Pakistan’s generals are ever more involved in running the country
And the prime minister seems ever more dependent on their backing
BEFORE HE BECAME prime minister, Imran Khan was happy to hold forth about the role of the armed forces in Pakistan. They were so influential in politics, he told The Economist, only because civilian governments had been so ineffectual. Once in office, he said, he would change all that. Yet in early March, when his government lost an important Senate election, he did what he has done many times as prime minister, and rushed off to seek the advice of the high command, to the derision of his political adversaries.
This article appeared in the Asia section of the print edition under the headline “If you can’t beat them, obey them”
Asia April 10th 2021
- India is recording more cases of covid-19 than any other country
- Bhutan vaccinated almost all adults against covid-19 in a week
- China tries to nick another speck in the sea from the Philippines
- Another species harmed by climate change: Japanese poets
- Thailand’s democracy protests are dwindling
- Pakistan’s generals are ever more involved in running the country
- Asia’s air bridges and travel bubbles will expand only slowly
From the April 10th 2021 edition
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