The chances of signing an agreement with the International Monetary Fund are diminishing. Media regulators have banned the broadcast of the former prime minister’s speeches, while the Supreme Court ordered his arrest. The discontent of the population due to the economic crisis is growing.
Islamabad () – The authority that regulates the media in Pakistan has banned the broadcast of speeches by former Prime Minister Imran Khan and then suspended a television channel that defied the order. On the same day, the Pakistani police had received an arrest warrant to ensure that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader appeared at his trial on charges of abuse of power for having made state gifts to foreign politicians. Meanwhile, the popularity of the former prime minister is growing, and the chances of closing an agreement with the International Monetary Fund to rescue the country from the economic crisis are receding.
On March 5, Khan delivered a speech in Lahore in which he (once again) accused current Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif of corruption and claimed that former army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa was responsible for his dismissal. In April last year, the Pakistani parliament voted to distrust Khan and formed a new government led by Sharif. Since then, Khan has not stopped airing plots, lashing out at the establishment and calling early elections, scheduled for October this year.
In November 2022, during a protest demonstration, an attacker shot him in the leg. A short time later, the local governments of the provinces of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where the PTI enjoyed a large majority, were dissolved, and the Electoral Commission is expected to announce in the coming days the date of the provincial elections, which – according to the PTI – They are usually held at the same time as the national ones.
The police sent to Lahore failed to arrest the former prime minister because several of his supporters had mobilized to defend his residence. As a consequence, Khan did not appear at the hearing scheduled for today. The Islamabad High Court gave the former prime minister one last chance and ordered his legal team to set a date when he could appear in court. Indeed, his lawyers argue that Khan cannot appear because he already has to face other trials.
In the aftermath of these events, and in an attempt to reduce popular support for Khan, the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) banned, late in the afternoon of March 5, television channels broadcast the speech given in Lahore by the former prime minister, who is accused, according to the PEMRA statement, of spreading “hate speech through provocative statements against state institutions and officials, which are detrimental to maintenance of law and order and risk disturbing the public peace and tranquility”. To the private station Ary Newswho defied the ban, had his license suspended.
This is a continuing attempt by the government to “remove” Khan from the political scene, which however is having the opposite effect. According to a Gallup Pakistan poll published today, the approval rating of the PTI leader has risen to 61%, while a good 53%, perhaps tired of political clashes, would be in favor of a technical government.
Meanwhile, a large sector of the population begins to blame the official majority for the country’s economic situation. Financial consultancy Moody’s Analytics predicted that inflation could reach 33% in the first half of the year before starting to decline again, while last month the consumer price index rose to 31.5%, the highest figure. high in 50 years. According to the economist Katrina Ell, consulted by Reuters, “an IMF bailout alone will not be enough to get the economy back on track. What the Pakistani economy really needs is strong and persistent management.” In early February, an IMF delegation withdrew from Islamabad without reaching an agreement after 10 days of negotiations.
