Something happened in Pakistan on May 16 which mesmerised the whole country. A 70-year-old man in blue garments was seen on a screen in Court number 1 of Pakistan's Supreme Court (the Chief Justice's Courtroom), a scene which electrified the whole nation.
The image was of former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan appearing virtually in Court. No live streaming of his appearance was permitted by the Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa (who is known to be a toady of Pakistan's establishment and totally servile to it), though he permits livestreaming of other proceedings in his court.
So it was some lawyer who clandestinely took the picture on his laptop when it appeared momentarily on the screen. The image went viral all over Pakistan. Now a police investigation has been ordered about this, as if a heinous crime had been committed.
Jailed first in Attock, and then in Adiala, on fabricated and ridiculous charges since August last year, Imran Khan has become an icon and an idea which has gripped the masses in Pakistan and has the support of over 90% people of Pakistan (as all opinion polls indicate).
Even from inside the jail, Imran Khan is leading a heroic brave struggle for the restoration of democracy in Pakistan and to end the nightmarish fascist reign of terror unleashed on the people by the army after the incidents of 9th May 2023, which many assert were stage-managed.
By massively rigging elections for Parliament on February 8 this year, Khan was deprived of over half the seats which he would have easily won and become the Prime Minister again. The Pakistani army hates him, as was evident from the recent press conference of DGI SPR Maj Gen (now Lt Gen) Ahmed Sharif who called Imran Khan's party PTI an 'intishari tola' (gang of disruptors), 'siyasi balwais' (political chaos creators) etc who relied on 'jhooth', 'fareb' and 'makkar'.
The army hates him as he insists that it be under civilian control and be accountable. The generals, with their huge ill-gotten wealth which they are reluctant to part with, are unwilling to the suggestion.
The US Government also seems to dislike Imran Khan as he often criticised it, including for making the then-Pakistani government send its troops to Afghanistan, where many of them were killed. His visit to Moscow and meeting with President Vladimir Putin was also seen as a hostile act by the Americans. He also said that Americans often treat Pakistanis as slaves, a remark which could not have endeared him to the former.
Despite all these odds, Imran Khan's spirit is unbent, as the picture revealed.
There will be no peace in Pakistan until and unless fresh free and fair elections under supervision of the UN or some other reputed international agency are held, with the army strictly confined to their barracks, and whoever wins is allowed to form the government. If this is not done, an era of large violence in the form of a people's guerilla war against the army is coming sooner than later in Pakistan.
