Asia | A military defeat

Imran Khan loses his battle with Pakistan’s army

The generals have gone to war with the country’s most popular politician

Workers of Metropolitan Corporation squad remove Imran Khan’s posters outside his house in Lahore, Pakistan, Saturday, May 20, 2023.
So long Pakistan Tehreek-e-InsafImage: AP
|ISLAMABAD

NOT LONG ago Imran Khan looked like a man who had defied Pakistan’s all-powerful generals and got away with it. After his arrest by paramilitary goons on May 9th, the former prime minister was freed by a Supreme Court order—even though his outraged supporters had had the temerity to smash up military installations around the country. As Pakistan’s most popular politician, with a legion of committed activists and apparently no fear of the army, Mr Khan looked odds-on to win a general election due later this year.

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This article appeared in the Asia section of the print edition under the headline “Military victory”

From the June 3rd 2023 edition

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