The violence erupted after Khan was briefly arrested, with unprecedented anger aimed at the military. He was later convicted of graft in August and sentenced to three years in prison.
That sentence was overturned but he was kept in custody on the far more serious charge of sharing state documents he alleged proved how the army conspired with US diplomats to end his premiership.
The United States and Pakistan’s military have denied the claim.
“PTI has been bled to death. The current army chief doesn’t want it around, if it is around, it’s minus Imran Khan,” political analyst Ayesha Siddiqa told AFP.
“There is an entire movement out there by the establishment to eliminate him politically, at least for now,” she said.
The vice-chairman of Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, a former foreign minister, was also indicted over the same case.
KHAN TANGLED UP
Former cricketing superstar Khan enjoys enormous support in Pakistan but his street power has been squashed by the crackdown, which has seen thousands detained.
Almost the entire senior party leadership were forced underground, with many abandoning PTI.
On Sunday, PTI said about 80 members were rounded up at a convention in Lahore that they reportedly did not have permission for.
Pakistan’s military has directly ruled the country for roughly half of its 76-year history and continues to exercise enormous power.
The nation is currently led by an interim government, with polls already pushed back several months.
Khan’s primary opponent, three-time prime minister Nawaz Sharif, returned to Pakistan on Saturday, ending four years of self-imposed exile.
Sharif was jailed for graft and barred from contesting the 2018 elections – in which Khan swept to power – but he left mid-way through his sentence to receive medical care in the United Kingdom, ignoring court orders to return.
Prior to his comeback, a court granted Sharif protective bail in what analysts said was likely a backroom deal arranged by the army establishment.
The fortunes of Pakistan’s leaders rise and fall on their relationship with the military and Pakistan’s courts are often used to tie up lawmakers in lengthy proceedings that rights monitors criticise for stifling dissent.
Source: CNA
