I am sorry for Imran Khan, former Prime Minister of Pakistan, who has been in jail in Pakistan since August 2023, with no prospect of an early release.
At one time he was a national hero, who had captained Pakistan’s cricket team which won the World Cup in 1992. He also became famous for building an excellent cancer hospital, the first of its kind in Pakistan.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imran_Khan
Imran Khan became Prime Minister of Pakistan in 2018, ousting the rule of the corrupt Bhutto and Sharif families, on his plank of honesty in politics, which won him immense support, as Pakistanis had got fed up of corruption.
However, during the 2018 parliamentary elections in Pakistan he realised he had to make compromises if he wished to become Prime Minister. Hence he gave tickets of his PTI party to dubious corrupt ‘electables’ in the elections, which obviously meant that he could not be genuinely tough on corruption, as that would antagonise the corrupt MPs who had got elected on PTI tickets, making his government fall. He also hobnobbed with religious extremists, constantly speaking of ‘Madine ki Riyasat’, Islam, Prophetb Mohammed, etc
But the cardinal error which led to his downfall was antagonising the US government, the same error which led to the downfall and hanging of former Prime Minister ZA Bhutto.
https://indicanews.com/release-of-imran-khan
The US government has always regarded Pakistan as belonging to its camp. It gave massive economic and military aid to Pakistan almost since Pakistan’s inception in 1947, and treated Pakistan as its neo-colony, using it in the Cold War against the Soviets. Hence leaving the US camp was regarded an unforgiveable act by the US government.
Bhutto paid with his life in 1979 for such an act, when he took French aid in Pakistan’s nuclear program despite US opposition, and sought to become independent and closer to the US arch enemies in the cold war, the communist USSR and China.
The same happened with Imran Khan. Evidently power went to his head, ( as it had gone to the head of Bhutto ), and he thought that being Prime Minister he could do anything he liked. In several speeches he strongly criticised the USA, as mentioned below, saying it had made Pakistan its slave, and made 80,000 Pakistani soldiers die in Afghanistan.
https://indicanews.com/the-crimes-of-imran-khan
https://justicekatju.com/the-crimes-of-imran-khan-37fe749deac8
During Russia’s invasion he went to Moscow and met President Putin. He lashed out at senior US diplomat Donald Lu in rally after rally, alleging a US plot to topple his government, and called for Lu’s sacking.
https://www.cnn.com/2022/05/27/asia/pakistan-imran-khan-us-conspiracy-intl-hnk
All this must have infuriated the Americans, who decided they had had enough, and must get rid of him. Hence they got him toppled and jailed, using the Pakistan army which always kowtows to the Americans and obeys its command, as obvious from the conduct of Generals Zia-ul-Haq, Musharraf, Bajwa, and now Gen Munir, who has met President Trump twice and called for awarding him the Nobel Prize.
A large number of Pakistanis still support Imran Khan, as is obvious from the large rallies in parts of Pakistan, particularly in his home province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, demanding his release ( though many people have remained silent, fearing antagonising the army, arrest, torture, and long incarceration in jail ).
Overseas Pakistanis also strongly support him.
But they can do little else except shout and scream, and it is unlikely Imran Khan will be released anytime in the near future, unless the attitude of the US government, the real ruler of Pakistan, changes. And of that there is no sign as yet
https://justicekatju.com/why-imran-khan-will-not-be-freed-ddc734ed09b5
