Despite mass protests by supporters of Imran Khan (pictured), Pakistan now has a new prime minister — Shahbaz Sharif. In his inauguration speech, he stated that he would maintain the strategic alliance with Turkey. «Pakistan and Turkey are two countries with eternal ties. Under the leadership of Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey has achieved unprecedented success. When it comes to the Kashmir issue, Turkey has always been in the forefront. Our bilateral relations will move forward,» the new Pakistani prime minister said.
The Turkish leader, in turn, called the new Pakistani prime minister to congratulate him on his election and supported his stance, saying, «I am confident that under your leadership, the brotherly relations between Pakistan and Turkey will be strengthened.
Such relations between the two key states in the Muslim political sphere, regardless of who is in power, are gratifying. However, the situation with the dismissal of Imran Khan is disappointing and needs to be commented. Imran Khan is a person who entered Pakistani politics with its established party-clan system and managed to revolutionize it. As a talented person from a humble family, his success in cricket in the Pakistani college team allowed him to move to the global center of the sport — the United Kingdom, where he continued his sports career. And in 1992, something happened that made him a hero in his homeland — the Pakistan national team, with him as captain, became world cricket champions for the first time.
This gave him moral and financial capital, which he decided to use to change his country. In 1994, he began his political career with Muhammad Ali Durani, a former leader of the youth wing of the Islamic Jamaat (Jamaat-e-Islami). And in 1996, he created his own Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (Pakistan Movement for Justice), which began to oppose all existing political forces, criticizing corruption and clanism.
In general, Imran Khan is practically a Pakistani Saakashvili or, if you like, Navalny, but one who managed to come to power. And he did so thanks to Pakistan’s Maidan — the street revolution of 2013 that became a springboard for his party’s powerful entry into parliament after many years of stagnation. This paved the way for his victory in the 2018 elections.
It is all the more saddening that Imran Khan’s ouster comes against a backdrop not only of accusations of failure in the fight against corruption, but also of a controversial rapprochement with a politician who is the complete opposite of the Maidan and anti-corruption movements and a fighter against them. Of course, we are talking about Putin, whom Imran Khan visited in the Kremlin after he had already started his aggression against Ukraine and hastened to announce that Pakistan would not join the sanctions against Russia. And now this story is about the fact that in politics not only pragmatism is needed, but also discernment and a sense of proportion.
For example, many closed their eyes to the fact that by appealing to Islam and even adopting the model of the Prophet’s (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) community in Medina, Imran Khan was actually supporting China’s policy towards the Uyghurs. After all, the main threat to Pakistan since its inception has come from India, and in recent years, against the backdrop of events in Afghanistan, Pakistan, which has been accused of supporting the Afghan Taliban, has seriously deteriorated its relations with the United States.
In such a situation, it is understandable that Imran Khan, with his ambitions for new development projects, had nowhere else to turn and had to turn to China. Incidentally, when we wrote about the trend of the United States’ gradual withdrawal from the Islamic world in recent years, the story of Imran Khan confirmed this. After all, not only his strained relations with the United States, but also an even closer alliance with China slipped through his fingers.
But a demonstrative visit to Russia, which attacked the largest European country? This is practically support for the main state — an international terrorist organization from which even China, which uses it to its advantage, is trying to carefully distance itself. And besides, Pakistan is not China, and if an alliance with a world evil that still manages to stay within the frameworks of international law slipped through its fingers, then an alliance with what has now become a challenge to the entire international order is too much.
And why should a politician who began his career supporting the jihad in Afghanistan form an alliance with the direct heirs and successors of those he fought against? The defender of Muslims — with their executioners in Chechnya, Syria, and other places (as if a compromise on the Uighurs was not enough)? Finally, a fighter against corruption who came to power through a popular revolution — with a corrupt tyrant who fears all similar revolutions in his country as a possible example.
In general, Imran Khan may have become a victim of Putin’s toxicity, which has finally drowned him, adding weight to the burden of internal problems that were already dragging him down recently. This has become a lesson for others — it is better to stay away from this toxic character.
As for Imran Khan, the mass rallies of his supporters showed that he still has support. Therefore, it is hoped that he will use it for good and not incur the wrath of not only the world around him, but more importantly, the wrath of the Lord of the Worlds.