ISLAMABAD: Former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan has written a letter to the chief of the country’s powerful army, General Asim Munir, and urged him to reconsider existing policies to end political instability in the country, Khan’s lawyer said on Monday.
The development comes amid renewed political tensions between Khan-led opposition and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s government in Pakistan, following the breakdown of weeks-long talks between the two sides. Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party accuses the government of causing the breakdown by failing to release political prisoners and establish judicial commissions to investigate violent protests of May 9, 2023, and Nov. 26, 2024. The government says Khan’s party walked away from the talks “unilaterally” before they had a chance to address the PTI’s demands.
Khan’s ouster in a parliamentary no-trust vote in 2022 has plunged Pakistan into a political crisis, particularly since he was jailed in August 2023 on corruption and other charges and remains behind bars. His PTI party and supporters have regularly held protests calling for his release, with many of the demonstrations turning violent.
Speaking to reporters in Rawalpindi, Khan’s lawyer Faisal Chaudhry said the ex-premier has detailed six points in his letter, which he considers the reasons behind a growing divide between the country’s armed forces and the Pakistani people, and says that a change in current policies was the “need of the hour.”
“The first of all reasons, according to Imran Khan, is the rigging of Feb. 8, [2024] election,” he said. “This is the first point due to which a gulf was created between people and the institutions [armed forces].”
Pakistan held its general election on Feb. 8, 2024 that was marred by a mobile Internet shutdown and unusually delayed results. The polls threw up a hung National Assembly and were followed by weeks of protests by opposition parties over allegations of rigging and vote count fraud. The government and election authorities deny any systematic rigging of polls.
Khan last month called on his party’s members and supporters from all walks of life to mark Feb. 8 as a “Black Day” and hold protests across the country to protest alleged rigging of last year’s polls.
“Second, the judiciary in Pakistan has been controlled under the 26th constitutional amendment and the 26th constitutional amendment was brought to bulldoze justice system in the country,” Chaudhry said as he quoted Khan, saying the amendment was aimed at providing a cover to the “election fraud.”
The amendment empowered parliament to pick the country’s top judge among other changes.
The lawyer also said Khan’s letter mentioned among other things the recent amendments to the Pakistan Electronic Crimes Act (PECA) that he said were aimed at stifling dissent on social media, a crackdown on his party’s members and supporters, violation of various court orders, and alleged threats to judges and journalists that were widening the divide between the armed forces and the Pakistani people.
Khan fell out with Pakistan army’s top leaders in the lead-up to his ouster from the PM’s office, and has since led an unprecedented campaign of defiance against the all-powerful army, which has ruled the South Asian country for nearly half of its 75-year history, and even when not in power, it is considered the invisible guiding hand in politics. The army has in recent years said it no longer interferes in politics.
Tensions between Khan’s PTI and the army further heightened after Khan’s brief arrest on May 9, 2023, in a land graft case that sparked countrywide protests, with PTI supporters attacking and ransacking military installations in an unprecedented backlash against the army.
The military has called the day of the protests a “Black Day” and vowed to punish those involved. Since then, thousands of Khan’s supporters have been arrested and dozens of his top party members have defected after they faced increasing pressure from the military establishment to do so, according to his supporters. The army denies it.
“Policies need to be changed swiftly and they should be kept in accordance with the constitution and law, so that political instability in the country may end and the country may move toward stability,” Khan’s lawyer said.
“As long as these policies are not changed, it is difficult for the country to reach a point of stability.”
Ex-PM Khan urges Pakistan army chief to reconsider policies to end political instability
https://arab.news/46k3g
Ex-PM Khan urges Pakistan army chief to reconsider policies to end political instability
- The development comes amid renewed political tensions between Imran Khan-led opposition and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s government in Pakistan
- Pakistan’s army has ruled the country for nearly half of its history, though it has denied in recent years that it no longer interferes in the country’s politics
Pakistan terms climate change, demographic pressures as ‘pressing existential risks’
- Pakistan has suffered frequent climate change-induced disasters, including floods this year that killed over 1,000
- Pakistan finmin highlights stabilization measures at Doha Forum, discusses economic cooperation with Qatar
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb on Saturday described climate change and demographic pressures as “pressing existential risks” facing the country, calling for urgent climate financing.
The finance minister was speaking as a member of a high-level panel at the 23rd edition of the Doha Forum, which is being held from Dec. 6–7 in the Qatari capital. Aurangzeb was invited as a speaker on the discussion titled: ‘Global Trade Tensions: Economic Impact and Policy Responses in MENA.’
“He reaffirmed that while Pakistan remained vigilant in the face of geopolitical uncertainty, the more pressing existential risks were climate change and demographic pressures,” the Finance Division said.
Pakistan has suffered repeated climate disasters in recent years, most notably the 2022 super-floods that submerged one-third of the country, displaced millions and caused an estimated $30 billion in losses.
This year’s floods killed over 1,000 people and caused at least $2.9 billion in damages to agriculture and infrastructure. Scientists say Pakistan remains among the world’s most climate-vulnerable nations despite contributing less than 1 percent of global greenhouse-gas emissions.
Aurangzeb has previously said climate change and Pakistan’s fast-rising population are the only two factors that can hinder the South Asian country’s efforts to become a $3 trillion economy in the future.
The finance minister noted that this year’s floods in Pakistan had shaved at least 0.5 percent off GDP growth, calling for urgent climate financing and investment in resilient infrastructure.
When asked about Pakistan’s fiscal resilience and capability to absorb external shocks, Aurangzeb said Islamabad had rebuilt fiscal buffers. He pointed out that both the primary fiscal balance and current account had returned to surplus, supported significantly by strong remittance inflows of $18–20 billion annually from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) and Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) regions.
Separately, Aurangzeb met his Qatari counterpart Ali Bin Ahmed Al Kuwari to discuss bilateral cooperation.
“Both sides reaffirmed their commitment to strengthening economic ties, particularly by maximizing opportunities created through the newly concluded GCC–Pakistan Free Trade Agreement, expanding trade flows, and deepening energy cooperation, including long-term LNG collaboration,” the finance ministry said.
The two also discussed collaboration on digital infrastructure, skills development and regulatory reform. They agreed to establish structured mechanisms to continue joint work in trade diversification, technology, climate resilience, and investment facilitation, the finance ministry said.
