Pakistan: Imran Khan jailed for 14 years [Archive] - The Project Avalon Community Forum

Spiral

6th April 2022, 18:09

This has been going on for a few days but no one seems to have posted it.

The US seems to have gone completely insane, if this was supposed to be the start of dismantling the BRICS countries it's massively back fired !

They obviously have no idea what kind of man Imran Khan is or what kind of following he has ......

Imran Khan takes on America

The government in Pakistan has alleged that Sunday's no-confidence motion to oust Prime Minister Imran Khan from power was masterminded in Washington

After a humiliating defeat in Afghanistan and loss of credibility over Ukraine, the era of US unipolarity seems to be entering its terminal phase, marked by lashing out ferociously in all directions. The most recent of these offensives occurred last week when the government of Pakistan alleged that Washington was trying to engineer regime change in Islamabad.

This time the US was caught red handed. The claim was not made via a leak or a fringe observer, but by the prime minister of Pakistan, Imran Khan, himself. While the US State Department has denied any involvement, the political drama has only just begun.

Emerging from a crucial meeting of Afghanistan’s neighbors, China’s top diplomat took a public whack at Washington’s behavior. Foreign Minister Wang Yi said that China will not allow the US to drag smaller nations into conflict and sharply rebuked the ‘US Cold War mentality.’ Beijing is determined not to allow the US to steal Pakistan from its inner circle of vital Asian partners that today include Russia, Iran, Afghanistan, and others.

On Wednesday, when a coalition partner of the governing Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party (PTI) announced its seven members would switch to the opposition, Khan essentially lost his majority in the National Assembly, consisting of 342 parliamentarians. More than a dozen of his party members also threatened to cross the political aisle.

But the Pakistani opposition had mistakenly believed that as soon as they showed their required numerical majority in the parliament, the prime minister would either step down or resign. But that is not what appears to be happening.

Instead, in the next 24 hours, the voting will begin in parliament to count the actual numbers. Many analysts see this as the end of the Khan government in Pakistan; others believe the prime minister’s hold on power will be consolidated and the opposition and their foreign underwriters will suffer a permanent blow.

If the courts entertain the government’s petition to look into the foreign meddling and bribery cases, then Khan may have more time to develop a full court reaction. In just a few days, Khan has already displayed a modest demonstration of his street power. The mood and sentiment across the social media spectrum, as of now, is lopsidedly in favor of the prime minister. Large segments of the public has loudly rallied around him as the spokesman of their aspirations, while opposition party leaders are being characterized as corrupt individuals who want to topple an elected government.

The country’s main opposition parties are the Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) and the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), both dynastic groups that ruled for decades until Khan came along with his campaign promises to root out the rampant corruption and cronyism that has plagued Pakistani politics for years.

The letter

Millions of Pakistanis poured out to see PM Khan speak on 27 March, when he alleged that “foreign powers are engineering a regime change in Pakistan.” Waving a letter drawn from his coat pocket, Khan threatened to reveal direct, written threats to Pakistan and himself.

Top cabinet members [Minister for Planning, Development, Reforms and Special Initiatives] Asad Umar and [Minister of Information] Fawad Chaudhry held a joint press conference where they revealed further details of this controversial letter. Khan then invited several members of his cabinet, media and the Pakistani security community to view the document first hand.

Government opponents dismissed Khan’s allegations outright, amidst an enormous amount of hubris and posturing soon to follow. Pakistani opposition leader Shahbaz Sharif (an aspirant for the prime minister position) proclaimed that he will jump ship and join Imran Khan if the letter is real and the PM was speaking truthfully. Similarly, prominent anti-establishment TV anchor Saleem Safi said that if the letter were real, he would retire from his position and drop out of media altogether.

But within hours, a mysterious petition was filed in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) with the Chief Justice Islamabad Athar Minallah issuing a legal opinion that Imran Khan may not share this letter in public because of his secrecy oath. Such a swift ruling could not have come from Pakistan’s highest judicial authority about a fake letter, surely?

The next day, the country’s National Security Committee (NSC) convened for a meeting. In attendance were Pakistan’s prime minister, the army chief, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) and naval chiefs, the National Security Advisor (NSA), and several other important officials.

Opposition members boycotted the meeting, but participants took a unanimous decision to reprimand the United States for its actions and ensure that Pakistan would not allow US authorities off the hook so easily. Subsequently, the Foreign Office called the acting US ambassador and reprimanded him – none of which could have conceivably been done on the pretext of a false letter."

Read the rest at https://thecradle.co/Article/analysis/8673

From telegram "Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan 🇵🇰 confirms it was Donald Lu, the United States 🇺🇸 Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs who met with Pakistani embassy officials and conveyed Joe Biden-headed NSC’s demand for a regime change in Pakistan"

"Government sources say they intend to immediately purse Article 6 (High Treason) proceedings against those involved in the foreign regime change operations. "

There is a video of a rally in support of IK on tik tok & telegram, you have never seen so many people in one camera shot !

Needless to say the Chinese have come out in strong support of Pakistan.

Maybe the worlds number one bully is about to learn a lesson ? The Nitwits at the helm certainly need one.

Bill Ryan

6th April 2022, 18:46

Spiral

6th April 2022, 18:55

Yes, fascinating, and these developments were discussed quite a few times in recent videos posted by The Duran, Alex Christoforou, and Alexander Mercouris. I've been listening to every one of those avidly, but didn't post them all on the Ukraine/WW3 thread otherwise there'd just be TMI (Too Much Information). :)

Some reading this may not know that Imran Khan was the Pakistani cricket captain (and a world-class cricketer, too), and was very much of a national hero even before he entered politics. And cricket is Pakistan's national sport, as it is in India. So that's no small thing.

When the general election is held in 90 days' time, he'll be overwhelmingly re-elected... and from here on, because of the US's attempted clumsy interference, his support will only increase.

Yup the Americans don't know anything about Cricket, it's a very unusual sport, not least because being a Gentleman above & before all else is paramount, the Pakistanis get this more that most, HK was a defacto statesman before he ever stood for office.

The US has no idea how stupid this move is.

Justplain

6th April 2022, 20:57

It's not great for optics having the communist Chinese dictatorship as your number one international backer.

Catechism

6th April 2022, 21:30

Bill Ryan

6th April 2022, 21:37

Two serious points about Imran Khan having been the Pakistani cricket captain:

Cricket (unlike soccer) is often a game of cunning and strategy (it's often compared to chess) — and yes, sometimes spread out over 5 long days. Besides his skill and flair with the the bat and the ball, Imran as captain was very, very good at that. That ability can absolutely be transferred on to other strategic situations.
He was regarded as a national hero — and still is. :muscle:

Michel Leclerc

6th April 2022, 21:40

It's not great for optics having the communist Chinese dictatorship as your number one international backer.

It depends on which side of the lens you are actually looking.

Bill Ryan

6th April 2022, 21:45

It's not great for optics having the communist Chinese dictatorship as your number one international backer.

It depends on which side of the lens you are actually looking.The view through my own lens, based on everything I believe I know and understand, is that I'm rooting for the world to become multipolar rather than unipolar.

If that means countries like Pakistan allying themselves with India, Russia and China, then that feels like good counter-NWO news to me.

bobme

6th April 2022, 23:17

Yes,the US government is insane. Yet all governments are. In most cases.

Yet at the same time, to know about A simple to understanding of any game is not so important at this time.

We are all being bent over, so to say, right now.

There are so many folks in all countrys that have no clue as to what is going on right now, as far as the political agenda goes.

So I guess The ones that do,would be excellent cricket captain also.

Love all.

shaberon

7th April 2022, 05:09

The view through my own lens, based on everything I believe I know and understand, is that I'm rooting for the world to become multipolar rather than unipolar.

If that means countries like Pakistan allying themselves with India, Russia and China, then that feels like good counter-NWO news to me.

That is pretty much how I see it, even though it is "my system" that is the "unipole", it simply must be annihilated.

"Pakistan" is about as artificial of a country as there could be, it was made to make problems.

Regardless, people live there, and all they need to do is drop a Jihadist mentality against their Hindu neighbors and vice-versa, and there would not be much need to live under red alert.

Since the U. S. gave Afghanistan back to the Taliban, you know that if they had usurped Mr. Khan, they would have returned it to whatever was left of his party around 2040.

Now that he has something in common with Turkey, that makes a large, continuous swath of mid eastern countries that would like for the U. S. to utterly exit the region. Where are they holding out? Babylon??

I mean that physically is the ongoing U. S. base out there right?

Wait for the mad comeback of O "Assad must go" Bama?

The Pakistan government may be insane and if so that is their problem. It is well known to be moronic that you do not go around implying "regime change" to someone's country even if it is just an idea. The Americans around me do not really know how to connect "words" to their actual meaning, as if everything were ideas for screenplays. Such as "Pak" is just a type of costume, and that guy gets killed in Scene Three, and then you just forget about it. Then half of the food you eat is produced by imaginary slave labor. How convenient! What kind of a job was that guy doing? State Department? Oh. We should never have allowed this, it needs to be totally deleted very badly. The Department. If it is still in place by the next election, you are going to need a regime change. I can say that here. It's this place. I have the ability to go on forever about how many taxes you shouldn't pay and how many governments you don't need. So far, this has not affected anything.

I guess I am glad there was not another new chaotic slaughter.

Mike Gorman

7th April 2022, 06:06

Yes, fascinating, and these developments were discussed quite a few times in recent videos posted by The Duran, Alex Christoforou, and Alexander Mercouris. I've been listening to every one of those avidly, but didn't post them all on the Ukraine/WW3 thread otherwise there'd just be TMI (Too Much Information). :)

Some reading this may not know that Imran Khan was the Pakistani cricket captain (and a world-class cricketer, too), and was very much of a national hero even before he entered politics. And cricket is Pakistan's national sport, as it is in India. So that's no small thing.

When the general election is held in 90 days' time, he'll be overwhelmingly re-elected... and from here on, because of the US's attempted clumsy interference, his support will only increase.

Absolutely Bill, I recall Imran Khan's cricket career, he was a remarkable player, highly respected (and feared) by the English side: there is zero chance his enormous reputation could so easily be tarnished by these Washington millennial political 'wiz kids' - they have lost all perspective!

Bill Ryan

9th April 2022, 17:42

Well, here's bad news — in my opinion. The Pakistani Supreme Court has reversed the decision not to hold a vote of no confidence, which will now take place. Alexander Mercouris reports on this in some detail, starting at 29:09 in this new update.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2qx7W2jQdg

Ravenlocke

9th April 2022, 18:20

https://twitter.com/SouthAsiaIndex/status/1512758439285768197
1512758439285768197

https://twitter.com/Daniyal_Qureshi/status/1512855749927608320
1512855749927608320

arwen

9th April 2022, 23:06

Bad news.

Former cricketer Imran Khan is OUT as Pakistani PM after losing late-night no-confidence vote from MPs: (https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10703475/Imran-Khan-LOSES-no-confidence-vote-Pakistani-MPs-agree-boot-PM-office.html?ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490&ito=1490)

Political crisis drags country to the brink of chaos as rival groups clash in the streets following decision

Imran Khan is dramatically ousted from office in late night cull after no-confidence vote in parliament

Michel Leclerc

9th April 2022, 23:42

Since Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto’s hanging all Pakistani politicians who wanted to stay an independent course have been removed. With the world-wide movement for de-unipolarising the world, the Empire of Unicultural Evil needs to block the constitution of a Southern flank to the “Eurasian landmass”, reaching from Syria over Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India to Bangladesh so as to allow Russia and China a friendly access to the Indian Ocean and Eastern Africa. I pray that the Indian leaders will be wise and refrain from shortsightedly exploiting unrest in Pakistan, instead exerting a moderating influence.

arwen

10th April 2022, 18:40

I pray that the Indian leaders will be wise and refrain from shortsightedly exploiting unrest in Pakistan, instead exerting a moderating influence.

I do too. I am sure this is entirely coincidental and unrelated:

Biden, Modi to speak as US presses for hard line on Russia
(https://www.clickorlando.com/news/politics/2022/04/10/biden-modi-to-speak-as-us-presses-for-hard-line-on-russia/)

Extract:

President Joe Biden is set to speak with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday as he presses world leaders to take a hard line against Russia's Ukraine invasion.

India's neutral stance in the war has raised concerns in Washington and earned praise from Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who lauded India this month for judging “the situation in its entirety, not just in a one-sided way.”

...In the virtual meeting, Biden will talk about the consequences of Russia’s war against Ukraine “and mitigating its destabilizing impact on global food supply and commodity markets,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement Sunday.

They'll discuss “strengthening the global economy, and upholding a free, open, rules-based international order to bolster security, democracy, and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific," she said...

India continues to purchase Russian energy supplies, despite pressure from Western countries to avoid buying Russian oil and gas. The U.S. has also considered sanctions on India for its recent purchase of advanced Russian air defense systems.

Last month, the state-run Indian Oil Corp. bought 3 million barrels of crude from Russia to secure its needs, resisting entreaties from the West to avoid such purchases...

If Modi does not cooperate, will he too, find himself facing a "Vote of No Confidence" and be ousted?

Bill Ryan

10th April 2022, 22:45

Huge protests in Pakistan now.

https://rt.com/news/553648-mass-protests-pakistan-khan/

Mass protests in Pakistan against ‘imported’ government

Ex-PM Imran Khan has said the country is headed for a new “freedom struggle”, blasting his ouster as a “US-backed regime change”

https://cdni.russiatoday.com/files/2022.04/xxs/6252e1fa85f540396b002a3a.jpg (https://www.rt.com/news/553633-ousted-pakistani-pm-struggle-foreign-conspiracy/)

Massive demonstrations rocked multiple Pakistani cities, including the country’s capital of Islamabad, on Sunday, with thousands taking to the streets to express their support to the deposed Prime Minister Imran Khan. He was ousted by the country’s parliament in a successful no-confidence vote on Saturday. Khan blasted the vote as a foreign-backed regime change operation.

“Never have such crowds come out so spontaneously and in such numbers in our history, rejecting the imported govt led by crooks,” Khan said on Twitter, sharing footage of the protests.

https://twitter.com/ImranKhanPTI/status/1513232489464041473
1513232489464041473

The protests were spearheaded by Khan’s PTI party, which called upon its members and supporters to take to the streets across the country.

https://twitter.com/PTIofficial/status/1513206282387292161
1513206282387292161

Earlier in the day, Khan reiterated his allegations against the US, blaming his ouster on Washington and branding it a “regime change” operation aimed at bringing “into power a coterie of pliable crooks all out on bail.”

The former PM has also said the country was entering a new period of “freedom struggle” with the Pakistani people protecting “sovereignty and democracy” from a “foreign conspiracy of regime change.”

Previously, the politician claimed to have a recording obtained from the Pakistani ambassador in Washington proving the allegations. The US had firmly rejected such allegations, denying any involvement into the Pakistani events.

Pakistan’s National Assembly passed a vote of no-confidence against Khan with 176 lawmakers out of 342 voting for the move to end his office term early. The PTI party effectively lost its parliamentary majority back in March, after seven MPs from its coalition party defected and joined the ranks of the opposition. Pakistan’s parliament is set to hold a vote to pick a new PM on Monday.

READ MORE: Ex-Pakistani PM blames ‘foreign conspiracy’ (https://www.rt.com/news/553633-ousted-pakistani-pm-struggle-foreign-conspiracy/)

xidaijena

11th April 2022, 21:49

Know little about Pakistan, but I always hear some Pakistani friends tell me about "中巴友谊万岁“ Long live China-Pakistan friendship.:p

Catechism

13th April 2022, 16:01

Maajid Nawaz https://maajidnawaz.substack.com/p/pm-imran-khan-alleges-regime-change?r=dhijf&s=r&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email

Bill Ryan

13th April 2022, 17:51

Bill Ryan

13th April 2022, 17:54

From The Duran, today: (just 15 mins)

Neocon regime change of Imran Khan puts world leaders on notice

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wc7xCzq8x_g

Catechism

13th April 2022, 17:57

Maajid Nawaz
https://maajidnawaz.substack.com/p/pm-imran-khan-alleges-regime-changeThanks — this is a long article, very hard to copy and embed here, but well worth reading for anyone following this closely.

:thumbsup:

How long till Maajid is banned from social media , he was basically fired from LBC a radio station in the UK it's a shame blogs like his don't go far and wide

Bill Ryan

13th April 2022, 21:21

Catechism

13th April 2022, 21:53

Marvelous, you can't fool all the people all of the time

Michel Leclerc

13th April 2022, 22:48

Maajid Nawaz https://maajidnawaz.substack.com/p/pm-imran-khan-alleges-regime-change?r=dhijf&s=r&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email

Thank you, Catechism, for your providing us with Majid Nawaz‘ substack blog. Shame on me and on almost all inhabitants of the "golden billion" countries for NOT KNOWING that Sri Lanka was threatened and punished in the same way.

Very interesting also and yet not surprising the type of language those rotten Culturicidal Evil Imperial politicians use when they blackmail ambassadors: infantile talk for people they consider as infants. "Pakistan will be punished" vs "Paksitan will be forgiven". The same kind of language slaves had to endure from their masters. "Dumbing down" ’s infinite limit.

How very brave those nations are and their leaders (how noble Imran Khan’s anger!) – as opposed to all the "golden billion" of sheeple and their leaders, flashing their teeth as a pack of Alien dragons against the less powerful countries — and as opposed to a high-heeled clown like Zibelinsky.

On a side note (but not unimportant): the analysts of 9/11 did soon point out the probable involvement of the Pakistani Secret Services (along with the Saudi one, and maybe the Israeli one). Given that the Pakistani army is the strong arm of the Culturicidal Empire of Evil in the country, this implicitly suggests how "mainstream" or "core policy" 9/11 was.

"Punishing" them. I can imagine at least three ways: (1) dropping a few bottles of Dragon venom secured from the catacombs under Mariupol, (2) Stuxnetting a nuclear exchange between India and Pakistan, (3) weather engineering an accelerated meltdown of the Himalayan glaciers.

Meanwhile, in France, I guess the software is warming up for Macron’s election theft.

Michel Leclerc

13th April 2022, 23:22

And this from Aaron Maté of The Grayzone: (22 mins)

His guest is Junaid Ahmad, Professor of Religion and World Politics at the University of Lahore in Pakistan and Director of the Center for the Study of Islam and Decoloniality.

Mass protests in Pakistan as ousted PM accuses US of regime change

(...)

Thank you, Bill, for this excellent interview and interviewee. Professor of Religion and World Politics... tiens, tiens... that is quite a lecturing subject. Something our gradually-being-dumbed-down Universities have not yet been able to come up with.

As far as I know Pakistan and may humbly express an opinion about his thoughts – I think his analysis is correct in all its details. In the subcontinent, millions taking to the streets are not so easily teargassed away.

Catechism

14th April 2022, 01:50

"Meanwhile, in France, I guess the software is warming up for Macron’s election theft."
Another case in all elections, voting for the least worse option , I would love to see what happens if no one bothered to vote

Bill Ryan

18th April 2022, 18:42

More astonishing images from Pakistan:

https://twitter.com/PressTV/status/1515474696191594496
1515474696191594496

https://twitter.com/TheVoteOfficial/status/1515380962410266624
1515380962410266624

Kryztian

27th April 2022, 15:58

Pakistan calls Bill Gates
New PM assures billionaire that Islamabad is committed to eradicating polio, after first case in over a year
https://www.rt.com/news/554581-pakistan-bill-gates-polio/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=RSS

Pakistan’s newly elected prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, has assured billionaire vaccine promoter Bill Gates that his country is committed to fully eradicating polio and will continue working with the Microsoft co-founder’s foundation on public-health initiatives.

Sharif spoke with Gates by telephone on Tuesday, saying that his government is determined to eradicate all forms of polio. The software magnate reiterated that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) will continue supporting Pakistan’s government to help ensure that no child is at risk of being paralyzed by polio.

The country had gone more than a year without a single new polio case – a feat that Gates hailed after traveling to Islamabad to meet with Pakistan's then-Prime Minister Imran Khan in February – but officials this month confirmed the first new infection in 15 months after a boy was paralyzed by the virus in North Waziristan district.

1518990925955047425

Sharif and Gates discussed such topics as working to improve vaccination rates in Pakistan and providing poor people with better nutrition and “financial inclusion services.” They also discussed the country’s Covid-19 vaccination drive, and the PM called for resuming inoculations against polio in neighboring Afghanistan.
Bill Gates receives top honor READ MORE: Bill Gates receives top honor

Pakistan’s parliament elected Sharif as prime minister earlier this month, after Khan was ousted in a no-confidence motion. Khan had claimed that his cabinet was overthrown in a plot arranged by the US and that Pakistan was being handed over to an “imported government led by crooks.”

Pakistan has endured an uphill battle to inoculate children against polio, partly because of claims that vaccination campaigns in the country are part of a Western conspiracy to sterilize children. Militants have targeted public-health workers, and the police protecting them, to disrupt vaccine drives. A female worker administering polio shots in northwestern Pakistan was shot and killed last month.

Bill Ryan

4th May 2022, 05:03

A good question posed by Imran Khan:

https://twitter.com/ImranKhanPTI/status/15210858808234311701521085880823431170

Kryztian

3rd June 2022, 16:50

40,000 Factories At Risk Of Closing In Pakistan's Commercial Capital Amid Fuel Crisis
https://www.zerohedge.com/commodities/40000-factories-risk-closing-pakistans-capital-amid-fuel-crisis
by Tyler Durden - Thursday, Jun 02, 2022 - 08:00 PM

Pakistan faces potential economic collapse (https://www.zerohedge.com/economics/pakistan-verge-inflationary-collapse-pleads-larger-imf-bailout) as inflation jumps and widespread civil unrest could be nearing. The latest sign the South Asian country is spiraling into the abyss is rising electricity costs that threaten to close tens of thousands of businesses.

Bloomberg reports that as many as 40,000 factories in Karachi, the country's commercial capital, are being slapped with high power costs that make operating near impossible.

Rising power costs are so severe that nine business groups in Karachi told the government that an immediate plan needs to be formulated to lower power costs or face economic disaster.

Any shuttering of factories and mass layoffs could trigger social unrest in the commercial capital, home to more than 16 million people.

Discontent among businesses and households is already soaring with an official inflation rate of over 13.37% (double the official CPI to get a more accurate picture of true price inflation), the 2nd fastest-rising rate in Asia.

On top of high power costs, Karachi's power utility -- K-Electric Ltd. -- warned customers of widespread power cuts for the first time in over a decade if power generation continues to struggle because of high fuel costs and supply shortages.

These current conditions are severely hindering KE's ability to procure fuel, causing a permanent curtailment of power generation" that translates to as much as 10 hours of planned blackouts for some parts of the city, said Sadia Dada, a spokesperson for K-Electric."

Pakistan is also a nuclear power -- political elites may stoke a conflict with neighboring India to distract public anger from domestic financial pain.

Bill Ryan

20th July 2022, 15:14

Well, this has made my day. :sun:
:happy dog:

https://bbc.com/news/world-asia-62206374

Pakistan: Former PM Imran Khan stuns rivals with Punjab by-election upset

Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan has renewed his call for early elections after a stunning by-election upset saw his party take control of a crucial provincial assembly.

His PTI party won 15 of 20 seats up for grabs in Punjab, beating their arch-rivals the PML-N on their home ground.

The result is a foretaste of what could happen in a general election due by October 2023 but which could be sooner.

Mr Khan was ousted as prime minister in a no-confidence vote in April.

The result in Punjab is a major blow for current Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who leads the PML-N. His already weak coalition government's fate now hangs by a thread.

Pakistan is reeling from unprecedented inflation and energy shortages - now political instability could spiral out of control.

Punjab, Pakistan's most populous province, has long been a bastion of support for the PML-N of Mr Sharif, and his older brother, three-time former PM Nawaz Sharif.

But the party won just four of the seats in Sunday's by-elections, with one going to an independent candidate.

The by-elections were called after MPs from the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) were disqualified for switching allegiance in a vote to elect Mr Sharif's son Hamza as Punjab chief minister. His short term in office now looks set to end.

But Imran Khan has the wind in his sails. He has been attracting thousands of PTI supporters to rallies since he was ousted.

"The only way forward from here is to hold free and transparent elections," the former cricket star tweeted on Monday. "Any other way will only lead to increased political uncertainty and further economic chaos."

Analyst Cyril Almeida says since it became clear to Mr Khan he was going to lose the vote of confidence in parliament, he has had a one point agenda: fresh elections as soon as possible.

"Now it's within his grasp," Mr Almeida says. "They may try and limp on…but the government is now effectively at Imran's mercy."

The result in Punjab suggests voters there wanted to send a message to the country's leaders about the economic hardships they are facing.

Prices are soaring as the government tries to tackle a foreign debt crisis, inherited in large part from Imran Khan's administration before he was ousted.

It was the first time in Pakistan's history a sitting prime minister had lost a vote of confidence. Mr Khan blames a US-led "foreign conspiracy" for his removal. Washington has denied the claim.

Goba

20th July 2022, 19:46

Pakistan is not only irrelevant, it is also broke. Khan had no small part in that. Even the Indian channels that I watch have switched from putting him down (on grounds of being Pak) to some kind of twisted compassion for the guy as his shortcomings are obvious to everyone. It is still possible a population consisting of people with an average IQ of 80 will re-elect the guy. But that is by no means a good thing for the country.
That the chinese-pak love affair is all but over is also a fact. also not in small part due to his machinations vis a vis the Taliban. All the "stan" countries are run by bribes and heavy corruption. When the US was still throwing billions at Pakistan they where better off but only a little bit because that money ended up in the pockets of Khans friends. Imagine that: most high ranking officers of the Pak army and ISI have mansions in the US, GB and other countries.
Not even BRICS, that assembly of mostly loosers, wants Pak as a member. Although with Argentine (bankrupt) and South Africa (on the way to bankrupcy) joining Pak would fit right in!

Bill Ryan

20th July 2022, 19:56

It is still possible a population consisting of people with an average IQ of 80 will re-elect the guy.Well, that was quite an interesting comment you made about all the people of Pakistan. (What many people may begin to see from your posts is how rather unpleasant, dismissive and arrogant you fairly often are.)

:focus:

Michel Leclerc

20th July 2022, 22:23

...well --- broke... yes, HerrIn Goba, thanks for telling us. Then you also know that those billions "thrown" at Pakistan were meant to "end up" in pockets – of Khan’s maybe, but certainly also of other people’s friends, by the US, and why not by "GB" and the "other countries", so that mansions could be bought by the corrupted in the US, "GB" and the other countries – such as the heavily collaborating (with the US, the UK that is... and other countries) Germany, a country with a population consisting of people with an average IQ of 100, whose citizen you are. It takes more, HerrIn Goba, than 100 to solve the world’s problems!

Goba

21st July 2022, 06:10

You are partly right abut the IQ issue: high IQ does not guarantee a smart government (China is a case in point). But Germany did use its potential quite smartly. Considering it rose from being utterly crushed and deprived of almost 2/3 of its land after 1945 to top exporter in 3 short decades.
Even today Germany as small and natural resources deprived as it is has a bigger GDP than Russia. Given its history I doubt even a full gas shutdown will change that in the long run. And as for Pak (and india blessed with the same IQ on average): While IQ is not a save way of predicting what happens its a good indicator what will NOT happen. The hope of every Indian I have talked to who has some intelligence is to some day work in the USA - funny how this is not Russia - or China. Living as a smart person in a country of borderline idiots is a challenge unless you love the ancient culture and have some other ways to compensate.

9ideon

21st July 2022, 06:26

Pakistan is not only irrelevant.

Irrelevant? Omg.

Pakistan is actually of great strategic importance, jc.

Kryztian

31st August 2022, 23:02

Alexander Mercouris and friends break down what it happening in Pakistan. After watching this I feel I have a much better grasp on what is happening there.

v6YhFe9xKJ4

Michel Leclerc

1st September 2022, 00:25

Thank you Kryztian, quite enlightening indeed. The interesting parallel with Turkey drawn by Mercouris naturally led to the concluding words by Munib that a presidential regime might be the logical outcome of Imran Khan’s "insaaf" effort. Like in Turkey there has been a tendency among the military in Pakistan to intervene when and only when the parliamentary system gets fatally embroiled in corruption and paralysis. However, the extent to which the parliamentary workings were and have been sabotaged by "foreign powers” appears to be larger in Pakistan than it ever was in Turkey. No Prime Minister has ever been hanged in Turkey, a more precious ally probably, to be “handled” certainly, but with velvet gloves.

onawah

1st September 2022, 02:35

Considering the record flooding that is occurring in Pakistan now, regime change may be the least of their worries.
See: https://projectavalon.net/forum4/showthread.php?92384-Weird-wild-weather-floods-freak-storms-giant-hail-record-lows-all-over-the-world&p=1514730&viewfull=1#post1514730

Spiral

2nd September 2022, 18:26

I wish I'd had the time to keep up to this, it's gone off the scale ...

The popular movement was growing & growing as the state wanted to arrest IK

BellumActaNews/81495

BellumActaNews/81544

BellumActaNews/81553[/url]

Next thing, ONE THIRD of the country is underwater & 33 MILLION people are homeless !! This is beyond any scope of normal, and after the freak weather that's ruined crops all over the world I think anyone who thinks weather manipulation / warfare against the ordinary people of this world isn't going on is somewhat naive. And that's putting it mildly.

I chose this short but very clear drone footage vid but there are countless other vids, mostly using these people terrible misfortune to push the sinister climate change agenda.

THMkzr09O-A

Michel Leclerc

2nd September 2022, 22:33

Punjab also... where the food for the whole country comes from...

pounamuknight

4th November 2022, 09:34

Imran Khan was shot in a failed assassination attempt

It happened on the sixth day of his Azadi (freedom) March touring Pakistan and ending in Islamabad to demand snap elections

The turnouts were massive. A demonstration of his popularity throughout the country
https://twitter.com/ImranKhanPTI/status/1587845775677169665

The assassination attempt happened in the city of Gujranwala, not far from Lahore. He was on a tour bus waving to the crowds when shots rang out
https://twitter.com/SaqibVirkPK/status/1588142903972564992

Khan was shot in the leg and taken to a hospital in Lahore. He underwent surgery to remove some bullet fragments
https://twitter.com/PTIofficial/status/1588312799583010819

Fawad Chaudhrey, spokesperson of Khan's PTI (Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf) Party, said "It was a clear assassination attempt. Khan was hit but he's stable"

According to police, one person was killed and nine were injured in the attack

pounamuknight

4th November 2022, 09:40

This is were things get murky, purposely murky maybe. There's visual evidence of an assassination attempt
https://twitter.com/Zaa_gul/status/1588138964464148483

Police arrested a man and recovered a pistol from him then released a dodgy confession video
https://twitter.com/nailainayat/status/1588161127124451330

Police haven't officially released the suspects name. However the following names have been circulating
* Faisal Butt
* Mohammad Naveed
* Ehsan Allah Ehsan
https://twitter.com/JournoPranay/status/1588153113013542912

There were also unconfirmed reports that a second suspect had been arrested. This gunman may have fired an automatic rifle from the roof
https://twitter.com/Jinnah_Club/status/1588154191767388162

However, reports are coming out that both suspects have escaped custody
https://twitter.com/faheempti0118/status/1588241077516914688

:sherlock:
https://twitter.com/nabeelaq/status/1588381620939419648

pounamuknight

4th November 2022, 09:57

Khan names 3 suspects behind the assassination plot:

* Shehbaz Sharif, Prime Minister
* Rana Sanaullah, Interior Minister
* Major General Faisal Naseer, Head of ISI
https://twitter.com/NiazMal37917052/status/1588396675663790080

Put this guy on the list as well
https://twitter.com/SecBlinken/status/1588254187510730752

The streets aren't happy
https://twitter.com/CiiseCartan/status/1588235136038014976

https://twitter.com/anadoluagency/status/1588264607780462593

A new unnecessary political flashpoint is brewing in this beautiful country :(

https://twitter.com/steve_hanke/status/1588267772584243200

Bill Ryan

9th May 2023, 13:15

For those who can't see embedded Telegram posts, Imran Khan has been arrested and enormous protests are breaking out all over Pakistan.

https://t.me/DDGeopolitics/61650
https://t.me/DDGeopolitics/61651
https://t.me/DDGeopolitics/61662
https://t.me/DDGeopolitics/61664
https://t.me/DDGeopolitics/61670
https://t.me/DDGeopolitics/61671
https://t.me/DDGeopolitics/61687
https://t.me/DDGeopolitics/61688

DDGeopolitics/61650
DDGeopolitics/61651
DDGeopolitics/61662
DDGeopolitics/61664
DDGeopolitics/61670
DDGeopolitics/61671
DDGeopolitics/61687
DDGeopolitics/61688

Bill Ryan

9th May 2023, 14:27

The situation is escalating in Pakistan by the hour. And it looks like the military is now siding with the protesters.

https://t.me/CIG_telegram/30693
https://t.me/CIG_telegram/30694
https://t.me/CIG_telegram/30695
https://t.me/CIG_telegram/30697
https://t.me/CIG_telegram/30698
https://t.me/CIG_telegram/30700
https://t.me/CIG_telegram/30707
https://t.me/CIG_telegram/30705

CIG_telegram/30693
CIG_telegram/30694
CIG_telegram/30695
CIG_telegram/30697
CIG_telegram/30698
CIG_telegram/30700
CIG_telegram/30707
CIG_telegram/30705

Hamish

9th May 2023, 14:49

Hello,

https://t.me/CIG_telegram/30713

(https://t.me/CIG_telegram/30713)CIG_telegram/30713

Ravenlocke

9th May 2023, 15:27

https://twitter.com/wikileaks/status/1655887771486003201

1655887771486003201

https://twitter.com/mazzenilsson/status/1655893542701522944

1655893542701522944

https://twitter.com/georgegalloway/status/1655909956707655685

1655909956707655685

¤=[Post Update]=¤

Julian Assange Interviews Imran Khan On His Success In Politics

The Julian Assange Show Episode 10: Khan (2012): When former international cricket captain Imran Khan entered politics, neither he nor his party were taken seriously. In this interview he discusses his meteoric rise in Pakistani politics, and the issues driving it.

rw4KxdUMiL0

Ravenlocke

9th May 2023, 15:38

https://twitter.com/Spriter99880/status/1655948402948198400

1655948402948198400

¤=[Post Update]=¤

https://twitter.com/Spriter99880/status/1655948162258051077

1655948162258051077

¤=[Post Update]=¤

https://twitter.com/Spriter99880/status/1655942457446785033

1655942457446785033

Bill Ryan

9th May 2023, 15:48

Now on Zero Hedge. I'll not copy the whole article... the tweets and telegram posts above are doing a good job of keeping us updated right now.

https://zerohedge.com/geopolitical/all-hell-breaks-loose-nuclear-armed-pakistan-after-imran-khans-arrest

All Hell Breaks Loose In Nuclear-Armed Pakistan After Imran Khan's Arrest

All hell is breaking loose in Pakistan, amid fears there could be a slide into widescale civil unrest or even full-blown civil war, after on Tuesday the former Prime Minister Imran Khan was arrested and taken into police custody while he was entering the Islamabad High Court for a hearing in a case.

The 70-year-old cricketer-turned-politician has been pursued in court filings by Pakistan's anti-corruption agency, but the dramatic move to actually detain Khan is a huge and unprecedented escalation, threatening to unleash mayhem in the streets of the nuclear-armed country.

Ravenlocke

9th May 2023, 16:23

https://twitter.com/Spriter99880/status/1655969398958456832
1655969398958456832

https://twitter.com/disclosetv/status/1655962759874375682

1655962759874375682

https://twitter.com/TheInsiderPaper/status/1655964997388840964

1655964997388840964

Ravenlocke

9th May 2023, 16:28

https://twitter.com/TheInsiderPaper/status/1655927348728832002

1655927348728832002

Hamish

9th May 2023, 16:36

Hello,

:(

DDGeopolitics/61732

Ravenlocke

9th May 2023, 16:47

https://twitter.com/Spriter99880/status/1655973014003908622

1655973014003908622

Bill Ryan

9th May 2023, 18:43

A good short summary for anyone visiting this thread without knowing much about what preceded it.

https://t.me/CIG_telegram/30719

CIG_telegram/30719

Bruce G Charlton

9th May 2023, 18:53

Thanks very much to Ravenlocke and Bill for this broad and timely coverage of an important event.

Bill Ryan

9th May 2023, 18:54

A rather amazing short video. This is the level of anger and outrage in Pakistan. If anything happens to Imran when he's in custody, the whole of Pakistan will be burned to the ground.

https://t.me/DDGeopolitics/61753

DDGeopolitics/61753

Ravenlocke

9th May 2023, 20:19

https://twitter.com/ArthurM40330824/status/1656029344827944961

1656029344827944961

https://twitter.com/ArthurM40330824/status/1656029238359883776

1656029238359883776

https://twitter.com/ArthurM40330824/status/1656028943701487616

1656028943701487616

Ravenlocke

9th May 2023, 21:17

https://twitter.com/dana916/status/1656040124495347718

1656040124495347718

https://twitter.com/dana916/status/1656039836283748365
1656039836283748365

https://twitter.com/dana916/status/1656038944746643457
1656038944746643457

https://twitter.com/dana916/status/1656036290003980288

1656036290003980288

Ravenlocke

10th May 2023, 01:57

https://twitter.com/TheCradleMedia/status/1655948269997146116

1655948269997146116

https://thecradle.co/article-view/24615/imran-khan-arrested-on-graft-charges

Imran Khan arrested on graft charges

Former Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan has been arrested by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) from the Islamabad High Court (IHC), Geo News reported on 9 May.

Khan was taken into custody by security personnel known as “Rangers” outside the IHC where he had gone to seek bail as a result of graft charges.

According to Fawad Chaudhry, the official spokesperson of Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf party (PTI), the ex-prime minister has been “abducted from court premises. Scores of lawyers and general people have been tortured.”

Khan was arrested in connection with the allegations that Bahria Town allotted land worth 530 million rupees to the Al-Qadir Trust, owned by the PTI chairman and his wife, according to Islamabad police.

“Khan has been whisked away by unknown people to an unknown location,” Chaudhry said.

According to Imran Khan’s spokesman Raoof Hasan, “He was taken away…before he could appear before the judges, which is in violation of all laws.”

“The party has given a call to immediately start protests across Pakistan,” PTI leader Azhar Mashwani tweeted.

Khan’s arrest was not authorized by IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq, however, who requested the attorney general appear before the court within 15 minutes and instructed him to immediately find out who was behind the arrest.

“If an inquiry has to be conducted, action will also be taken against the prime minister and ministers,” the chief justice said.

Security forces previously attempted to detain Khan last March after an Islamabad court issued an arrest warrant to ensure his attendance in court to face graft charges.

However, security forces were blocked by hundreds of the former prime minister’s supporters, who gathered outside his Lahore home to prevent his arrest. The clashes between both sides, in which security forces fired tear gas and water cannons, and Khan’s supporters threw stones, led to dozens of injuries.

The former cricket star, who was ousted as prime minister in a no-confidence vote in parliament in April 2022, went to Islamabad to appear before three courts on charges of selling state gifts and failing to disclose assets but failed to appear before the fourth court to face indictment in the graft case, which is a legal process for starting his trial.

Khan claimed the charges filed against him, which include terrorism charges, are an effort by his successor, Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif, to discredit him and prevent him from contesting the upcoming elections.

At the time of his ousting as prime minister, Khan accused the United States of working with a coalition of Pakistani opposition parties to topple his government.

Khan alleged that US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Donald Lu met with the Pakistan Ambassador Asad Majeed and warned that there could be implications if Khan was not ousted as prime minister.

Khan has long been known for his opposition to US foreign policy. In 2017, Khan organized a motorcade march to Pakistan’s tribal areas to protest US drone strikes against Islamic militants.

In November 2022, Khan was the target of an assassination attack. A gunman opened fire with an automatic weapon on his convoy of lorries and cars, injuring Khan’s leg and killing one of his supporters, and injuring seven more.

Ravenlocke

10th May 2023, 02:02

https://twitter.com/5Pillarsuk/status/1655942188692570120

1655942188692570120

Szymon

10th May 2023, 06:18

Interesting events happening in Pakistan.

Interesting things are happening in Pakistan. While we were all sleeping or celebrating Victory Day, it turns out that the former prime minister was arrested there, which caused mass protests among the population, among whom Imran Khan was very popular. According to a number of media outlets (the information is still being specified), almost all military bases in Pakistan were attacked, and the army command fled the country. As noted by a number of Orientalists, the Asian-style Maidan can lead to destructive consequences in the region, moreover, Pakistan is a nuclear power, which, moreover, has tense relations with neighboring India.

50861

Ravenlocke

10th May 2023, 12:58

https://twitter.com/5Pillarsuk/status/1656249183571984386

1656249183571984386

https://twitter.com/5Pillarsuk/status/1656252474448048129

1656252474448048129

https://5pillarsuk.com/2023/05/10/its-time-for-pakistanis-to-take-their-country-back-from-the-generals/

It’s time for Pakistanis to take their country back from the generals

Pakistani analyst Sikander Malik says after Imran Khan’s arrest yesterday enough is enough – it’s time for Pakistanis to end the silence about the army’s criminal activities and destructive role in the country.

Everyone inside and outside Pakistan knows that the army and generals have always ruled the country and run the economy behind the scenes. And if there were any doubt about it, the removal of Imran Khan from office and his arrest yesterday on trumped-up charges have confirmed it.

Pakistan has never had a democracy; it’s a total sham. No Prime Minister has ever been allowed to serve a full five-year term, and the generals have ruled directly for 33 of Pakistan’s 75-year history. The generals play the country’s political parties like a merry-go-round, in and out of power as and when they choose.

Pakistan’s political parties and leaders have gone along with this game. When they are charged with crimes or exiled by the army or courts, they know they simply need to hang around long enough and one day the army will grant them their time in power.

That is until Imran Khan came to power and was deadly serious about tackling corruption and reforming Pakistan. He broke the cardinal rule in Pakistan which is that one should not be serious about its politics as that role is the preserve of the army. And if leaders don’t play ball, the army will have no qualms about eliminating dissenters and their followers.

World leaders negotiate with Pakistani generals, invite them to meetings and visit them precisely because they are the country’s actual diplomats and leaders. Judges and the police are told what to do by the army, whom to imprison, and who not to charge with crimes. There is no rule of law in Pakistan, nor an independent judiciary.

The army and corrupt politicians are the law, and it is their injustice that rules. Pakistan’s people understand this and have for decades found ways to survive this system through rishwat (bribery). They have also survived the bankrupt official economy by creating an informal economy that accounts for some 36% of GDP, one of the highest in the world.

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For far too long nobody in Pakistan has been permitted to question or talk about the army and its destructive role, with “threats from external enemies” and “national security” being given as excuses.

Speaking out against the army and its behaviour is likely to lead to one being threatened or “disappeared.” It is a taboo subject for the country’s media – discussions and criticism of the role of the army or its corruption are simply not permissible.

Whilst everyone is prepared to discuss political corruption no one is prepared to discuss military corruption of the generals.

In Pakistan’s economy, the military elite has business interests in everything from housing to private hospitals. People in Pakistan know that gated military housing complexes are the best and safest in the country, private military hospitals provide the best medical advice, and the generals are involved in many other parts of the economy.

Where did their vast wealth come from? Certainly not their salaries but more likely from Western aid to the country and particularly billions of dollars in U.S. military aid over many decades.

The generals have fought as a mercenary force for the United States for the last 40 years, dragging the country into a political and economic crisis. The hard truth for Pakistanis to stomach is that the generals are prepared to use the Pakistani army to oppress and kill their own people to preserve their political power and keep aid flowing from the West.

That said, it is worth pointing out that the rank-and-file soldiers of the Pakistani army are sincere and devout and are just pawns in this power play. And unfortunately, it is usually their innocent lives that have been sacrificed for political agendas.

Failed State

Since the removal of Imran Khan from power last year, the standing of the Pakistani military has plummeted. Pakistanis have realised that their democracy is a sham and that its corrupt military and dynastic politicians are destroying the country not advancing it.

The nation has become riddled with debt and is on a perpetual cycle of economic and political decline, constantly begging for loans from the IMF, China or Saudi Arabia.

So the people of Pakistan must start to openly discuss the behaviour and role of the Pakistani generals in politics, the economy and corruption.

Enough is Enough. It’s time for Pakistanis in Pakistan and around the world to take direct action in lawful and peaceful ways. Pakistani people and parents must call on their sons to withdraw their services from the army and police until a genuinely just order and independent institutions are established. They must call on their sons not to follow orders that tell them to shoot, kill or inflict violence on their own people.

Pakistani people must realise that there is no democracy in Pakistan because the generals and corrupt politicians do not believe in it, nor the rule of law, and are prepared to use violence themselves to preserve their power. They will inflict violence on whoever tries to reform their dying country.

Pakistanis should identify all their assets, business interests and wealth in different countries and expose and pursue them in legal ways.

It is time for the Pakistani people to take their country back from the despotism of its rulers and hold them to account. It is time to send the generals back to their barracks and tell them to ready themselves to fight their external enemies, not their own.

Sikander Malik is a pseudonym for a senior Pakistani analyst who did not want to reveal his name because of probable repercussions from the Pakistani army.

Bill Ryan

10th May 2023, 14:10

The turmoil continues, and it's getting more intense by the hour. The Pakistanis are not going to let this go.

https://t.me/DDGeopolitics/61918
https://t.me/DDGeopolitics/61920

DDGeopolitics/61918
DDGeopolitics/61920

Ravenlocke

10th May 2023, 18:02

https://twitter.com/trtworld/status/1656289343097511940

1656289343097511940

https://www.trtworld.com/asia/pakistani-army-sent-to-two-regions-to-quell-protests-over-khans-indictment-13183297

Pakistani anti-graft court hands over ex-PM Khan to police for eight days

The decision comes after police held scores of opposition activists in an overnight crackdown across the country following widespread protests over Imran Khan's arrest on corruption charges on Tuesday.

A Pakistani anti-graft court has sent former prime minister Imran Khan to police custody for eight days in a corruption case, a court record showed on Wednesday.

The court, which was temporarily relocated to a police guest house in the capital Islamabad, remanded Khan to the country's anti-corruption agency, the National Accountability Bureau.

The decision came after police held scores of opposition activists in an overnight crackdown across the South Asian country following outrage and widespread protests over Khan's arrest on corruption charges on Tuesday.

Contingents of police and paramilitary forces in riot gear were also deployed around the court, with all roads leading to the site sealed.

Military called

Pakistan is set to deploy army soldiers to two provinces following the former prime minister's indictment by a court on charges that he unlawfully sold state gifts during his premiership, local media reported.

The order said the date and duration of the deployment, which was requested by the Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provincial government, had yet to be finalised, as well as the number of troops involved.

The indictment followed a decision by the Election Commission of Pakistan last October which found Khan guilty of illegally selling state gifts and barred him from holding public office until the next election. He has denied any wrongdoing.

Khan was arrested on Tuesday in another corruption case related to property. The action by Pakistan's anti-corruption body has led to violent protests across the country.

Activists held

At least three people were killed in clashes between the protesting workers belonging to Khan's PTI party and police, according to officials.

Police held scores of opposition activists in an overnight crackdown on Tuesday across Pakistan.

Those held included Umar Sarfraz Cheema, former governor of the northeastern Punjab province, Asad Umar, PTI's secretary general, and several lawmakers and second-tier party leaders.

The PTI on Wednesday called for nationwide protests and a shutdown, but distanced itself from violence, calling upon the supporters to remain peaceful and gather outside police headquarters in Islamabad, where Khan has appeared before a judge.

While mobile internet and social media platforms remain restricted, schools were shut down in many parts of the country.

Earlier, PTI leader Shah Mahmood Qureshi said the party had no information about Khan's whereabouts.

Khan's lawyer Faisal Chaudhry also told reporters that he had no contact with his client.

'Politically motivated'

The former prime minister was arrested from the Islamabad High Court in one of the several dozen cases filed against him since his ouster last April.

His party says the cases are politically motivated.

Since being removed from power after losing a vote of confidence, he has led a campaign for early elections, and accused the US, as well as the country's powerful military, of removing him from office.

Khan was arrested in connection with alleged corruption involving the Al Qadir University Trust.

It is alleged that the cricketer-turned-politician and his wife, Bushra Bibi, received billions of rupees and a large piece of costly land to build the educational institution in return for releasing an amount of £190 million ($239 million) to a property tycoon in 2020.

The amount was identified and returned to the country by the UK's National Crime Agency (NCA), following a settlement with real estate tycoon Malik Riaz in 2019.

Pakistan's anti-corruption body alleges that Khan's PTI government struck a deal with Riaz that caused a loss of more than $239 million to the national exchequer, in a quid pro quid arrangement with the businessman.

Khan and his party leaders, however, deny the allegations.

Ravenlocke

10th May 2023, 18:06

Text:
Urgent demand of the entire nation

https://twitter.com/PTIofficial/status/1655932044579315713

1655932044579315713

https://twitter.com/PTIofficial/status/1655962297183924224

1655962297183924224

https://twitter.com/PTIofficial/status/1656242873086488580

1656242873086488580

Ravenlocke

10th May 2023, 18:13

https://twitter.com/Jhagra/status/1656289530096373766

1656289530096373766

https://twitter.com/PTIofficial/status/1656347660289277953

1656347660289277953

https://twitter.com/PTIofficial/status/1656349387394514948
1656349387394514948

https://twitter.com/PTIofficial/status/1656356440783585280

1656356440783585280

[url]https://twitter.com/PTIofficial/status/1656350572339920941

1656350572339920941

[url]https://twitter.com/PTIofficial/status/1656351259585019918

1656351259585019918

Bill Ryan

10th May 2023, 18:38

Bill Ryan

10th May 2023, 19:31

https://t.me/DDGeopolitics/61995

DDGeopolitics/61995

Ravenlocke

10th May 2023, 19:45

This is all very awful to see. :flower:

I've never been to Pakistan, but have spent time in India, particularly Kashmir, where there's a strong Pakistani influence and presence. And one of my closest friends over a decade ago was a Pakistani, a Sufi Master and a most, most remarkable person. These are passionate, spiritual people, often downtrodden, and there's going to be a point reached when whey will not take it any more.

https://t.me/DDGeopolitics/61984

DDGeopolitics/61984

Calling them “terrorists” reminds me of Peru’s coup regime head, Dina Boluarte calling the Peruvians terrorists for protesting the coup against Pedro Castillo.

¤=[Post Update]=¤

https://twitter.com/georgegalloway/status/1655967544178536449

1655967544178536449

Ravenlocke

10th May 2023, 19:51

Lawyer explains illegal arrest

https://twitter.com/The_Newsmakers/status/1656335647324381189

1656335647324381189

Ravenlocke

10th May 2023, 22:16

https://twitter.com/theworldwithmnr/status/1656385929496412161

1656385929496412161

¤=[Post Update]=¤

https://twitter.com/theworldwithmnr/status/1656361163997736961

1656361163997736961

¤=[Post Update]=¤

https://twitter.com/theworldwithmnr/status/1656390036974125058

1656390036974125058

¤=[Post Update]=¤

https://twitter.com/theworldwithmnr/status/1656391093355782150

1656391093355782150

Ravenlocke

11th May 2023, 00:57

The lawyers that spoke to Imran Khan said that Imran Khan is worried about his health, he is complaining of chest pains and he told them that his doctor had told him that they can use insulin in food to induce a heart attack…

https://twitter.com/theworldwithmnr/status/1656456923628154880

1656456923628154880

Ravenlocke

11th May 2023, 01:22

https://twitter.com/Spriter99880/status/1656402911696502788

1656402911696502788

Bill Ryan

11th May 2023, 13:19

This might just be a turning point. It's highly likely that this is the only thing the Supreme Court could have done to prevent Pakistan burning to the ground. The next 24 hours will be pretty crucial.

https://t.me/DDGeopolitics/62144
(https://t.me/DDGeopolitics/62144)https://t.me/DDGeopolitics/62145

DDGeopolitics/62144

DDGeopolitics/62145

Ravenlocke

11th May 2023, 16:23

Text:
#Pakistan🇵🇰 OFFICIAL STATEMENT. The International Human Rights Foundation (#IHRF) welcomes the decision of the Supreme Court of Pakistan to declare the arrest of former Prime Minister Imran Khan illegal. We also call for the immediate release of all PTI workers and supporters who were unlawfully attacked while peacefully exercising their human rights to freedom of assembly and expression. We also demand the opening of a criminal investigation into the entire military chain of command that has undermined Pakistan's public institutions. #ImranKhanPTI #PakistanUnderSiege #CoupdEtat #HumanRights
@soldierspeaks

https://twitter.com/Declaracion/status/1656664422142861312

1656664422142861312

https://twitter.com/mehdirhasan/status/1656653042752671745

1656653042752671745

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-65561807

Imran Khan: Pakistan's Supreme Court rules arrest was illegal

in London and Islamabad

Pakistan's Supreme Court has ruled that former prime minister Imran Khan's dramatic arrest on corruption charges this week was illegal.

The court ordered Mr Khan's immediate release. His lawyers had argued that his detention from court premises in Islamabad on Tuesday was unlawful.

At least 10 people have been killed and 2,000 arrested as violent protests have swept the country since he was held.

Tuesday's arrest escalated growing tensions between him and the military.

The opposition leader, ousted in a confidence vote in April last year, was brought to court on the orders of Pakistan's top judge.

As Mr Khan arrived in court, media ran through the corridors to capture his first public appearance since he was arrested.

Surrounded by security, Mr Khan said nothing as he walked to the wood-panelled courtroom which was filled with officials from his party and journalists.

Mr Khan stood surrounded by his lawyers in front of the three Supreme Court judges as they told him that because of the way he had been arrested on Tuesday - inside a court complex, conducting biometric tests - the arrest was invalid.

Footage of his arrest showed paramilitary forces seizing Mr Khan, who was injured in a gun attack last year, and dragging him from inside court premises, before whisking him away in an armoured vehicle.

"Your arrest was invalid so the whole process needs to be backtracked," Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial told Mr Khan. He would now be under the protection of the Supreme Court.

It was then Mr Khan's turn to speak, defiant and indignant at the way he had been arrested.

Why was Imran Khan arrested?
The former cricketer told the judges he'd been kidnapped from the High Court on Tuesday and "hit with sticks". He was reminded several times by the judges that others had experienced worse treatment.

There was no immediate response from the security forces to the allegation.

Watch dramatic arrest of Pakistan's former prime minister
His Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party says the cases against him are politically motivated. The arrest enraged his supporters - the past 48 hours have seen widespread violence and rare attacks on state and military facilities.

Seven senior PTI leaders are among those arrested. They include former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, who police say "incited violence". In a statement Mr Qureshi denied this and urged supporters to continue with peaceful protests.

Mr Khan has been kept at a police guesthouse in the capital since Tuesday, which was turned into a makeshift court on Wednesday where a judge formally charged him with corruption for the first time in the dozens of cases he faces. He pleaded not guilty.

Conviction would disqualify the former international cricket star - prime minister from 2018-2022 - from standing for office, possibly for life. Elections are due later this year.

Polarised politics are tearing Pakistan apart
The cricket hero bowled out as Pakistan's PM
Former Pakistani ambassador Maleeha Lodhi told the BBC she thought the court's decision would help to defuse the anger of Mr Khan's supporters.

"The last couple of days have seen extraordinary violence by protesters who are supporters of Imran Khan, who are obviously enraged by the manner in which he was arrested," she said.

"There is still uncertainty, but hopefully the situation will not return to the kind of violent scenes that we have seen."

Although Mr Khan asked repeatedly to be allowed to stay at his home, the court determined that because of the security situation he would have to remain at the police guesthouse. However the judges repeatedly emphasised that he would be allowed to have whoever he chooses as a guest.

When the proceedings finished, Mr Khan sat within the court for 15 minutes taking questions from the media. He said he had not known that people had been killed during the protests or that senior members of his party had been arrested.

He told the BBC that when he was arrested he had been hit on the head and was bleeding and that when those images had circulated around the world the reaction by his supporters was not surprising.

When asked whether he would now ask his supporters to stop violent protests he said that he had already made his statement, saying he had always called for protests to be peaceful.

Supporters of Mr Khan welcomed the court's decision. "Imran Khan's release proves we knew the truth," one man, who had spent the past few days gathered outside the PTI leader's residence in Lahore, told the BBC.

Another said the verdict had "revived our hope in the nation".

Many analysts believe Mr Khan's election win in 2018 happened with the help of the military, which both parties denied. But he later fell out with the powerful army. After a series of defections, and amid mounting economic crisis, he lost his majority in parliament.

Since being ousted less than four years into his term, he has become one of the military's most vocal critics, and analysts say the army's popularity has fallen.

In November 2022, Mr Khan was shot in the leg while leading a protest march. He has accused a senior intelligence officials of carrying out the attack - which the military has strongly denied.

A day before his arrest, the military warned him against making "baseless allegations" after he again accused a senior officer of plotting to kill him.

Observers see the country facing an unprecedented series of crises - given endless political turmoil, the economy on a cliff edge and mounting violence by Islamist militants eroding confidence in the security forces.

¤=[Post Update]=¤

https://twitter.com/InsafLawyersPK/status/1656683365326802944

1656683365326802944

Ravenlocke

11th May 2023, 20:02

Text:
~ Pakistani journalists continue to get threatened by Junta’s intelligence officers.

Since Imran Khan ouster many prominent journalists got killed even those who fleed abroad. One of the biggest name in Pakistan’s investigative media industry was 'Arshad Sharif' who was brutally murdered by ISI in Kenya because he was going to expose corruption of few power Generals.

Junta hasn’t given up, they are furious that nothing is going there way.

IROP

https://twitter.com/dana916/status/1656726938839285763

1656726938839285763

Bill Ryan

12th May 2023, 13:15

An excellent 19-minute video on the entire Pakistan crisis (and Imran Khan) from Redacted.

Watch the Pakistani mother on camera in the streets at 2:53. You don't wanna mess with people like that.

:heart::muscle:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0Rbp8CGcT8

Ravenlocke

12th May 2023, 18:16

https://twitter.com/tretter50001/status/1657086902766297097

1657086902766297097

Ravenlocke

12th May 2023, 18:24

https://twitter.com/iihtishamm/status/1657073789866213388

1657073789866213388

https://twitter.com/iihtishamm/status/1657075499099725824

1657075499099725824

https://twitter.com/PTIofficial/status/1657084797615759366

1657084797615759366

Bill Ryan

12th May 2023, 22:45

https://t.me/DDGeopolitics/62353
https://t.me/DDGeopolitics/62357
https://t.me/DDGeopolitics/62358
https://t.me/DDGeopolitics/62361
(https://t.me/DDGeopolitics/62361)https://t.me/DDGeopolitics/62363

DDGeopolitics/62353
DDGeopolitics/62357
DDGeopolitics/62358
DDGeopolitics/62361
DDGeopolitics/62363

Bill Ryan

12th May 2023, 23:00

Michel Leclerc

12th May 2023, 23:20

It’s time for Pakistanis to take their country back from the generals

(...)

It’s time for Pakistanis in Pakistan and around the world to take direct action in lawful and peaceful ways. Pakistani people and parents must call on their sons to withdraw their services from the army and police until a genuinely just order and independent institutions are established. They must call on their sons not to follow orders that tell them to shoot, kill or inflict violence on their own people.

(..).

So in Pakistan, there is at least one person who knows what to do.

Ravenlocke

12th May 2023, 23:51

https://twitter.com/ArthurM40330824/status/1657148013398089730

1657148013398089730

Ravenlocke

13th May 2023, 00:01

https://twitter.com/PTIOfficialCA/status/1657149833046638595

1657149833046638595

https://twitter.com/ABCNewsUrdu/status/1657148705391124480

1657148705391124480

https://twitter.com/PTIofficial/status/1657152673110433793

1657152673110433793

https://twitter.com/PTIofficial/status/1657139151974674432

1657139151974674432

Ravenlocke

13th May 2023, 03:53

https://twitter.com/RealPepeEscobar/status/1657117644418437141

1657117644418437141

https://twitter.com/RealPepeEscobar/status/1657070097431658502

1657070097431658502

Bruce G Charlton

13th May 2023, 06:08

Juat a personal side note, some of which I think I've posted earlier. (Bruce Charlton and Tintin, ardent cricket followers, will understand and I think agree. :))

Imran Khan, already a star player in the Pakistan cricket team, was appointed captain from 1982—1992. This is what he looked like back then:

https://projectavalon.net/Imran_Khan.jpg

Not only charismatic and handsome, he electrified Pakistan cricket at the time (which is the country's national sport, as it is in India); he was a courageous, aggressive and inspired batter and bowler besides also being an excellent captain; he was a wonderful sportsman, respected and sincerely liked by all his opponents; and (as best I know) he was 100% incorruptible.

ESPNcricinfo.com, a major international cricket website, opens their bio of him (https://www.espncricinfo.com/cricketers/imran-khan-40560) like this:
Few would dispute that Imran was the finest cricketer Pakistan has produced, or the biggest heartthrob. Suave, erudite and monstrously talented, he gave cricket in the subcontinent real sex appeal in the 1970s and 1980s.
So he won the hearts and minds of not only tens of millions of Pakistanis in the 1980s, but also everyone else in the country who's proudly followed Pakistan cricket ever since, probably some 150 million people or more.

Most of the country (a clear "democratic majority", whatever that means nowadays) simply loves the man. This is evident in the above scenes of pure rejoicing at his release and return to his family.

:heart: :focus:

Thanks for the cricket link!

Unfortunately, I never watched him at the time; but I have studied Imran's career in cricket - https://www.espncricinfo.com/cricketers/imran-khan-40560 - and he was one of the greatest, and very possible The greatest, 'bowling all-rounders' of all time - that is, he was a superb fast bowler, who was also a good enough batsman to be selected for International Test Cricket as a batter.

As a bowler, his historical stature is also supported by the accomplishment of 'inventing' the vital art of 'reverse swing' - in that he was probably the first great exponent of this 'deadly' but extremely difficult to master style of fast bowling, and probably the first to understand it so as to be able to pass on the art to the next generation of Pakistan greats: Waqar and Wasim. For some years, only these three could really do it, and knew how to do it!

(In brief; it involves allowing one side of the ball to get dry and rough - being careful not to touch it, while saturating the other side with sweat and spit; then being able to bowl fast and with a lower arm, in a particular way).

Imran was well known in England, having played for Oxford University as a student, and later in country cricket for Sussex and Worcestershire.

Tintin

13th May 2023, 09:23

grapevine

13th May 2023, 12:42

Here's George Galloway's opinion on the situation. George has always been a vociferous supporter of Imran Khan

The military are intent on killing Imran Khan

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DohnZl4oilQ&ab_channel=GeorgeGalloway

Bill Ryan

13th May 2023, 13:02

When I was writing my cricket post above (https://projectavalon.net/forum4/showthread.php?118295-Imran-Khan-targeted-ousted-and-now-arrested-in-Pakistan&p=1557080&viewfull=1#post1557080), I checked the Imran Khan Wikipedia page (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imran_Khan) to check I had my dates right. I ended up reading the entire page with great interest, and there were some things in his political career I'd not known.

My observation, though I did know this already:

He's clearly an immensely good man (and a man of the people), and of course in these days that cannot be tolerated by the despots who seek to control the world.

The short second paragraph in the extract below tells us everything.

For anyone following this who is maybe just instinctively sympathetic to Imran, the many details below may be most interesting. I'd vote for the man (and enthusiastically attend rallies to support him) if I were in a position to. For sure.

(Extracted. See the original page (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imran_Khan) for the many footnotes and references.)

~~~
On 10 April 2022, Khan became the country's first prime minister to be ousted through a no-confidence motion vote in parliament. On 22 August 2022, Khan was charged by the Pakistani police under anti-terror laws after Khan accused the police and judiciary of detaining and torturing his close aide.

In foreign relations, he dealt with border skirmishes against India, strengthened relations with China and Russia, while relations with the United States cooled.

In 2010, Khan said in an interview: "I grew up hating India because I grew up in Lahore and there were massacres of 1947, so much bloodshed and anger. But as I started touring India, I got such love and friendship there that all this disappeared."

Khan views the Kashmir issue as a humanitarian issue, as opposed to a territorial dispute between two countries (India and Pakistan). He also proposed secret talks to settle the issue as he thinks the vested interests on both sides will try to subvert them. He ruled out a military solution to the conflict and denied the possibility of a fourth war between India and Pakistan over the disputed mountainous region.

Khan publicly demanded a Pakistani apology towards the Bangladeshi people for the atrocities committed in 1971. He called the 1971 operation a "blunder" and likened it to today's treatment of Pashtuns in the war on terror. However, he repeatedly criticised the war crimes trials in Bangladesh in favour of the convicts.

In August 2012, the Pakistani Taliban issued death threats if he went ahead with his march to their tribal stronghold along the Afghan border to protest US drone attacks, because he calls himself a "liberal" – a term they associate with a lack of religious belief.

On 1 October 2012, prior to his plan to address a rally in South Waziristan, senior commanders of Pakistani Taliban said after a meeting headed by the Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud that they now offered Khan security assistance for the rally because of Khan's opposition to drone attacks in Pakistan, reversing their previous stance.

His sympathetic position toward the Pakistani Taliban and Afghan Taliban, as well as his criticism of the US-led war on terror, has earned him the moniker "Taliban Khan" in Pakistani politics.

He believes in negotiations with Taliban and the pull out of the Pakistan Army from Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). He is against US drone strikes and plans to disengage Pakistan from the US-led war on terror. Khan also opposes almost all military operations, including the Siege of Lal Masjid.

In 2014, when Pakistani Taliban announced armed struggle against Ismaili Muslims (denouncing them as non-Muslims) and the Kalash people, Khan released a statement describing "forced conversions as un-Islamic". He has also condemned the incidents of forced conversion of Hindu girls in Sindh.

Following the Taliban takeover of Kabul in 2021, Khan congratulated the Taliban for their victory in the 2001–2021 war, and urged the international community to support their new government. He also said that his government was negotiating a peace deal with the Pakistani Taliban (TTP) with the help of the Afghan Taliban.

On 8 January 2016, Khan visited the embassies of Iran and Saudi Arabia in Islamabad and met their head of commissions to understand their stances about the conflict that engulfed both nations after the execution of Sheikh Nimr by Saudi Arabia. He urged the Government of Pakistan to play a positive role to resolve the matter between both countries.

After parliament passed a unanimous resolution keeping Pakistan out of the War in Yemen in April 2015, Khan claimed that his party was responsible for "many critical clauses" of the resolution. In July 2018, the Saudi-based Islamic Development Bank activated its $4.5 billion oil financing facility for Pakistan.

grapevine

13th May 2023, 13:16

UK: Imran Khan's ex wife Jemima Goldsmith says unidentified men tried to enter her London home

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXSB3FgmABg&ab_channel=WION
This video was posted on YT a month ago and may be linked to what is happening to Imran Khan. It seems that not even the elite are safe.

Ravenlocke

13th May 2023, 18:15

Text:
Imran Khan destroyed Junta’s Generals in his live speech told officers of Police & Army to stop accepting illegal orders from them "They are not your gods"

"Junta should register itself as a political party" - Imran Khan on Military’s continues meddling in politics.

"You are not ashamed to issue a warrant for the arrest of a veiled woman, you have no women at home? Or are you so shameless and dishonorable that someone does this to your women and you wouldn’t care? - Imran Khan rattles Junta’s Generals on their crackdown against women protesters.

Imran Khan compares Military Junta 'Generals to modern day Pharaohs’s (Firauns)' on live speech.

Imran Khan addressing the nation live
http://youtu.be/OhOqoD3_TWg

https://twitter.com/dana916/status/1657411346575572992

1657411346575572992

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https://twitter.com/PTIofficial/status/1657447505246965760
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Ravenlocke

13th May 2023, 18:21

https://twitter.com/PTIofficial/status/1657296853401042946

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Ravenlocke

13th May 2023, 18:31

Text:
Let’s translate that for UK PM, British Foreign Office, US State Dept: Punjab Police barged into the home of Usman Dar, a PTI politician and threatened his sister that unless Usman Dar surrenders to Police, they will rape his old mother; after issuing this threat; they took the old woman into a room & locked doors! Video is circulating on social media/internet but Pakistani Govt has blocked internet across Pakistan in most places!
@BBCNews

@10DowningStreet

@StateDept

@amnestysasia

https://twitter.com/MoeedNj/status/1657434997811208197

1657434997811208197

Bill Ryan

14th May 2023, 16:10

An 11-minute summary from The Duran (which really means Alexander Mercouris :) ). It begins with an overview of all the events, most of which followers of this thread will be very familiar with. But then, and maybe of interest to readers here, Mercouris looks ahead to the coming general election, which could be held any time from mid-August to mid-October.

The issue is that Imran is almost certain to win — but then he'd inherit all the chaos created by the current situation, combined with serious economic and other problems. So (my words here), winning might be a kind of poisoned chalice, and even Imran's overriding charisma and popularity may not be able to do much to fix everything.

Imran Khan released, but troubles in Pakistan remain

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mhoo_JHuEE4

Ravenlocke

14th May 2023, 22:29

https://twitter.com/dana916/status/1657868571286945794

1657868571286945794

Ravenlocke

14th May 2023, 22:35

Text:
So now the complete London plan is out. Using pretext of violence while I was inside the jail, they have assumed the role of judge, jury and executioner. The Plan now is to humiliate me by putting Bushra begum in jail, and using some sedition law to keep me inside for next ten years.

https://twitter.com/ImranKhanPTI/status/1657842709334294530

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https://twitter.com/ImranKhanPTI/status/1657843733935652864

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https://twitter.com/ImranKhanPTI/status/1657843755666354177

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Text:

My message to the people of Pakistan; I will fight for Haqeeqi Azaadi till the last drop of my blood because for me death is preferable than to be enslaved by these assortment of crooks . I urge all my people to remember that we have pledged LA Illah ha illalah, that we bow to no one except the One (Allah). If we bow to the idol of fear there will only be humiliation and dismemberment for our future generations.
Countries where there is injustice and law of jungle prevails, don't survive for long.

https://twitter.com/ImranKhanPTI/status/1657846004694097923

1657846004694097923

Bill Ryan

15th May 2023, 22:44

This new Telegram post seems very extreme (and may not be balanced or accurate — but it could be!). I'm reporting it here just for the ongoing record. :flower:

https://t.me/CIG_telegram/30965
(https://t.me/CIG_telegram/30965)https://t.me/DDGeopolitics/63013

CIG_telegram/30965
DDGeopolitics/63013

Ravenlocke

17th May 2023, 19:43

https://twitter.com/anadoluagency/status/1658867487700549632

1658867487700549632

https://www.aa.com.tr/en/asia-pacific/probably-my-last-tweet-pakistans-ex-premier-khan-fears-arrest-again/2899768

'Probably my last tweet,' Pakistan's ex-Premier Khan fears arrest again

KARACHI, Pakistan

Pakistan's former Prime Minister Imran Khan Wednesday said the police have surrounded his residence in the northeastern city of Lahore, and he might be arrested any time.

"Probably my last tweet before my next arrest. Police have surrounded my house," Khan said in a Twitter post containing his video message.

However, there was no immediate word from the government about Khan’s tweet regarding police surrounding his house.

The development came after the provincial government of northeastern Punjab province gave a 24-hour "ultimatum to the leadership" of Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party to surrender "30 to 40" miscreants allegedly involved in last week's violent protests against the ex-premier's arrest in a corruption case.

Punjab's Information Minister Aamir Mir, at a press conference on Wednesday, alleged that the "wanted miscreants" are hiding inside Khan's Zaman Park residence located in a high-end Lahore locality. The PTI denies the charge.

Mir warned that the security forces, this time, won't hesitate to take stern measures if the miscreants are not surrendered within the deadline.

He was referring to pitched battles between police and Khan's supporters when police tried to arrest Khan for not appearing before a court in a corruption case last month.

In his video message, Khan said all surveys showed that his party is going to win the next elections by a vast majority.

In a thinly-veiled reference to the country's military, he said that "those" who don't want him to be back into power staged the violence.

Meanwhile, Army Chief Gen. Asim Munir reiterated that all those responsible for “bringing shame to the nation on the Black Day of May 9” will be brought to justice.

According to an army statement, Munir made these remarks during a visit to the northeastern Sialkot Garrison near the Indian border on Wednesday, referring to attacks on several military installations during violent protests last week.

The government and the army have already announced that those involved in attacks on military installations will be tried under the Army Act and the Official Secrets Act.

Ravenlocke

17th May 2023, 19:46

Text:
Our democracy, our judiciary, our constitution and the rule of law has been made a complete mockery by the current fascist set up . Like our other leaders , Shireen Mazari after getting bail was rearrested and taken to another jail . 7500 of our workers have been arrested with most of them not produced before the courts as demanded by our law . As we speak houses are being broken in , smashed and men and women are being picked up . Just when we believe our country has hit rock bottom in both our economic crisis and violation of our fundamental rights , we hit another low . And all this is being done to stop PTI forming the next government.

https://twitter.com/ImranKhanPTI/status/1658911650278432769

1658911650278432769

https://twitter.com/ImranKhanPTI/status/1658847401929498632

1658847401929498632

Ravenlocke

17th May 2023, 20:14

Text:
🇵🇰 ~ Imran Khan’s residence 'Zaman Park' is besieged by a heavy deployment of armed police.

🇵🇰 ~ Junta has made Pakistan an absolute joke - all state machinery is now being used against the most popular party & leader in the country just because they don’t want him to run in elections. How long will this continue? Country is on the brink of default but cabal of crooks don’t give a shi*. They will be the first one to fly out of the country if situation falls into a civil war and in the end people will go through the unimaginable sufferings. It’s extremely exhausting. Its time for a brigadier or colonel coup within the Army because the other path looks extremely dangerous and bloodier.

IROP

https://twitter.com/dana916/status/1658870961259544583

1658870961259544583

https://twitter.com/dana916/status/1658870317836533763

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Ravenlocke

19th May 2023, 19:29

Text:
19th May update on Ejaz Sb :- 9 days since his illegal abduction, as an elderly individual and more importantly a senator is being kept in solitary

There is a false & concerted campaign being carried out by the Punjab government & police against Ejaz sb linking him with some “perceived terrorists” at zaman park. Which is totally based on lies

They are trying to create a false link, but there are abundant tweets & media beepers (attached) on record that he has been asking for peaceful protests

He remains steadfast to the cause with Imran Khan

#ReleaseEjazChaudhary
#WontLeaveYouAloneIK
@ali_chaudhary

https://twitter.com/DrAwab/status/1659602856998060038

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https://twitter.com/ImranKhanPTI/status/1659608429206577152

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Text:
The way Pakistani women stood up for Haqeeqi Azadi, they will be remembered and become part of our democratic history.

Also what will never be forgotten is the brutality of our security forces and the shameless way they went out of their way to abuse, hurt and humiliate our women.

Hundreds are languishing in jail in terrible conditions. This too won’t be forgotten.

https://twitter.com/ImranKhanPTI/status/1659621414473986048

1659621414473986048

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https://twitter.com/isthisannie/status/1659591568544739333

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Ravenlocke

20th May 2023, 15:53

https://twitter.com/RT_com/status/1659906831123116037

1659906831123116037

Ravenlocke

22nd May 2023, 00:25

https://twitter.com/PTIofficial/status/1660371001882935299

1660371001882935299

https://twitter.com/PTIofficial/status/1660380045385388035

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https://twitter.com/PTIofficial/status/1660323279662460932

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Ravenlocke

24th May 2023, 23:21

Text:
🇵🇰 ~ A lot of rumors circulating about former Pakistani intelligence (ISI) chief Gen. (retired) Faiz Hameed of a possible court martial. His movement has been restricted & he is now under surveillance.

He is a figure considered very close to Imran Khan & the Taliban.

Faiz Hameed is accused of feeding Intelligence to Imran Khan since his ouster from power.. he used his connections within the ISI to keep Khan updated about the moves of powerful ruling Junta.

https://twitter.com/dana916/status/1661451807829159936

1661451807829159936

Ravenlocke

24th May 2023, 23:31

Text:
English subtitles]
The enforced resignation of Dr Shireen Mazari is a loss for Pakistan's politics and its democracy.

Dr Mazari was released on court orders four times, but the fascist imposed regime immediately rearrested her until she agreed to leave politics for the sake of her health and the safety and well-being of her family.

https://twitter.com/PTIOfficialUSA/status/1661485071772033024

1661485071772033024

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https://twitter.com/FarrukhHabibISF/status/1661449935328346112

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https://twitter.com/MPIainDS/status/1661441564827156483

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Ravenlocke

25th May 2023, 00:21

Text:

🚨🇵🇰 ~ Hate to say it, but things are not looking good for Imran Khan

🔘 His deputies have resigned

🔘 His workers arrested

🔘 PTI faces a permanent ban

🔘 Khan himself faces arrest or exile

🔘 He is being completely isolated

🔘 His body language in recent speeches sums up the current situation.

He needs to play a big card but its a dangerous one or the end game goes in favor of the Junta. ⏳

80% of the entire previous cabinet of Imran Khan’s party rule has resigned due to Junta’s blackmailing & pressure. Only his Foreign Minister among few others are left.

🇵🇰 ~ We also need to see this from a different angle:

Imran Khan now has the opportunity to rebuild the party with young people who are creative & organized. The old boomers leaving his party could be a blessing in disguise for him. How he plays his next cards is very important. Pakistan really needs young blood to run the country. Remember, whenever things look bad for Imran Khan he has the ability to turn them around - always!

IROP

https://twitter.com/dana916/status/1661451063759601664

1661451063759601664

Ravenlocke

25th May 2023, 13:40

https://twitter.com/UAPIntel/status/1661549589005053953

1661549589005053953

https://twitter.com/UAPIntel/status/1661688696398127104

1661688696398127104

Ravenlocke

26th May 2023, 00:34

Text:
Pakistan is so screwed. It has only $4 billion of foreign exchange reserves, but has to pay back $25 billion to IMF and other Western loan sharks over the next year.

Pakistan’s total external debt is whopping $120 billion.

China will bailout Pakistan this month with $2 billion of assistance. But this cannot go on forever.

The best is to default on all IMF loans and start fresh with a clean slate.

But that takes smart and patriotic leaders who don’t have Swiss bank accounts.

https://twitter.com/Kanthan2030/status/1661791283315367936

1661791283315367936

https://www.usip.org/publications/2023/04/pakistans-existential-economic-crisis

Pakistan’s Existential Economic Crisis
There is a real danger that Pakistan could default on its debt, which could lead to intensifying political turmoil amid already surging terrorism.

Pakistan’s stability increasingly depends on the outcome of an ever-worsening economic crisis. Amid skyrocketing inflation, political conflict between Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s government and former Prime Minister Imran Khan, and surging terrorism, the country is facing the risk of a default due to its massive external debt obligations. This burden has been exacerbated by the derailment of the $6.5 billion International Monetary Fund (IMF) program Pakistan entered in 2019, as the international lender is unsatisfied with Pakistan’s commitment to reform and ability to arrange for funds to meet external financing requirements. Troublingly, Pakistan’s official foreign exchange reserves are hovering around $4 billion, which is insufficient to finance even a one-month of the country’s import bill.

Can Pakistan recover from the economic abyss? To determine, it is important to consider: (1) the composition of Pakistan’s overall external debt; (2) repayment pressure on the debt in both the short- and medium-term; (3) potential inflows that can offset the debt outflows; and (4) Pakistan’s external debt management strategy.

1. Pakistan’s Debt Composition — and the Terms on the Debt

As of December 2022, Pakistan holds external debt and liabilities of $126.3 billion. Nearly 77% of this debt, amounting to $97.5 billion is directly owed by the government of Pakistan to various creditors; an additional $7.9 billion is owed by government-controlled public sector enterprises to multilateral creditors.

Who are these creditors? Pakistan’s creditors fall in four broad categories: multilateral debt, Paris Club debt, private and commercial loans, and Chinese debt.

Multilateral Debt

A major share of Pakistan’s debt is owed to multilateral institutions, amounting to roughly $45 billion. Islamabad’s main multilateral creditors include the World Bank ($18 billion), the Asian Development Bank ($15 billion) and the IMF ($7.6 billion). Pakistan owes smaller amounts to the Islamic Development Bank and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank as well.

While a significant amount of Pakistan’s total debt, multilateral debt doesn’t present major short-term risks for Pakistan. The terms of most loans are largely concessional with a repayment timeline spanning 18 to 30 years; most repayments are spread in many small transactions. In 2022-23, Pakistan repaid a total $4.5 billion debt to multilateral creditors, which is a fifth of the total debt repayment for the year.

Paris Club Debt

Pakistan owes $8.5 billion to the Paris Club, a group of 22 major-creditor countries. This debt is scheduled to be repaid over 40 years with less than 1% interest rate, and is mostly owed to Japan, Germany, France and the United States.

Private Debt and Commercial Loans

Pakistan holds a large amount of private debt; much of this is in the form of private bonds, such as Eurobonds and global Sukuk bonds, amounting to $7.8 billion. Some of this debt is recent: In the last fiscal year, Pakistan raised $2 billion by floating Eurobonds of 5, 10, and 30 years at an interest rate ranging from 6 percent for five years and 8.87 percent for 30 years.

Pakistan holds foreign commercial loans to the tune of nearly $7 billion, which is likely to increase to nearly $9 billion by the end of the current fiscal year. Much of Pakistan’s commercial loan stock is owed to Chinese financial institutions, as Pakistan has repaid major non-Chinese commercial loans of institutions.

Most commercial loans come with steep terms; they have to be repaid to the lenders between one to three years. The rates on the loans are high as well. Some are benchmarked against the London Interbank Offered Rate (also known as LIBOR). Others, like Chinese commercial loans, are pegged against the Shanghai Interbank Offered Rate (SHIBOR). For example, Pakistan recently obtained a $2.2 billion commercial loan from the China Development Bank at six-month SHIBOR rate plus 1.5 percent; this loan is to be repaid over a three-year period.

Chinese Bilateral Debt

Pakistan holds around $27 billion of Chinese debt. This includes around $10 billion of bilateral debt and $6.2 billion in debt provided by the Chinese government to Pakistani public sector enterprises, and Chinese commercial loans of around $7 billion. In addition, China’s State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) has placed $4 billion worth of foreign deposits with Pakistan’s central bank. The bilateral debt is on concessional terms with a maturity period of 20 years. In addition to the $27 billion in debt, Pakistan also has a currency swap facility with the Chinese.

2. Short- and Medium-Term Debt Repayment Pressure

Pakistan’s large external debt comes with considerable repayment pressure. From April 2023 to June 2026, Pakistan needs to repay $77.5 billion in external debt. For a $350 billion economy, this is a hefty burden. The major repayments in the next three years are to Chinese financial institutions, private creditors and Saudi Arabia.

Pakistan faces near-term debt repayment pressure. From April to June 2023, the external debt servicing burden is $4.5 billion. The major repayments are due in June when a $1 billion Chinese SAFE deposit and a roughly $1.4 billion Chinese commercial loan would mature. Pakistani authorities hope to convince the Chinese to refinance and rollover both debts, something the Chinese government and commercial banks have done in the past.

Even if Pakistan manages to meet these obligations, the next fiscal year will be more challenging, as the debt servicing will rise to nearly $25 billion. This includes $15 billion of short-term loans and $7 billion in long-term debt, including a vital $1 billion repayment on a Eurobond in the fourth quarter. The short-term debt repayments include $4 billion Chinese SAFE deposits, $3 billion Saudi deposits and $2 billion UAE deposits; the Pakistani government assumes they will be rolled over by the creditors each year. Separately, Pakistan will need to repay another $1.1 billion of long-term commercial loans to Chinese banks.

In 2024-25, Pakistan’s debt servicing is likely to be around $24.6 billion, which includes $8.2 billion long-term debt repayments and another $14.5 billion short-term debt repayments; this includes major repayments to Chinese lenders of $3.8 billion. In 2025-26, the debt servicing burden is likely to be at least $23 billion; that year Pakistan is to pay back $8 billion in long-term debt, including repaying $1.8 billion for a Eurobond and $1.9 billion to Chinese commercial lender.

3. Exports, Investments and Remittances — and Pakistan’s Repayment Calculus

In order to repay its debt and avoid a sovereign default, Pakistan’s earnings from exports, foreign direct investment and remittance inflows from foreign workers are vital. However, all three inflows are projected to not keep pace with the import bill as well as the mounting debt repayment pressure.

For example, over the last three years, Pakistan’s export earnings and remittances were a total of $164 billion, compared to $170 billion worth of imports of goods. Over the next three years as well, imports are likely to be higher than the total dollar amount of exports and remittances, which will lead to a current account deficit requiring external financing. On the export side, the IMF had projected nearly $36 billion exports for 2022-23. That has now been revised with a new estimate of $28-29 billion, partly due to the rising cost of business and economic dislocation resulting from the uncertainty in the country.

Foreign direct investment is projected to remain subdued as well. In recent years, investment has averaged a dismal $2 billion annually due to challenging business environment and frequent policy changes; similar levels of investments are the best case for the next few years. Investor sentiment has also been impacted by the government’s recent restrictions on the movement of capital outside the country.

4. Options to Manage External Debt

Pakistan’s economic managers have only two options for addressing its external debt burden. The first is to take fresh loans and seek rollovers of debt. However, due to downgrades by international credit rating agencies, Pakistan’s ability to access sovereign financing market is limited. So Pakistani leadership will depend on Middle Eastern partners and China, not just for existing rollover but also fresh loans if it seeks to avoid a default. The specific amount Pakistan may seek will depend on negotiations with the IMF. If the derailed IMF program is revived, the amount will be smaller than the one it would seek if the program collapses. And in case the currently derailed IMF program is revived and completed over the summer, Pakistan will need a new IMF program, in addition to new loans and rollovers from its Middle Eastern and Chinese partners, due to its external debt burden over the new three years.

Another possibility is that Pakistan seeks pre-emptive restructuring of debt. Doing so will reduce the repayment pressure and spare scarce dollars in the economy to finance the country’s current account deficit. The Pakistani government has met with investment banks and advisors to explore restructuring options. However, for now, officials are reluctant as a restructuring process will be both painful and long, and also because of the political backlash of associated austerity measures.

What Does this Mean for Pakistan’s Stability?

There is a real danger that nuclear-armed Pakistan with a population of nearly 230 million people may be unable to meet its external debt obligations — which will trigger a sovereign default. To avert this scenario, Pakistan needs IMF’s continued support as well as help from Chinese and Middle Eastern partners. Pakistani leadership has been asking the United States to intercede with the IMF, but that effort hasn’t borne fruit in the way they hoped for. Pakistani leadership is also making frantic efforts for bailouts from foreign partners, but it is unclear if they will make the difficult reform choices necessary to win the trust of the IMF. If Pakistan ultimately defaults, there will be a cascade of disruptive effects. Crucially, Pakistan’s imports could be disrupted, which could lead to a shortage of some essential goods and commodities. In Sri Lanka, the disruption of oil imports stoked public discontent, protests and a change in government. Pakistan, which is already seeing intense political conflict between Sharif’s government and opposition leader Khan, may also see the economic crisis creating more political turmoil. And given Pakistan’s demographic profile and surging terrorism threats, the resulting crisis could go in unexpected directions.

Ravenlocke

27th May 2023, 00:21

https://twitter.com/telesurenglish/status/1662086180794425344

1662086180794425344

https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/2-Killed-6-Injured-in-SW-Pakistans-Twin-Blasts-20230526-0003.html

2 Killed, 6 Injured in SW Pakistan’s Twin Blasts

On Thursday, according to law enforcement officials, evening in the southwestern Balochistan region of Pakistan, two coordinated assaults resulted in the loss of two lives and inflicted injury upon six others.

According to law enforcement officials, the initial explosion occurred in the Harnai locality when an automobile collided with a land mine, resulting in injuries sustained by both occupants.

Police said that, after the initial explosion, people around promptly responded to provide aid to those affected. However, a secondary detonation ensued, probably by a mechanized device operated remotely.

According to the authorities, there were two fatalities and four individuals sustained injuries in the second explosion; authorities also said that there is an ongoing investigation to identify and locate the authors of the assault.

All individuals who sustained injuries have been transported to an adjacent medical facility, wherein two among them are classified as critical cases.

The police have not provided any personal identities of the individuals who were traveling in the vehicle. However, the police did say that all the victims in the second blast are civilians.

Up to now, no particular party has acknowledged or assumed responsibility for the attack.

Ravenlocke

3rd June 2023, 13:38

Text:

Pakistan: Imran Khan Files Defamation Suit Against Anti-Corruption Body Over 'Unlawful' Arrest

Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan has filed a defamation case against the head of the country's anti-corruption agency, accusing him of damaging his reputation by causing an "unlawful" arrest.

Khan is seeking PKR 15 billion ($52.8 million) in damages from Nazir Ahmad Butt, a retired military general.

The former PM, who was arrested in a corruption case on May 9 but later released, has been campaigning for snap general elections since his ousting in a no-confidence vote last April, leading to protests and attacks on state and military installations.

RT

https://twitter.com/dana916/status/1664825868160585729

1664825868160585729

Text:
I have decided to file a Rs 15 Billion Defamation Suit, against Chairman, NAB. I have served Legal Notice upon him.

My Arrest Warrant was issued on a public holiday and was kept in secrecy for eight days. I was not informed about conversion of Al-Qadir Trust Case Inquiry into Investigation. Conditions stipulated in Sec 24 of NAB Ordinance were disregarded. Supreme Court held that manner and execution of my Arrest Warrant was unlawful and unconstitutional. To execute Arrest Warrant, Pakistan Rangers was used which subjected me to brute force.

Ulterior motive was to defame me by arresting me from premises of Islamabad High Court. And show the world that I was arrested on corruption charges.

I, collect Rs 10 billion in charity annually. My credibility has never been questioned. Nevertheless, act of implicating me in a bogus inquiry followed by my illegal and malafide arrest, have adversely affected my reputation. It has subjected me to ridicule. Therefore, I am well within my right to initiate Defamation proceedings.

https://twitter.com/ImranKhanPTI/status/1664484777133744129

1664484777133744129

Ravenlocke

3rd June 2023, 13:43

https://twitter.com/PTIOfficialUSA/status/1664748001523277824

1664748001523277824

https://twitter.com/theintercept/status/1664721199404929026

1664721199404929026

Ravenlocke

3rd June 2023, 13:53

Text:
Chairman Imran Khan termed the use of military courts by the fascist regime as the "final nail in the coffin of the democratic structure" of Pakistan.

According to Human Rights Watch: Trying civilians before military courts violates Pakistan’s obligations under international human rights law to ensure the due process and fair trial rights of criminal suspects.

https://twitter.com/PTIOfficialUSA/status/1664876141780279296

1664876141780279296

¤=[Post Update]=¤

https://twitter.com/hrw/status/1664839333411471361

1664839333411471361

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https://twitter.com/PTIOfficialUSA/status/1664867852057288704

1664867852057288704

Ravenlocke

16th June 2023, 13:06

https://twitter.com/BenjaminNorton/status/1669469626231660544

1669469626231660544

Text:

Pakistan's US-backed military regime prohibited TV news stations from showing pictures of overthrown PM Imran Khan or even using his name.

It also told the media to stop reporting on Pakistan's massive economic crisis - as the corrupt coup regime bankrupts the country.

Pakistan is heavily reliant on importing energy, medicine, and food, but it only has enough foreign-exchange reserves left for one month of imports

It is on the verge of a Sri Lanka-style crash

https://twitter.com/BenjaminNorton/status/1669471999368863745

1669471999368863745

https://twitter.com/BenjaminNorton/status/1669473271236968452

1669473271236968452

Bill Ryan

5th August 2023, 18:03

News from Pakistan. (My emphasis below :flower:)

The text:

The first demonstrations are starting (https://t.me/infantmilitario/104489) to break out in Pakistan as former Prime Minister Imran Khan has just been arrested and sentenced to three years in prison for corruption.

Pakistan's government has ordered the shutdown of internet (https://t.me/svezhesti/85631) services in Islamabad and Rawalpindi as protests have begun in the country's largest cities.

"This is a war for justice, aiming to free us from enslavement."

Cities in Pakistan are filled with protesters, following the online publication of Imran Khan's address to the Pakistani people, which he pre-recorded in case of his arrest (https://t.me/svezhesti/85638).

https://t.me/Slavyangrad/57951
Slavyangrad/57951

Mark (Star Mariner)

5th August 2023, 19:06

"...a war for justice, aiming to free us from enslavement." His statement could apply to almost every nation.

Unlike every nation though, particularly those in the west, I predict the Pakistanis might actually be motivated to do something about it. They certainly have the numbers -- Karachi by itself is one of the largest cities in the world, with a population of 10million+ people. If this started to get messy (which it may), and I was wearing a state uniform, I know what I'd do. Run.

Ravenlocke

6th August 2023, 04:26

Text:
🇵🇰 The verdict by an Islamabad court sentencing Imran Khan three years imprisonment in a political case (Toshakhana Case) is highly condemnable. There is no evidence. Extremely biased judgement. The courts in Pakistan are functioning under extreme pressure of powerful military.

It is expected that the ruling will be overturned by Supreme Court on Monday because the judgement has no solid basis but you never know what will happen next in Junta’s ruled Pakistan.

All of this clown-show to bar Imran Khan and his party from participating in elections because if he comes back to power again its over for them.

Imran Khan has been shifted to Attock Jail just an hour ago. They will keep shifting him to different locations in order to confuse the protesters.

From Lahore, Rawalpindi to Attock. Next could be somewhere in Baluchistan.

Sources also say that tomorrow Imran Khan will be offered a deal by the Generals to leave the country, an offer he denied in previous detention.

IROP

https://twitter.com/dana916/status/1688035491101204480

1688035491101204480

¤=[Post Update]=¤

https://twitter.com/The_Real_Fly/status/1688020276053741568

1688020276053741568

Ravenlocke

6th August 2023, 04:41

https://twitter.com/TheCradleMedia/status/1687803536732479489

1687803536732479489

https://new.thecradle.co/articles/imran-khan-sentenced-to-three-years-in-jail-banned-from-politics-ahead-of-elections

Imran Khan sentenced to three years in jail, banned from politics ahead of elections
Since being ousted from office in a US-backed parliamentary coup in 2022, the popular opposition leader has become the target of over 150 legal cases and at least one assassination attempt

Former Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan was sentenced to three years in jail on 5 August by a court in Islamabad on charges of illegally selling state gifts.

The popular opposition leader was promptly arrested from his home in Lahore after the court handed down the sentence. The court also disqualified him from politics for five years, banning his political activities.

Before being taken into custody, Khan released a video on social media saying his arrest was “expected” and calling on his supporters to protest peacefully.

“When you receive this message, I will be arrested, and I will be in prison,” said Khan. “I only have one request, one appeal for you. You must not sit quietly inside your homes. The struggle I am doing is not for my own self, it’s for my nation, for you. For the future of your children.”

“If you don’t stand up for your rights, you will live lives of slaves and slaves don’t have a life,” he added.

Khan also stressed that Saturday's verdict is “one more step in fulfilling [the] London Plan,” a term he uses to refer to an alleged plot between current army chief General Asim Munir and three-time former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, who has been in self-exile in London since 2019.

Khan's party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), said following his arrest that an appeal has already been filed in Pakistan's Supreme Court over the district court order.

“The decision of the Kangaroo Court of [additional district and sessions judge Humayun Dilawar] was not yet received by anyone in the court, but the Lahore Police was already there to kidnap the PTI chairman. Chairman Imran Khan did not resist. Every process from the beginning of the case to the trial and from the trial to the abduction is illegal,” the party said in a post on its official social media account.

The 70-year-old cricketer-turned-politician stood accused of misusing his role as prime minister from 2018 to 2022 to buy and sell gifts in state possession that were received during visits abroad worth more than 140 million Pakistani rupees ($635,000).

The verdict includes a 100,000 rupees fine ($355).

Khan's arrest on Saturday marked the second time he has been detained this year.

His arrest in May was met with violent clashes between his supporters and police across the country, which left several dead and hundreds injured. Authorities also rounded up the leadership of the PTI and over 2,000 Khan supporters.

Khan’s arrest comes just three months before crucial elections in November, where many expected him to win the largest democratic mandate ever secured by any politician in the 75-year history of Pakistan.

The former premier was ousted last year in a US-backed parliamentary coup that saw Shehbaz Sharif – a protégé of the Sharif business dynasty that has governed Pakistan for much of the previous three decades – come to power.

Since his ousting, he has been arrested, charged with “terrorism,” banned from running for office, and even survived an assassination attempt.

Kryztian

10th August 2023, 01:20

Another fine example of how treacherous and barborous the Biden Administration is:

teHAhYajt44

Kryztian

11th August 2023, 17:03

Imran Khan is exactly what the US hates in a Pakistani politician: principled
Peter Oborne
8 August 2023 16:43 BST | Last update: 2 days 23 hours ago
https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/pakistan-imran-khan-us-hates-politician-principled
Lack of condemnation from the US over Khan's politically motivated imprisonment only confirms Washington's long history of preferring dictators pliable to its interests

Last week, the Russian dissident Alexei Navalny was sentenced to 19 years in a penal colony - accused of financing "extremism" and "rehabilitating the Nazi ideology".

Quite rightly, the United States and Britain instantly denounced the move, with the US State Department describing the conviction as "an unjust conclusion to an unjust trial".

Britain's Foreign Secretary James Cleverly claimed the outcome "shows Russia's complete disregard for even the most basic of human rights", piously adding: "Dissent cannot be silenced."

Three days later, Imran Khan - until last year, the democratically elected prime minister of Pakistan - was sentenced to three years' imprisonment, courtesy of what looked like a kangaroo court, under murky circumstances.

These two cases are eerily similar. Few believe the charges laid against Navalny. Yet it is vital for President Vladimir Putin to remove him from the political stage - especially with Russian presidential elections scheduled to be held in March 2024.

Likewise, few believe the corruption charges laid against Khan carry any plausibility. Yet it is vital to get him out of the way ahead of Pakistan's general election, scheduled for this autumn.

There are dark forces which want both men out of the way. Navalny was subject to an attempted poisoning three years ago, while Khan was wounded in an assassination attempt late last year.

Let's spit out the ugly truth. Alexei Navalny and Imran Khan are both political prisoners, held on trumped-up charges by the Russian and Pakistan authorities.

Yet the West is only concerned about the fate of one of them.

Double standards

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was swift to condemn the additional jail sentence imposed on Navalny, condemning "Russia's conviction of opposition leader Alexei Navalny on politically motivated charges. The Kremlin cannot silence the truth. Navalny should be released".

No US condemnation of Khan's politically motivated trial.

British Foreign Secretary Cleverly was guilty of the same double standard.

Both Britain and America will be well aware that the charges against Khan - profiteering from official gifts - are flimsy.

In fact, when Khan was in office, he changed the law so that it would be more difficult for politicians to profit from gifts received on foreign visits.

Previously, if an official wanted to retain an item, they were able to purchase it at 20 percent of the value set by the Toshakhana evaluation committee. During his premiership, Khan raised the fee to 50 percent.

Khan is probably the least corrupt politician - admittedly not a high bar - in Pakistan's modern history. He represents a reversion to the early school of post-independence politicians, from the Qaid-i-Azam, Mohammed Ali Jinnah, to the country's first president, Iskandar Mirza, whose integrity was absolute.

None of this matters to the US and Britain, which have always preferred to deal with dictators who are pliable to their interests: Mohammad Ayub Khan, installed in a military coup in 1958; General Mohammad Zia-ul-Haq, who ruled with an iron fist during the 1970s and 80s; and more recently General Pervez Musharraf, who came to power in a bloodless coup in 1999 and served as Pakistan's president from 2001 to 2008.

History proves that the US is structurally hostile to any Pakistani political leader with a democratic mandate.

Lonely battle

Khan, to his enormous credit, had set out to challenge the deeply corrupt, dynastic two-party system that has dominated Pakistani politics, through the Bhutto family's Pakistan People's Party (PPP) and the Sharif family's Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N), for more than half a century.

In doing so, he sought to end the country's status as a client state of the US.

Almost unheard of among recent generations of Pakistani leaders, he stuck to his principles - falling afoul of the US in the process.

Throughout his long period in opposition, he fought a lonely battle against the US's brutal war on terror, condemning drone strikes and standing up for the rule of law.

To his credit, Khan remained a thorn in the flesh of the US once in power. But he has paid the price.

I trace his demise to the fall of Kabul in August 2021, when Khan clashed with Washington over the freezing of Afghan state assets, as well as the American desire for access to Pakistani airspace.

From that moment, his card was marked. Khan had the impertinence to defy the US: the Biden administration's refusal to denounce his imprisonment amounts to complicity.

I love Pakistan, have travelled to this beautiful country many times, and have respect for the Pakistan army and its role in maintaining stability after independence 75 years ago. But it is widely reported to be the architect of Khan's downfall.

Not for the first time, it is allowing itself to be dragged into national politics.

Deceitful claims

Imran Khan is today the most popular politician in the country. Polls indicate that he would sweep to victory in any free and fair election.

Holding an election in Pakistan without Khan would be like putting on Shakespeare's Hamlet without the prince.

Whoever wins an election without Khan would carry zero political legitimacy, and be despised as the local client ruler, ruling on behalf of the United States.

As for Khan, he has joined the long list of democratically legitimate national leaders who had the temerity to affect the US by striking out with an independent foreign policy.

Mohamed Morsi, Egypt's first democratically elected civilian president, spent his final years in jail before dying in court.

Salvador Allende of Chile dared to win an election that the US wanted him to lose - and was dislodged from office in the most brutal of circumstances.

Ali Bhutto, Pakistan's first democratically elected leader, who challenged the US by building an alliance of non-aligned nations, ended up in a prison where he was judicially murdered.

Mohammad Mosaddegh of Iran. Too many others.

The silence of the US and Britain, both countries which deceitfully claim to believe in democracy, says it all.

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Eye.
https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/pakistan-imran-khan-us-hates-politician-principled

Journeyman

11th August 2023, 20:46

[B][SIZE="4"]Peter Oborne

A fine journalist.

A rare breed these days

Bill Ryan

14th August 2023, 11:50

Copying Rizotto (https://projectavalon.net/forum4/member.php?47445-Rizotto)'s new post over from the WW3/Ukraine thread: :thumbsup:

"SECRET Cable Shows Biden State Dept Pressured Pakistan TO REMOVE Khan For CHALLENGING NATO: Report"
(more specifically, Khan wanted to remain neutral regarding the Ukraine conflict, while maintaining communications with Putin)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4kbF4mLs7E

Bill Ryan

16th August 2023, 16:20

In the opening minutes of thus new Duran livestream with Jeffrey Sachs, Sachs shares that he knows Imran Khan personally, which I wasn't aware of.

Sachs describes Imran as a "superb person". (And yes, he is. :flower:)

John Bolton escalation. Removing Imran Khan w/ Jeffrey Sachs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7zm3eMy_Ew

grapevine

19th August 2023, 16:15

Imran Khan and Blinken nonsense (1m 59secs)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xwXW7CWOqE&ab_channel=GeorgeGalloway
Short but sweet from George Galloway:
"Martial law in Pakistan in all but name. Imran Khan in prison, supporters gunned down and disappeared and Antony Blinken tweets about free and fair elections. It takes the biscuit"

Ravenlocke

19th August 2023, 19:34

https://twitter.com/djuric_zlatko/status/1692932099932647859

1692932099932647859

Ravenlocke

29th August 2023, 13:49

https://twitter.com/spectatorindex/status/1696436623016382645

1696436623016382645

https://twitter.com/MayadeenEnglish/status/1696438452223344748

1696438452223344748

https://twitter.com/centralnewsza/status/1696499360677138743

1696499360677138743

Ravenlocke

29th August 2023, 14:20

Text:

🇵🇰🗳️ ~ If national elections take place on time in Pakistan - these are the three politicians who will compete each other for Pakistan’s highest office.

🟢 Imran Khan.
🔴 Maryam Nawaz.
🟡 Bilawal Bhutto.

Bilawal & Maryam if elected will continue the trend of dynastic politics in Pakistan that started in 1995.

IROP

https://twitter.com/dana916/status/1696525252103422029

1696525252103422029

¤=[Post Update]=¤

https://twitter.com/TheCradleMedia/status/1696456749383897360

1696456749383897360

https://new.thecradle.co/articles/imran-khan-released-on-bail-prison-sentence-suspended

Imran Khan released on bail, prison sentence suspended
The former prime minister of Pakistan was sentenced to three years in jail on corruption charges and barred for five years from running for public office

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on 29 August suspended a three-year prison sentence issued earlier this month against former prime minister Imran Khan and set bail for his release.

Nonetheless, his lawyers confirmed that the popular Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party leader is still barred from taking part in elections or holding public office until the higher courts overturn the trial court’s verdict.

Khan's release from prison came after an IHC panel of judges accepted his appeal against his three-year jail sentence, issued on 5 August on charges of misusing his role as prime minister from 2018 to 2022 to buy and sell gifts in state possession that were received during visits abroad worth more than 140 million Pakistani rupees ($635,000).

This is the second case against Khan to be overturned this week after a court in Balochistan province quashed a sedition case on Monday.

The cricketer-turned-politician was ousted last year in a US-backed parliamentary coup that saw Shehbaz Sharif – a protégé of the Sharif business dynasty that has governed Pakistan for much of the previous three decades – come to power.

The Intercept revealed earlier this month that US State Department officials met with the Pakistani ambassador to the US in March 2022 and “encouraged the Pakistani government … to remove Imran Khan as prime minister over his neutrality on the Russian invasion of Ukraine.”

One day before this meeting, Khan spoke at a rally and responded directly to western calls for Pakistan to rally behind Ukraine. “Are we your slaves? What do you think of us? That we are your slaves and that we will do whatever you ask of us? We are friends of Russia, and we are also friends of the United States. We are friends of China and Europe. We are not part of any alliance,” he told the massive gathering.

Khan currently faces over 150 legal cases in Pakistani courts.

Moments before police took him on 5 August, Khan called the trial court's verdict “one more step in fulfilling [the] London Plan,” a term he uses to refer to an alleged plot between current army chief General Asim Munir and three-time former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, who has been in self-exile in London since 2019.

Since his ousting, he has been arrested twice, charged with “terrorism,” banned from broadcasting his speeches, and even survived an assassination attempt. Deadly protests and mass-arrest campaigns have rocked Pakistan whenever authorities tried to detain the popular leader.

General elections were set for November in Pakistan after President Arif Alvi prematurely dissolved the National Assembly on 10 August following the advice of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.

However, after the results of the 2023 digital census were approved by the Council of Common Interests – headed by Sharif – electoral officials will now need several months to redraw constituencies, pushing back the ballots until at least February 2024.

Many in Pakistan have raised alarms about this long delay, as the constitution mandates that elections must be held within 90 days of the early dissolution of assemblies.

Ravenlocke

29th August 2023, 21:20

https://twitter.com/dana916/status/1696595985873424408

1696595985873424408

Icare

12th September 2023, 00:20

Imran Khan has apparently now been convicted.

I found an interesting youtube video (from today) explaining - while using many short clips and showing parts of newspaper articles - what the US media isn't saying about Pakistan. (16 minutes)
Uta2jdHgXfk

Kryztian

23rd October 2023, 15:54

Ex-Pakistani PM charged amid US interference scandal
Imran Khan and his foreign minister have been indicted in the so-called ‘cipher case’
23 Oct, 2023 09:40
https://www.rt.com/news/585567-imran-khan-indicted-cipher/

A special court in Pakistan formally charged former Prime Minister Imran Khan and his then-foreign minister on Monday with breaching state secrecy laws. The charges stem from their alleged conspiracy to reveal what Khan characterized as US interference in orchestrating his removal by political opponents last year.

Special Court Judge Abual Hasnat Zulqarnain lodged indictments against Khan and Shah Mahmood Qureshi concerning the so-called ‘cipher case.’ The allegations revolve around their purported unlawful retention and public disclosure of a classified document, which Khan’s side is said to have had the necessary cipher to decode. Pakistani media reports suggest that additional individuals, including Khan’s aide Muhammad Azam Khan and former Federal Minister Asad Umar, may also face charges in the ongoing investigation.

The document in question is a diplomatic cable sent by then-Pakistani Ambassador to the US Asad Majeed Khan after his March 2022 meeting with two senior US Department of State officials, including Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs Donald Lu.

Various media sources, including The Intercept, reported that Lu criticized Imran Khan for adopting an “aggressively neutral position” on the Ukraine conflict that erupted in late February of the same year. Unlike the United States and its European allies, the Pakistani prime minister refrained from siding with Kiev.

Instead, he conducted a scheduled visit to Moscow and declared during a rally that Pakistanis were not “slaves” to Washington, defying Western criticisms.

The US official reportedly discussed the no-confidence vote against Khan, which he was facing in parliament at the time. If it were to succeed, “all will be forgiven in Washington,” Lu was quoted as telling the ambassador, while if Khan stayed in power, Islamabad would supposedly face “isolation.”

The US government denied that anything said by Lu during the meeting amounted to taking a position on who should be in power in Pakistan.

Khan was ousted about a month after the meeting and has since been charged with a number of crimes, including some related to terrorism and corruption. He has claimed that his political opponents seek to bar him from the upcoming parliamentary elections with Washington’s blessing. Notably, after Khan’s downfall, US-Pakistani relations experienced a period of thawing.

Islamabad received an unexpected windfall this July when the International Monetary Fund extended a $3 billion bailout. The Intercept claimed that the US backed the rescue in exchange for Pakistan agreeing to supply munitions worth $900 million to Ukraine. The Pakistani government has denied the reported arms sale ever taking place.

https://www.rt.com/news/585567-imran-khan-indicted-cipher/

Ravenlocke

23rd December 2023, 02:02

https://x.com/AJEnglish/status/1738277081895547221

1738277081895547221

Ravenlocke

26th December 2023, 19:40

https://x.com/AJEnglish/status/1739713509833797942

1739713509833797942

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/12/26/pakistan-court-restores-jailed-ex-pm-imran-khans-party-election-symbol

Pakistan court restores jailed ex-PM Imran Khan’s party election symbol
Khan’s party claimed the election body’s move was aimed at preventing him from contesting the February 8 polls.

A court in Pakistan has ruled that former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s party can contest elections using its cricket bat logo – a relief for the jailed opposition leader in advance of national elections.

The High Court in the northwestern city of Peshawar on Tuesday suspended last week’s order by the Election Commission of Pakistan, barring Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party from using its election symbol.

“The election commission’s ruling against PTI, in which its election symbol, the cricket bat, was unjustly revoked through an illegal order, has been suspended,” said PTI lawyer Syed Ali Zafar.

“It has been further directed that our symbol be reinstated,” he said.

In a nation where the adult literacy rate is just 58 percent, according to World Bank data, election symbols are vital campaign tools for differentiating candidates on ballot papers.

The election commission said it made the move because of the party’s failure to hold internal elections in accordance with its constitution.

But the PTI said the move was another jab to prevent Khan – a former cricket star – from contesting the election, scheduled on February 8.

Khan, who enjoys support from a vast number of Pakistanis, was removed as prime minister last year after falling out with Pakistan’s powerful military leaders.

He is currently in prison and faces numerous cases, including the charge that he leaked classified state documents – a crime that carries a prison term of up to 14 years or even the death penalty.

Since Khan’s arrest earlier this year, PTI has faced a heavy crackdown by the government, with many party figures either jailed or “forced” to leave the party allegedly under the pressure of the military.

On Friday, PTI said it had filed Khan’s nomination papers for him to contest the general election.

But the nomination may be challenged based on the electoral commission having disqualified him from office over a corruption conviction earlier this year.

Ewan

1st January 2024, 22:09

I posted an interesting documentary here (https://projectavalon.net/forum4/showthread.php?57900-The-PANAMA-PAPERS-ICIJ-Lifts-Veil-on-Offshore-World-Historic-Leak-Implicating-World-Leaders-Giant-Corporations&p=1593421&viewfull=1#post1593421) that features Imran Khan talking about the corruption in Pakistan. I suspect this was a mere matter of months before the events unfolding in this thread occured.

Bill Ryan

30th January 2024, 18:01

New from CNN (https://edition.cnn.com/2024/01/30/asia/pakistan-imran-khan-sentenced-prison-intl-hnk/index.html), and many other news media.

The coup against Imran is now complete. The world feels like a very dark and worrying place today. :flower:

Former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan sentenced to 10 years in prison

grapevine

1st February 2024, 11:28

Up with this we will not put

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znF2iDtvtFM 18:07
For the first 3 minutes George Galloway speaks about his respect for Iran Khan, whose wife has now been imprisoned, and also the crime against democracy in Pakistan. The parliamentary general election is taking place on 8th February (next week) and it will be interesting to see whether Imran Khan's party still triumphs given the methods used by is enemies. The rest of the video is about Israel, which I've reposted on the Israel-Palestine thread

Kryztian

1st February 2024, 21:09

If you have any doubts about the relationship between the deep state and Wikipedia, today's home page should you who really engineers their final product.

https://i.imgur.com/rs7taXe.jpeg

Bill Ryan

2nd February 2024, 19:16

A terrific article by Professor Jeffrey Sachs, which is publlshed yesterday. :flower:

Sachs, who knows Imran personally and holds him in the highest regard for his intelligence, awareness and integrity, explains that Imran's real 'crime' was to publicly assume a position of neutrality, refusing to condemn Russia when he was pressured to do so by the US.

https://jeffsachs.org/newspaper-articles/a8dt7m63khdptc8hw6c8xej2yxwaz5

The US Toppling of Imran Khan

A principal instrument of U.S. foreign policy is covert regime change, meaning a secret action by the U.S. government to bring down the government of another country. There are strong reasons to believe that U.S. actions led to the removal from power of Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan in April 2022, followed by his arrest on trumped-up charges of corruption and espionage, and sentencing this week to 10 years imprisonment on the espionage charge. The political objective is to block Pakistan’s most popular politician from returning to power in the elections on February 8.

The key to covert operations of course is that they are secret and hence deniable by the U.S. government. Even when the evidence comes to light through whistleblowers or leaks, as it very often does, the U.S. government rejects the authenticity of the evidence and the mainstream media generally ignore the story because it contradicts the official narrative. Because editors at these mainstream outlets don’t want to peddle in “conspiracy theories,” or are simply happy to be the mouthpieces for officialdom, they give the U.S. government a very wide berth for actual regime-change conspiracies.

Covert regime change by the U.S. is shockingly routine. One authoritative study (https://twitter.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=50ec04f7fdd8f247aecfa0ddf&id=58b334dc43&e=18f512436e) by Boston University professor Lindsay O’Rourke counts 64 covert regime change operations by the U.S. during the Cold War (1947 and 1989), and in fact the number was far larger because she chose to count repeated attempts within one country as a single extended episode. Since then, U.S. regime change operations have remained frequent, such as when President Barrack Obama tasked the CIA (Operation Timber Sycamore (https://twitter.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=50ec04f7fdd8f247aecfa0ddf&id=6e1fa4b127&e=18f512436e)) with overthrowing Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad. That covert operation remained secret until several years after the operation, and even then, was hardly covered by the mainstream media.

All of this brings us to Pakistan, another case where evidence points strongly to U.S.-led regime change. In this case, the U.S. desired to bring down the government of Prime Minister Imran Khan, the charismatic, talented, and hugely popular leader in Pakistan, renowned both for his world-leading cricket mastery and for his common touch with the people. His popularity, independence, and enormous talents make him a prime target of the U.S., which frets about popular leaders who don’t fall into line with U.S. policy.

Imran Khan’s “sin” was to be too cooperative with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping, while also seeking normal relations with the United States. The great mantra of U.S. foreign policy, and the activating principle of the CIA, is that a foreign leader is “either with us or against us.” Leaders who try to be neutral amongst the great powers are at dire risk of losing their positions, or even their lives, at U.S. instigation, since the U.S. does not accept neutrality. Leaders seeking neutrality dating back to Patrice Lumumba (Zaire), Norodom Sihanouk (Cambodia), Viktor Yanukovych (Ukraine), and many others, have been toppled with the not-so-hidden-hand of the U.S. government.

Like many leaders in the developing world, Khan does not want to break relations with either the U.S. or Russia over the Ukraine War. By sheer coincidence of prior scheduling, Khan happened to be in Moscow to meet Putin on the day that Russia launched the special military operation (February 24, 2022). From the start, Khan advocated that the conflict in Ukraine should be settled at the negotiating table rather than on the battlefield. The U.S. and E.U. arm-twisted foreign leaders including Khan to fall into line against Putin and to support Western sanctions against Russia, yet Khan resisted.

Khan probably sealed his fate on March 6 when he held a large rally in northern Pakistan (https://twitter.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=50ec04f7fdd8f247aecfa0ddf&id=24a7c3a1be&e=18f512436e). At the rally, he berated the West, and especially 22 EU ambassadors, for pressuring him to condemn Russia at a vote in the United Nations. He also excoriated NATO’s war against terror in next-door Afghanistan as having been utterly devastating to Pakistan, with no acknowledgment, respect, or appreciation for Pakistan’s suffering.

Khan told the cheering crowds, “EU ambassadors wrote a letter to us asking us to condemn and vote against Russia… What do you think of us? Are we your slaves ... that whatever you say, we will do?" He added, “We are friends with Russia, and we are also friends with America; we are friends with China and with Europe; we are not in any camp. Pakistan would remain neutral and work with those trying to end the war in Ukraine.”

From the U.S. perspective, “neutral” is a fighting word. The grim follow-up for Khan was revealed in August 2023 by investigative reporters at The Intercept (https://twitter.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=50ec04f7fdd8f247aecfa0ddf&id=0c0352294a&e=18f512436e). Just one day after Khan’s rally, Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs Donald Lu met in Washington with Pakistan’s Ambassador to the U.S., Asad Majeed Khan. Following the meeting, Ambassador Khan sent a secret cable (a “cypher”) back to Islamabad, which was then leaked to The Intercept by a Pakistani military official.

The cable recounts how Assistant Secretary Lu berated Prime Minister Khan for his neutral stance. The cable quotes Lu as saying that “people here and in Europe are quite concerned about why Pakistan is taking such an aggressively neutral position (on Ukraine), if such a position is even possible. It does not seem such a neutral stand to us.”

Lu then conveyed the bottom line to Ambassador Khan. “I think if the no-confidence vote against the Prime Minister succeeds, all will be forgiven in Washington because the Russia visit is being looked at as a decision by the Prime Minister. Otherwise, I think it will be tough going ahead.”

Five weeks later on April 10, with the U.S. blunt threat hanging over the powerful Pakistani military, and with the military’s hold over the Pakistani parliament, the Parliament ousted Khan in a no-confidence vote. Within weeks, the new government followed with brazenly manufactured charges of corruption against Khan, to put him under arrest and prevent his return to power. In utterly Orwellian turn, when Khan made known the existence of the diplomatic cable that revealed America’s role in his ouster, the new government charged Khan (https://twitter.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=50ec04f7fdd8f247aecfa0ddf&id=20d4edb409&e=18f512436e) with espionage. He has now been convicted on these charges to an unconscionable 10 years, with the U.S. government remaining silent on this outrage.

When asked about Khan’s conviction, the State Department had the following to say (https://twitter.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=50ec04f7fdd8f247aecfa0ddf&id=da595c6bf1&e=18f512436e): "It’s a matter for the Pakistani courts." Such an answer is a vivid example of how U.S.-led regime change works. The State Department supports Khan’s imprisonment over Khan’s public revelation of U.S. actions.

Pakistan will therefore hold elections on February 8 with its most popular democratic leader in prison and with Khan’s party the subject of relentless attacks, political murders, media blackouts, and other heavy-handed repression. In all of this, the U.S. government is utterly complicit. So much for America’s “democratic” values. The U.S. government has gotten its way for now—and has deeply destabilized a nuclear-armed nation of 240 million people. Only Khan’s release from prison and his participation in the upcoming election could restore stability.

Ravenlocke

9th February 2024, 02:34

Text:

🇵🇰 PAKISTAN Latest updates on the 2024 General Elections:

- The announcement of results has been halted for the past two hours as the PTI's lead continued to grow.

- The ECP cites systemic faults as the cause of the delay in releasing results.

- Numerous reports indicate ongoing blatant rigging in Punjab province and other regions of Pakistan aimed at altering the outcome.

- It has been nine hours since voting ended, and the ECP has yet to announce any results, marking the longest delay in the country's electoral history.

- PTI warns any attempts to steal the public mandate now will be a blunder of epic proportions.

https://x.com/DD_Geopolitics/status/1755702318996299873

1755702318996299873

Ravenlocke

9th February 2024, 20:38

Text:
BREAKING: IMRAN KHAN'S PTI WITH A LEAD BUT CAN’T GET MAJORITY

Independents (some PTI-affiliated Leader: Imran Khan): 92 seats

PMLN (Leader: Nawaz Sharif): 64 seats

PPP (Leader: Bilawal Bhutto Zardari): 50 seats

Others: 20 seats

Announced: 226
Postponed: 1
Remaining: 39

134 seats needed for a majority government

https://x.com/ShaykhSulaiman/status/1755995447108206935

1755995447108206935

Ravenlocke

9th February 2024, 21:14

https://x.com/MayadeenEnglish/status/1756024927759507934

1756024927759507934

https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/us-questions-pakistan-election-process-amid-imran-khan-allie

US questions Pakistan election process amid Imran Khan allies lead

Washington on Friday questioned the implementation of "undue restrictions" during Pakistan's electoral process and voiced concerns regarding accusations of potential vote-rigging.

"We join credible international and local election observers in their assessment that these elections included undue restrictions on freedoms of expression, association, and peaceful assembly," a statement by State Department Matthew Miller read.

This comes as candidates aligned with imprisoned former Prime Minister Imran Khan maintained a lead in election results thus far.

Despite facing a crackdown targeting the party, Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) was performing better than anticipated.

Read more: Wife of former premier Khan to serve 14-year sentence at home

Geo News revealed that independents, who are more lenient towards Khan, had won 47 of 106 seats for which it had results, noting that a total of 265 seats were up for grabs in yesterday's election.

Khan stated before that the military is working against his party, as analysts and opponents claim that Sharif is being backed by the military

"I am confident that we will form a government," a close aide to Sharif, Ishaq Dar, informed GEO TV, adding that the PML-N could partake in a coalition with the support of independents.

However, it was still likely that the next government would be formed by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) after a period of political negotiations and bargaining.

The government also stated that before the elections yesterday, it stopped mobile phone services as a security measure and then partially initiated them.

Read more: Former Pakistani PM Imran Khan supporters lead in elections

Miller said Washington looked forward to "timely, complete results that reflect the will of the Pakistani people," as he listed US concerns with the process.

"We join credible international and local election observers in their assessment that these elections included undue restrictions on freedoms of expression, association, and peaceful assembly," Miller said in a statement.

"We condemn electoral violence, restrictions on the exercise of human rights and fundamental freedoms, including attacks on media workers, and restrictions on access to the Internet and telecommunication services, and are concerned about allegations of interference in the electoral process. Claims of interference or fraud should be fully investigated."

However, Miller emphasized that the administration of President Joe Biden was "prepared to work with the next Pakistani government, regardless of political party, to advance our shared interests," which includes trade, investment, and security cooperation.

Ravenlocke

9th February 2024, 22:13

https://x.com/ImranKhanPTI/status/1756025235575320995

1756025235575320995

¤=[Post Update]=¤

https://x.com/PTIofficial/status/1756034864082493563

1756034864082493563

¤=[Post Update]=¤

Text:
While the local media has banned mentioning Imran Khan's name or displaying his picture, the international media is covering the developments regarding what is happening to him and the allegations of rigged general elections, which suppress Imran Khan's clear victory.
#PTIWon
#RespectMandate

https://x.com/PTIofficial/status/1756067203516899352

1756067203516899352

Ravenlocke

9th February 2024, 22:22

https://x.com/heysundus/status/1756047598522143216

1756047598522143216

¤=[Post Update]=¤

https://x.com/heysundus/status/1756047586874519564

1756047586874519564

¤=[Post Update]=¤

https://x.com/heysundus/status/1756047631661388198

1756047631661388198

¤=[Post Update]=¤

https://x.com/heysundus/status/1756047666901852613

1756047666901852613

¤=[Post Update]=¤

https://x.com/heysundus/status/1756049836070039700

1756049836070039700

¤=[Post Update]=¤

https://x.com/heysundus/status/1756060065667187036

1756060065667187036

Michel Leclerc

9th February 2024, 22:51

How a slave state is treated to “concerns”, "investigations” (“independent” of course), “over”performance qualifications, “shock” leads (who's would be shocked, seriously?), “serious”ness, “divisiveness” labeling — which of course Anglosaxonia would NEVER apply to itself, but which they can freely, unassailably, apply to those barbaric speakers of ..

“what? Oordoo you say? Is that some kind of Voodoo?” etc etc

Those barbarians will oust their slave masters earlier than the so-called slaves in Anglosaxonia will their masters.

That is because the Anglosaxonian slaves are only slaves to the extent that they whine like slaves are supposed to – in actual fact they just masquerade as slaves, their mind is a master’s mind.

Bill Ryan

12th February 2024, 21:04

A powerful article by Professor Jeffrey Sachs, telling it exactly like it is. It was published on 1 February, a week before the recent elections.

For anyone who may not be up to speed with what the heck happened here, Sachs lays the whole thing out.

:muscle:

https://commondreams.org/opinion/us-ouster-of-imran-khan
(https://commondreams.org/opinion/us-ouster-of-imran-khan)
https://www.commondreams.org/media-library/supporters-and-activists-of-pakistan-tehreek-e-insaf-pti-party-shout-slogans-during-a-protest-demanding-the-release-of-pti-lea.jpg?id=51267956&width=1200&height=400&quality=90&coordinates=0%2C69%2C0%2C274

The US Toppling of Imran Khan

Covert regime change strikes again. This time in Pakistan.

A principal instrument of U.S. foreign policy is covert regime change, meaning a secret action by the U.S. government to bring down the government of another country. There are strong reasons to believe that U.S. actions led to the removal from power of Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan in April 2022, followed by his arrest on trumped-up charges of corruption and espionage, and sentencing this week to 10 years imprisonment on the espionage charge. The political objective is to block Pakistan’s most popular politician from returning to power in the elections on February 8.

The key to covert operations of course is that they are secret and hence deniable by the U.S. government. Even when the evidence comes to light through whistleblowers or leaks, as it very often does, the U.S. government rejects the authenticity of the evidence and the mainstream media generally ignore the story because it contradicts the official narrative. Because editors at these mainstream outlets don’t want to peddle in “conspiracy theories,” or are simply happy to be the mouthpieces for officialdom, they give the U.S. government a very wide berth for actual regime-change conspiracies.

Covert regime change by the U.S. is shockingly routine. One authoritative study (https://academic.oup.com/cornell-scholarship-online/book/42677) by Boston University professor Lindsay O’Rourke counts 64 covert regime change operations by the U.S. during the Cold War (1947 and 1989), and in fact the number was far larger because she chose to count repeated attempts within one country as a single extended episode. Since then, U.S. regime change operations have remained frequent, such as when President Barrack Obama tasked the CIA (Operation Timber Sycamore (https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/02/world/middleeast/cia-syria-rebel-arm-train-trump.html)) with overthrowing Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad. That covert operation remained secret until several years after the operation, and even then, was hardly covered by the mainstream media.

All of this brings us to Pakistan, another case where evidence points strongly to U.S.-led regime change. In this case, the U.S. desired to bring down the government of Prime Minister Imran Khan, the charismatic, talented, and hugely popular leader in Pakistan, renowned both for his world-leading cricket mastery and for his common touch with the people. His popularity, independence, and enormous talents make him a prime target of the U.S., which frets about popular leaders who don’t fall into line with U.S. policy.

Imran Khan’s “sin” was to be too cooperative with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping, while also seeking normal relations with the United States. The great mantra of U.S. foreign policy, and the activating principle of the CIA, is that a foreign leader is “either with us or against us.” Leaders who try to be neutral amongst the great powers are at dire risk of losing their positions, or even their lives, at U.S. instigation, since the U.S. does not accept neutrality. Leaders seeking neutrality dating back to Patrice Lumumba (Zaire), Norodom Sihanouk (Cambodia), Viktor Yanukovych (Ukraine), and many others, have been toppled with the not-so-hidden-hand of the U.S. government.

Like many leaders in the developing world, Khan does not want to break relations with either the U.S. or Russia over the Ukraine War. By sheer coincidence of prior scheduling, Khan happened to be in Moscow to meet Putin on the day that Russia launched the special military operation (February 24, 2022). From the start, Khan advocated that the conflict in Ukraine should be settled at the negotiating table rather than on the battlefield. The U.S. and E.U. arm-twisted foreign leaders including Khan to fall into line against Putin and to support Western sanctions against Russia, yet Khan resisted.

Khan probably sealed his fate on March 6 when he held a large rally in northern Pakistan (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=voFkiKj3nIs). At the rally, he berated the West, and especially 22 EU ambassadors, for pressuring him to condemn Russia at a vote in the United Nations. He also excoriated NATO’s war against terror in next-door Afghanistan as having been utterly devastating to Pakistan, with no acknowledgment, respect, or appreciation for Pakistan’s suffering.

Khan told the cheering crowds, “EU ambassadors wrote a letter to us asking us to condemn and vote against Russia… What do you think of us? Are we your slaves ... that whatever you say, we will do?" He added, “We are friends with Russia, and we are also friends with America; we are friends with China and with Europe; we are not in any camp. Pakistan would remain neutral and work with those trying to end the war in Ukraine.”

From the U.S. perspective, “neutral” is a fighting word. The grim follow-up for Khan was revealed in August 2023 by investigative reporters at The Intercept (https://theintercept.com/2023/08/09/imran-khan-pakistan-cypher-ukraine-russia/). Just one day after Khan’s rally, Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs Donald Lu met in Washington with Pakistan’s Ambassador to the U.S., Asad Majeed Khan. Following the meeting, Ambassador Khan sent a secret cable (a “cypher”) back to Islamabad, which was then leaked to The Intercept by a Pakistani military official.

The cable recounts how Assistant Secretary Lu berated Prime Minister Khan for his neutral stance. The cable quotes Lu as saying that “people here and in Europe are quite concerned about why Pakistan is taking such an aggressively neutral position (on Ukraine), if such a position is even possible. It does not seem such a neutral stand to us.”

Lu then conveyed the bottom line to Ambassador Khan. “I think if the no-confidence vote against the Prime Minister succeeds, all will be forgiven in Washington because the Russia visit is being looked at as a decision by the Prime Minister. Otherwise, I think it will be tough going ahead.”

Five weeks later on April 10, with the U.S. blunt threat hanging over the powerful Pakistani military, and with the military’s hold over the Pakistani parliament, the Parliament ousted Khan in a no-confidence vote. Within weeks, the new government followed with brazenly manufactured charges of corruption against Khan, to put him under arrest and prevent his return to power. In utterly Orwellian turn, when Khan made known the existence of the diplomatic cable that revealed America’s role in his ouster, the new government charged Khan (https://theintercept.com/2023/12/18/pakistan-cypher-imran-khan-charges/) with espionage. He has now been convicted on these charges to an unconscionable 10 years, with the U.S. government remaining silent on this outrage.

When asked about Khan’s conviction, the State Department had the following to say (https://www.geo.tv/latest/529238-us-state-dept-avoids-detailed-comment-on-imran-khans-cipher-case-sentence): "It’s a matter for the Pakistani courts." Such an answer is a vivid example of how U.S.-led regime change works. The State Department supports Khan’s imprisonment over Khan’s public revelation of U.S. actions.

Pakistan will therefore hold elections on February 8 with its most popular democratic leader in prison and with Khan’s party the subject of relentless attacks, political murders, media blackouts, and other heavy-handed repression. In all of this, the U.S. government is utterly complicit. So much for America’s “democratic” values. The U.S. government has gotten its way for now—and has deeply destabilized a nuclear-armed nation of 240 million people. Only Khan’s release from prison and his participation in the upcoming election could restore stability.

Ravenlocke

13th February 2024, 23:55

https://x.com/MayadeenEnglish/status/1757509623060295942

1757509623060295942

https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/desperate-to-keep-khan-out-of-gov---ppp--pml-n-rush-to-form

Desperate to keep Khan out of gov., PPP, PLM-N rush to form coalition

A coalition comprising the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) has reached an agreement to establish the next government of Pakistan, effectively sidelining the party of former Prime Minister Imran Khan despite its victory in the national election.

During a press conference held in Islamabad on Tuesday night, it was confirmed that the rival parties, along with two smaller coalition partners, have agreed to form a united government allegedly to steer Pakistan out of its current challenges. The President of PML-N, Shehbaz Sharif, was announced as their sole nominee for the position of prime minister.

Asif Ali Zardari, the PPP co-chair, said, "Looking at everything, we have thought and decided to sit together. We have contested elections against each other but despite that, it is not necessary for ever. Opposition happens in elections. It was electioneering opposition, not ideological opposition."

On his part, Shahbaz Sharif noted that he was "thankful to Zardari and Bilawal that they decided for their party to vote for the PML-N," adding that "today we have united to tell the nation that we all accept the split mandate.”

It is worth noting that Pakistan's recent election saw Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party win the most votes but fall short of a majority. This outcome occurred despite opposition from the military and a state-led crackdown.

The announcement, however, came after earlier reports said that the two major political parties in Pakistan dismissed the idea of forming alliances, on Tuesday, following an inconclusive election. This would have raised the potential for either a minority government or an extended period of negotiations before a coalition is established.

Candidates affiliated with imprisoned former Prime Minister Imran Khan's PTI secured the majority of seats in Thursday's election while running independently. However, Khan has rejected the possibility of forming an alliance with his political rivals.

The outcome prevented the army-supported Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) from attaining a majority for governance, as the PPP, their primary coalition ally in the previous administration, came in third.

Speaking in Adiala Jail, where he has been incarcerated since his arrest in August, Khan accused both the PML-N and PPP of engaging in corrupt practices.

"We will neither sit with the PML-N nor with the PPP," Khan conveyed in a message to a small group of reporters who were present to cover a procedural hearing at the prison located outside the capital, Islamabad.

Earlier, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, the leader of the PPP, stated that his party was not inclined to form a new alliance with the PML-N. However, he expressed willingness to support a government formed by the PML-N on specific issues.

"We will support a political party without becoming part of the government," Bhutto Zardari said, before adding, "But we will support the votes of prime ministership, budget, and legislation on an issue-to-issue basis."

In parallel, Sharif stated on Tuesday that the PML-N remains open to negotiations with other parties.

"We've had two meetings (with PPP), and there may be a few more. Once a decision is reached, the nation will be informed," he said during a news conference in Lahore.

gini

14th February 2024, 02:48

jaDDeh3LyyU--21 min--8 Feb 2024 #imrankhan #piersmorgan #pakistan
As Pakistan goes to the polls, Imran Khan's sister Aleema tells Piers Morgan she fears her brother will be poisoned in jail.

Speaking on Piers Morgan Uncensored about the former Pakistan Prime Minister and cricket star's incarceration, she describes life for him in prison, how often he's allowed to see his family and her fears over the attempts on his life.

Piers also asks Aleema about Imran and his wife's many charges and whether she fears being imprisoned herself.

Ravenlocke

19th February 2024, 18:36

https://x.com/AJEnglish/status/1759613994455781450

1759613994455781450

Ravenlocke

1st March 2024, 21:35

https://x.com/MiddleEastEye/status/1763660369501806972

1763660369501806972

https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/us-lawmakers-call-biden-withhold-recognition-pakistan-new-government?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=Social_Traffic&utm_content=ap_kzidplvu36

US lawmakers call on Biden to withhold recognition of Pakistan's new government

Over two dozen members of the US House of Representatives have called on President Joe Biden not to recognise Pakistan's new government over concerns that the February election was rigged.

The members of Congress, led by Representatives Greg Casar and Susan Wild, released a letter to the president and Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday, expressing concerns about pre and post-rigging of Pakistan's polls and urging them to "stand with the Pakistani people and defend democracy in Pakistan".

"The Pakistani people came out in large numbers to have their voices heard, despite allegations of pre-poll rigging. It is in the US interest to ensure the results of this election represent the will of the people, not the Pakistani elite or the military,” said Congressman Casar in a statement on his website.

The letter recommends that recognition of Pakistan's government should only be granted after a thorough, transparent, and credible investigation of election interference has been conducted, and anyone in prison as a result of "political speech and activity" has been released. The letter added that the State Department should gather information and advocate for "their release".

The letter states that former Prime Minister Imran Khan was "sentenced to prison terms of 10 years and 14 years on questionable charges of leaking state secrets and corruption".

Pakistan's elections took place on 8 February without a clear ruling majority for any of Pakistan's three major parties: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI), Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) and the Pakistan People's Party (PPP).

Umer Karim, a researcher at the University of Birmingham, wrote that the “electoral field had been designed to diminish any chances for Khan’s success”, citing the the PTI party’s top leadership and heavy restrictions on PTI’s ability to campaign, in addition to its electoral symbol being banned.

Despite what observers saw as a skewed playing field, independents (PTI-backed candidates who could not run under their party name) won the highest number of seats at 93, followed by PML-N and PPP with 75 and 54 respectively. A simple majority of 134 seats is required by a party or coalition to form a government and the PML-N and PPP have since aligned to form the federal government.

Pakistan Democracy Watch says it has documented over 500 incidents of electoral manipulation including throttling of internet and mobile phone services countrywide; polling stations not opening on time; polling agents of specific political parties not allowed inside polling stations; slow polling processes with long queues observed near end time; reports of results being withheld and delayed, as well as stark discrepancies in results between separate polling forms among others.

The representatives' letter states, "Given the strong evidence of pre- and post-poll rigging, we urge you to wait until a thorough, transparent, and credible investigation has been conducted before recognizing a new Pakistani government."

"Without taking this necessary step, you risk enabling anti-democratic behavior by Pakistani authorities and could undermine the democratic will of the Pakistani people."

A state department spokesperson told Middle East Eye that it welcomes "congressional support for transparency" and that it is the position of the administration that it will "work with any government chosen by the people of Pakistan".

"Challenges to election results, brought by political parties from across the political spectrum, remain ongoing, and we will continue to monitor these developments closely."

Targeting Pakistan's military

The letter has been signed by several prominent members of Congress, including Jim McGovern who co-chairs the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission and Pramila Jayapal who heads the House progressive caucus, as well as representatives Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, Ro Khanna, Summer Lee, Jamaal Bowman, and Barbara Lee among others.

The letter has been endorsed by the Center for Economic and Policy Research; Community Alliance for Peace and Justice; First Pakistan Global; Global Peace Seekers; Just Foreign Policy; MPower Change Action Fund; Now or Never; and the Save Pakistan coalition.

Pakistan's all-powerful military, which previously backed former Prime Minister Imran Khan until a falling out, is widely seen as the power broker pulling the strings behind election irregularities and clearing the way for PML-N's previously exiled former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's return to Pakistan.

Members of Congress endorse this view and state in the letter that the US must "make clear to Pakistani authorities that US law provides for accountability for acts that violate human rights, undermine democracy, or further corruption, including the potential for military and other cooperation to be halted".

The US provided Pakistan with some $33bn in aid, primarily to the military, from 2002 until 2018 to aid and "reimburse" Pakistan for its fight against militants as part of the War on Terror. Most of that money has dried up since 2018, when former US President Donald Trump decided to cut back on aid to Pakistan.

Former Prime Minister Imran Khan, who is still in prison in Pakistan, had a tumultuous relationship with the US and blames the US government in part for his removal from power.

Ravenlocke

3rd March 2024, 08:26

Text:
🇵🇰 EXCLUSIVE: Despite winning the majority of seats in the elections, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (#PTI) faced the unjust withdrawal of its mandates amidst allegations of rigging. As the country's largest party, the PTI's primary objective now is to pressure the government to restore the seats it rightfully won and to secure the release of all its workers and leaders, especially #ImranKhan: Abdul Samad Yaqoob, PTI spokesman to Sputnik.

After the election, in the midst of massive rigging and result manipulation, PTI's key team faced a crucial decision. They were debating whether to stage widespread protests across the country or to initiate legal proceedings to challenge the alleged rigging.

There were fears that certain elements might exploit the situation to incite conflict and unrest, which could lead to the peaceful supporters of the PTI being transformed into agents of violence.

#Pakistan #PakistanElection2024 #electionsresults

https://x.com/Sputnik_India/status/1763470590092922991

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¤=[Post Update]=¤

Text:
🇵🇰 Pakistan has snubbed the U.S. over its demands to investigate alleged irregularities in last month's national elections.

"We believe in our own sovereign right to make decisions about Pakistan's internal affairs," Mumtaz Zahra Baloch, the spokeswoman for Pakistan's Foreign Office, said in response to media questions regarding the elections interference claims.

🗳 Last month, US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller called on Pakistan to investigate claims of electoral interference.

"With respect to investigations of reported irregularities, we want to see those investigations move forward … [and] be completed as quickly as possible," Miller said.

🎖 Pakistan's main opposition party, #PTI, led by the detained former PM #ImranKhan, claims the general elections were rigged to benefit Nawaz Sharif's PML-N, allegedly supported by the military. PTI is staging nationwide protests on Saturday.

| #Pakistan | #US | #PakistanElections2024 |

https://x.com/Sputnik_India/status/1763851341741371595

1763851341741371595

Ravenlocke

13th March 2024, 23:39

https://x.com/anadoluagency/status/1768049424050114615

1768049424050114615

https://www.aa.com.tr/en/asia-pacific/in-1st-sign-of-political-reconciliation-jailed-khan-backed-chief-minister-meets-pakistani-premier-sharif/3163739

In 1st sign of political reconciliation, jailed Khan-backed chief minister meets Pakistani Premier Sharif

KARACHI, Pakistan

Pakistan's jailed ex-Prime Minister Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party made a maiden contact with the coalition government led by Premier Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday, in a first sign of political reconciliation between arch-rivals after the Feb. 8 general elections.

Khan-backed chief minister of northwestern Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, Ali Amin Gandapur, met Sharif at the Prime Minister’s Office in the capital Islamabad with both calling the rare meeting “positive” and agreed to work together.

Addressing a news conference along with Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal after the meeting, Gandapur stressed on the need to solve public issues "together" and the need for the federal and provincial governments to deliver.

“We had good talks. It was very positive. He assured that he would fulfill his promise and would not lie,” Gandapur said.

He said he requested Sharif to facilitate his meeting with Khan, who has been languishing in a jail in the northeastern garrison city of Rawalpindi after being convicted in a series of cases.

“I told him that political engagement with Khan is very necessary to resolve political issues. He (Sharif) was very positive and told me plainly he would make my meeting possible so I can complete consultations regarding the Senate election,” Gandapur maintained.

Iqbal, for his part, expressed his positivity on the talks between Sharif and Gandapur, saying that the premier had reassured him that his government will work together with the KP government to address the public issues.

The PTI whose affiliated independent candidates won the highest number of seats in the Feb. 8 elections, has been complaining about alleged rigging, and calling the Sharif government "illegal."

The Election Commission rejects rigging charges.

Despite winning the highest number of seats, the PTI could not stitch a coalition, leaving space open for the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz of thrice-elected Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and center-left Pakistan People's Party to form the government for a five-year term.

Ravenlocke

18th April 2024, 22:56

Text:
❗️🇵🇰 Imran Khan rejects the IMF and names sitting Army Chief General Asim Munir of being the primary instigator behind his and his wife's conviction, and he issues a stern warning that any harm inflicted upon his wife while in jail will not go unpunished, holding the general directly responsible.

thearcangel

https://x.com/dana916/status/1781052094121738706

1781052094121738706

¤=[Post Update]=¤

Text:
Illegally incarcerated Imran Khan has called out the military chief General Asim Munir for direct involvement in Bushra Bibi’s illegal conviction in a fabricated case.

Both Imran Khan & Bushra Bibi have been repeatedly denied medical care, despite Bushra Bibi falling severely ill after being fed contaminated, chemical laced food by the state authorities, who have her under illegal incarceration.

This is #PakistanUnderFascism
This is #جنگل_کا_قانون

Let sanity prevail.

https://x.com/PTIofficial/status/1780963481967026468

1780963481967026468

Ravenlocke

3rd June 2024, 23:12

https://x.com/mazzenilsson/status/1797669826963652679

1797669826963652679

https://www.aa.com.tr/en/asia-pacific/pakistani-court-acquits-ex-premier-khan-in-state-secrets-case/3238704

Pakistani court acquits ex-Premier Khan in state secrets case

KARACHI, Pakistan

A Pakistani court on Monday acquitted former Prime Minister Imran Khan in a case that accused him of leaking state secrets.

The ex-cricket star had been sentenced to 10 years in prison by a lower court on charges of making public a cypher, a classified cable sent to Islamabad by Pakistan's envoy in Washington in 2022.

A two-judge bench of the Islamabad High Court led by Chief Justice Aamer Farooq, in a brief verdict, also exonerated Khan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi of the charges, who was co-accused in the case.

Khan, 71 has been in jail since last August, and despite his acquittal, will remain in prison. He along with his third wife Bushra Khan is serving a seven-sentence in an illegal marriage case.

About 200 cases have been registered against Khan since his ouster, but he has received acquittals and bails in several of them. His conviction in a corruption case involving state gifts was set aside by the same court last year.

Khan, who came to power in 2018, lost a vote of confidence in parliament in April 2022, nearly one year short of completing his term. He accuses the US of orchestrating his removal, a charge Washington and Islamabad have rejected.

Khan’s party welcomes verdict

The exoneration is seen as a political boost for his party, which won most seats in the Feb. 8 election but could not form a government as rivals formed a coalition.

His party, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), welcomed the verdict, terming it a “victory of justice.”

PTI chairman Gohar Khan told reporters outside the court that “justice has prevailed” as the prosecution failed to prove its case against the ex-premier. "God willing, he [Khan] will soon be out of jail as all the cases against him are politically-motivated,” he added.

Leader of the opposition Omar Ayub hailed the verdict and called for the “immediate” release of both Khan and Qureshi. "Alhumdolillah!!! PM Imran Khan and Makhdoom Shah Mehmood Qureishi sahib acquitted in the cipher case. They are political prisoners and should be released immediately,” he said in a post on X.

Aqeel Malik, adviser to the government on legal affairs, said the prosecution will wait for the detailed judgment to decide if it should be challenged in the Supreme Court.

"This is a fact that it was waved at a political rally and you all know that the PTI founder waved and used a confidential Pakistani document for his political purposes," he said, adding: “The better way would have been that this should have been seen in the context of national security and the case should have been sent for a retrial.”

Ravenlocke

3rd June 2024, 23:16

https://x.com/arabnewspk/status/1797716178497908928

1797716178497908928

Bill Ryan

19th August 2024, 09:06

Copying this new post by bojancan: (https://projectavalon.net/forum4/showthread.php?113363-BREAKING-NEWS-Continuously-Updated&p=1629593&viewfull=1#post1629593)

“Never give up, no matter how hard life is, no matter how much pain you feel. The pain will eventually subside, nothing lasts forever, so keep going and don’t give up.”
― IMRAN KHAN

Former Prime Minister Imran Khan's Historical Interview on MSNBC with Mehdi Hasan

SgwjniCcA1w

Richter

20th August 2024, 04:03

Copying this new post by bojancan: (https://projectavalon.net/forum4/showthread.php?113363-BREAKING-NEWS-Continuously-Updated&p=1629593&viewfull=1#post1629593)

Former Prime Minister Imran Khan's Historical Interview on MSNBC with Mehdi Hasan

What a brilliant interview!

I found especially Imran Khan's body-language striking.

Look at his hands and how nervous he gets when the interviewer starts asking 'difficult' questions about his own time in office.

I remember Imran Khan mostly as the iconic cricketer, but the snake pit of Pakistani politics is definitely not cricket, so he's probably not just the 'Mr. Nice Guy' as I'd like to see him - certainly not after this interview.

Ravenlocke

20th November 2024, 19:00

https://x.com/anadoluagency/status/1859199849612099746

1859199849612099746

https://www.aa.com.tr/en/asia-pacific/court-grants-bail-to-pakistan-s-ex-premier-khan-in-corruption-case-orders-his-release/3398945

Court grants bail to Pakistan’s ex-Premier Khan in corruption case, orders his release

A Pakistani high court on Wednesday granted bail to the country’s incarcerated former Prime Minister Imran Khan in a corruption case, and ordered his release, court records said.

Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb of the Islamabad High Court granted bail against two surety bonds of Rs 1 million ($3,611).

The bail comes days before the call for a long march toward the capital Islamabad by Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, demanding the ex-premier’s release.

Khan, along with his wife Bushra Bibi, is accused of illegally retaining a jewelery set gifted by a foreign leader — including a necklace, earrings, bracelets, and rings — at a low price, which, according to prosecution caused significant loss to the exchequer.

The two deny the accusations.

Bushra Bibi is already on bail in the case, commonly known as the “Toshakhana-2 case.”

A similar case was thrown out by the Islamabad High Court earlier this year.

Despite the release orders, it is unclear if the former premier would be released as he is wanted in a string of other cases ranging from corruption to terrorism.

Khan, 72 is currently languishing in a jail in northeastern garrison city of Rawalpindi.

He was ousted through a successful no-trust move in April 2022, slightly over a year before completion of a 5–year constitutional term.

Ravenlocke

26th November 2024, 20:18

https://x.com/MayadeenEnglish/status/1861483451058151906

1861483451058151906

https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/khan-calls-more-protesters-to-capital-after-deadly-clashes-i

Khan calls more protesters to capital after deadly clashes Islamabad

Imran Khan, Pakistan's imprisoned ex-prime minister, called on more followers to join rallies against his detention in the capital late Tuesday, following a day of fatal clashes between demonstrators and police forces.

Since Sunday, convoys of pro-Khan protesters have been advancing through Islamabad, removing barriers and engaging police and paramilitary troops with rubber bullets and tear gas and prompting a lockdown.

Since the February election, his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party has resisted a government crackdown with frequent demonstrations, but Tuesday's is by far the largest to hit the city.

The demonstrations come in response to Khan's call for his supporters to march on the capital, demanding his release and free elections.

Khan has been in jail for over a year, facing numerous charges that he claims are politically motivated.

His supporters allege widespread rigging in February's elections and accuse the ruling coalition, led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, of orchestrating his imprisonment to prevent his return to power.

Khan delivered a message from his detention cell outside Islamabad, urging more people to join protesters seeking to take a public area in the city's administrative enclave.

"Those who haven't yet joined the protest must also head to D-Chowk [square], "Khan said in a message posted by his party on social media.

Pakistani Army deployed in Islamabad, given shoot-on-sight orders

Following the protests, the federal government deployed the army in the national capital along with shoot-at-sight orders on Tuesday, state-run media said.

Four paramilitary personnel and two policemen have been killed and over 100 security personnel injured.

Despite a prohibition on public meetings, AFP journalists reported seeing over 10,000 demonstrators clashing with police in the city center.

"This is not our government, this government is made up of traitors," demonstrator Abdul Rashid told AFP, adding "Long live Imran Khan."

"These disruptive elements do not seek revolution, but bloodshed," Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif stated. "This is not a peaceful protest, it is extremism."

PTI legislator Waqas Akram told AFP, "They treat their own people as enemies," accusing the state response as being unjustified and unreasonable.

The authorities accused demonstrators of seeking to delay Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko's three-day state visit, which began on Monday. "There will be no negotiations with violent people," Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi stated to reporters late Tuesday.

Last Monday, the Islamabad municipal government issued a two-month ban on public meetings. However, PTI convoys traveled from their power base in northern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to the most populated province, Punjab.

Ravenlocke

26th November 2024, 20:31

https://x.com/AJEnglish/status/1861463679138480447

1861463679138480447

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/11/26/imran-khan-tells-protesters-to-fight-till-end-as-pakistan-government-rules-out-talks

Text:
Islamabad, Pakistan – Imprisoned former Prime Minister Imran Khan has urged his supporters to “fight till the end” as Pakistani authorities cracked down on protesters calling for his release.

Security forces on Tuesday clashed with supporters of Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party who broke through barriers as they marched towards the centre of the locked-down capital, Islamabad, in an attempt to stage a sit-in.

The protesters are demanding the return of what they call a “stolen mandate” after February’s elections, the release of political prisoners and the reversal of a constitutional amendment that allows a civilian government to call in the army to help it implement “law and order”.

In a post on social media, Khan told protesters to remain peaceful and united, saying their struggle is for Pakistan’s “survival and true freedom”.

As tensions rose, the government dismissed prospects of “further dialogue” with the PTI and accused Khan’s wife, Bushra Bibi, of orchestrating the unrest.

“The loss of life and economic damage over the past few days lies squarely on one person’s shoulders,” Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said at a news conference on Tuesday evening. “She is wholly responsible for this chaos.”

Led by Bibi, who was recently released from prison after nearly nine months of incarceration, a PTI convoy departed on Sunday from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, a PTI-controlled province in the northwest, with the goal of reaching the capital.

Despite facing a number of obstacles, including highway closures and shipping containers blocking roads, hundreds of PTI supporters on Tuesday morning reached D-Chowk, a site in Islamabad’s highly fortified Red Zone, which houses key government offices – including the presidency, the prime minister’s office, the National Assembly and Supreme Court – as well as the diplomatic enclave.

Initially, the security personnel present at the site withdrew, allowing the crowd to climb onto containers, chanting slogans and waving PTI flags.

However, members of the Rangers paramilitary unit soon replaced the police and responded with live fire and tear gas, covering the area in thick smoke and forcing the protesters to scatter. The PTI said two people were killed.

As night fell, authorities shut off streetlights, plunging the area into darkness and raising fears of a large-scale operation against the protesters.

The PTI convoy was stationed fewer than 3km (almost 2 miles) away from D-Chowk.

Internet connectivity, meanwhile, has remained patchy throughout the day for users across the city with mobile data services completely inaccessible.

Bibi, who has so far maintained an apolitical but an influential presence in Khan’s life, delivered a number of short speeches throughout the day, urging PTI supporters to stand firm.

“Our protest will not end till Imran Khan is amongst us and tells us what to do next,” she told supporters, encouraging them to move towards D-Chowk.

Earlier in the day, Naqvi, the interior minister, hinted at Bibi when he alleged that a “hidden hand” was sabotaging peaceful resolution efforts and pushing an antistate agenda.

“Their entire leadership is keen on having peaceful dialogues, but there is one hidden hand which is controlling the decision-making and has an anti-Pakistan agenda. In my experience, that hidden hand is the root cause of all this chaos,” Naqvi told reporters on Tuesday morning.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has remained largely silent on the ongoing protests.

His only public action on Tuesday, besides meeting visiting Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko, was to attend the funerals of three Rangers who were killed in a hit-and-run incident on Monday evening

The government has accused the PTI supporters of being behind the deaths, a claim the party has vehemently denied. Separately, authorities said, a police officer also died in clashes with protesters on Monday as they were approaching Islamabad.