The Unbroken Captain

Imran Khan’s political innings continues in defiance against Pakistan’s generals.

Imran Khan has never been one for half-measures. As a cricketer, he led Pakistan to its sole World Cup triumph in 1992, retiring at the peak of his fame. As a politician, he rebranded himself as the incorruptible outsider, promising to cleanse Pakistan’s politics of dynastic rot and military manipulation. Today, at 72, he remains both the country’s most charismatic figure and its most polarising.

His long-running clash with Pakistan’s Army and its current chief Asim Munir, has been the most dramatic in Pakistan’s long history of civil-military tussles.

Earlier this week, Pakistan’s Supreme Court threw Khan a lifeline by granting him bail in eight cases linked to the violent protests of May 9, 2023. As a yardstick of his popularity, his supporters stormed military installations and government buildings on August 22 in an eruption of fury that rattled the army’s long-unchallenged dominance in politics.

Few leaders before Imran, whether Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in the 1970s or Nawaz Sharif in the 1990s, have survived a head-on collision with the generals. Bhutto was hanged, Sharif exiled. But Khan, jailed after being ousted in 2022 and barred from public office, still dominates the national conversation. His party, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), splintered under pressure. Yet even from prison, Khan remains the rallying point for millions, his voice amplified through social media and loyalists.

The Pakistani army has long been the real arbiter of power, shaping governments and crushing those who challenged its authority. Khan himself was once its favoured protégé, elevated in 2018 with the generals’ blessing as a pliant alternative to the Sharifs and Bhuttos. But he grew unpredictable. His populist defiance of America, his refusal to toe the military’s line on foreign policy, and his unwillingness to accommodate Munir, whose appointment as army chief he initially opposed, turned an alliance into enmity. By April 2022, a parliamentary no-confidence vote, orchestrated with military backing, removed him from office.

For most Pakistani leaders, such a fall would have spelled irrelevance. Yet Khan’s resilience lies in his cultivated image as a man apart. He rails against corruption, portrays himself as a victim of elite conspiracies, and taps into an electorate weary of dynasties. His cricketing past still colours his politics when he speaks of strategy, stamina and fair play, presenting himself as a captain who will not abandon his team. His rhetoric resonates with a generation of young voters, half of whom are under 30.

The costs, however, are steep. The army has hit back hard. Khan’s imprisonment on corruption and ‘state secrets’ charges has crippled his direct participation in politics. Dozens of his allies have defected under pressure. The military establishment has sought to erase him from the electoral field. Yet poll results have proved that Khan’s charisma cannot be excised from Pakistan’s politics. His enduring popularity complicates the generals’ plans for a compliant civilian order.

History offers grim warnings. Civilian leaders who challenge the army rarely emerge unscathed. The army has repeatedly reasserted its supremacy, whether by coup or coercion. And yet, Khan’s defiance has exposed cracks in this pattern. Unlike Bhutto or Sharif, he commands a digitally savvy base that refuses to accept the military’s narrative. His image as a sporting hero, philanthropist and nationalist makes it harder for his opponents to vilify him outright.

Still, his path is fraught. Pakistan’s economy is on life support, dependent on IMF bailouts. Inflation and unemployment fuel public anger. For all Khan’s charisma, he offers little by way of policy beyond slogans of justice and sovereignty.

Yet one fact is undeniable: Imran Khan remains the centre of gravity in Pakistani politics. He is the cricketer who refuses to retire even when the umpires of Rawalpindi have already raised their finger.