Sunday, February 9, 2025
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How Imran Khan Became a Symbol of Resistance in Pakistan

Imran Khan became the 22nd PM of Pakistan in 2018. He also formed the government in two provinces, Punjab, the largest province of Pakistan population-wise, and Frontier and sensitive province KPK which has a border with Afghanistan and is the most affected region of Pakistan regarding terror attacks.

Imran Khan

Before becoming the PM, Imran Khan was popular among the masses of Pakistan because he was the captain of the 1992 cricket World Cup winning team. He was also well-known in the Western world because of his fame in sports. He formed the Political Party named Pakistan Tehreek Insaaf (PTI) in 1996, which eventually became successful in coming into power in 2018 after a political struggle of 22 years.

Let’s start with the fascinating story of the sudden fall of Imran Khan and his rebirth from the ashes of adversity.

PM Khan’s Historic Visit to Russia

The Russian visit of PM Imran Khan was arranged almost eight months ago, it was the first visit by any PM of Pakistan to Russia in the last two decades, and the foreign office of Pakistan was optimistic about this visit. Imran Khan reached Russia on 23 Feb 2022, but the irony of fate is that the next day, Putin launched the invasion of Ukraine while the important visit was in progress. This gave the wrong impression of Khan to the West, but Khan said that my visit was for the 220 million Pakistanis and I had nothing to do with the Ukraine war. We would stay neutral like India, just allow us the luxury to remain neutral.

Fall of Khan’s Government

When Imran Khan returned to Pakistan, political chaos awaited him. 20 MNA’s (Members of the National Assembly) of his party shift their loyalty towards the opposition alliance of 13 parties, The Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM). MQM and BAP Parties, allies of the Khan-led PTI government, also left the government. After that, PDM filed the Vote of No Confidence motion in the national assembly of Pakistan on 8 March 2022.

Khan announced that he will address the public gatherings in Islamabad on 27 March 2022. In his speech, he claimed that he possessed the diplomatic cable of the USA in which they have shown a desire to oust me, and revealed the USA threat that if VONC (Vote of No Confidence) failed, then there would be consequences to the State of Pakistan. In his speech, he also gave a clue that Pakistan’s military establishment is also behind the toppling of his government as they imposed four martial laws and were indirectly involved in overthrowing many governments in Pakistan.

Imran Khan and Vladimir Putin

On 3 April 2022, the Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly of Pakistan dismissed the VONC motion against Imran Khan and wrote a letter to the Supreme Court to investigate the matter of diplomatic cable. But, Supreme Court declared the ruling of the Deputy Speaker null and void