past three and half years… is pure disinformation," he said. "Over the three and a half years under the framework, many livelihood projects have been approved and implemented, delivering tangible benefits."[11] Khan was later ousted in the No-confidence motion against Imran Khan, which was facilitated by the Pakistan Army. [12]

Khan blamed Bajwa and the army for the removal of his government, and PTI supporters started a huge social media campaign, mainly on twitter with trends being there for days, against the army and ISI. Bajwa retired on 29 November 2022 but Khan continued to criticize the army leadership. In fact, PTI supporters had declared him as their 'red line'. Therefore, when he was arrested on 9 May 2023, his supporters initiated a violent protest that had been seen never before in the political history of Pakistan. They entered the cantonment areas and burned a Corps Commander's house in Lahore. The angry protestors shook the GHQ's gate and upset the statues of decorated soldiers.[13][14] This all was more than enough for the army and its newly appointed chief Asim Munir.[15][16] Hence, a country-wide crackdown against PTI was started and thousands of its supporters were arrested on the charges of anti-state activities.[17][18][19][20] Though Khan and his supporters claim that the events of 9 may were pre-planned and perported by the Pakistan Army to quash Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf through subsequent crackdowns and bans. [21]

References

  1. ↑ Gul, Ayaz (November 23, 2022). "Outgoing Pakistan Army Chief Admits Involvement in Politics". Voice of America.
  2. ↑ Javid, Hassan (November 23, 2014). "COVER STORY: The Army & Democracy: Military Politics in Pakistan". Dawn.
  3. ↑ Safi, Saleem (13 May 2023). "پروجیکٹ عمران کا سبق". Daily Jang (in Urdu).
  4. 1 2 Mir, Hamid (11 May 2023). "پراجیکٹ عمران خان کا انجام". Daily Jang (in Urdu).
  5. ↑ Masood, Salman (April 23, 2022). "The spectacular collapse of the Project". The Nation.
  6. ↑ Ali, Hassan (June 21, 2023). "Why Pakistan army is targeting Imran Khan's party: Project Imran". The Christian Science Monitor.
  7. ↑ Khuldune Shahid, Kunwar (April 25, 2022). "The Rise, Fall, and Rise of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf". The Diplomat.
  8. ↑
  9. ↑ Irfan Ashraf, Syed (18 May 2023). "Pakistan: What comes next in the Imran Khan saga?". Middle East Eye. The peak of "project Imran Khan" came in 2016, when General Qamar Javed Bajwa became army chief. In the months that followed, Sharif was removed from office after a legal verdict on corruption charges, indicating which way the winds would blow in the 2018 general elections. Political "turncoats" started joining Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party.
  10. ↑ "China was uncomfortable with Pakistan under Imran Khan: Reports". ANI. July 31, 2022.
  11. ↑ "China quashes disinformation about CPEC slowdown". The Express Tribune. 21 January 2022.
  12. ↑ https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/pakistan-parliament-try-again-vote-oust-pm-khan-2022-04-09/
  13. ↑ "The end of the affair: How Imran Khan went from the Pakistan Army's saviour to its nemesis". BBC. 27 May 2023.
  14. ↑ Taqi, Mohammad (30 May 2023). "Hell Hath No Fury Like the Pakistan Army Scorned". The Wire.
  15. ↑ Sharma, Sarral (June 21, 2023). "Rawalpindi gains the upper hand in troubled Pakistan". The Hindu. Negotiations are now off the table as the Army leadership swiftly dismantles the 'Imran Khan Project', which it had initiated with fanfare some years ago.
  16. ↑ Siddiqa, Ayesha (May 21, 2023). "Imran Khan cannot win back power by targeting Pakistan's military". Nikkei Asia. But for the moment, Munir has convinced himself that Khan is a botched experiment who must be kept out of the electoral process. The army leadership and its political partners are yet to calculate the cost of abandoning the project, however.
  17. ↑ Sareen, Sushant (May 17, 2023). "Crackdown on PTI, Dismantling 'Project Imran'". Observer Research Foundation.
  18. ↑ F. Paracha, Nadeem (June 11, 2023). "SMOKERS' CORNER: THE RISE AND FALL OF IMRAN KHAN". Dawn. The so-called 'Imran Khan Project' has been systematically dismantled. The dismantling was done by the same state institution that had first launched it with great fanfare – the military establishment (ME).
  19. ↑ "Imran Khan loses his battle with Pakistan's army". The Economist. 1 June 2023.
  20. ↑ Sadiq Khan, Foqia (June 13, 2023). "Why the country fails". The News International. It is apparent now that Project Imran Khan/PTI is being dismantled. Some commentators wonder whether the PTI was ever a political party. Others use the past tense for the PTI. Whether or not the PTI survives this phase or continues to wither away, it is certain that Project Imran Khan was only a manifestation.
  21. ↑ https://tribune.com.pk/story/2417736/imran-terms-may-9-mayhem-bid-to-eliminate-pti
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