the economy suffers the consequences

The former prime minister and cricket star announced another march calling for snap elections. He later declared that the assassination of journalist Ashrad Sharif in Kenya was planned. The head of the intelligence services spoke directly to the media for the first time. International rating agencies fear that political instability will exacerbate the economic crisis.

Islamabad () – Former Prime Minister Imran Khan continues to stir up the country’s political life and raises concerns about the already precarious economic context. The leader of the Pakistan Tehreek-e Insaf (PTI) party announced that starting tomorrow he will lead a protest march from Lahore to the capital – where he is expected to arrive on November 4 after traveling 380 km – to call for early elections.

Last week his supporters staged small protests against the Electoral Commission’s decision to deprive him of his seat in Parliament. Khan has been accused of abusing the position of prime minister between 2018 and 2022 by selling and receiving state property worth 140 million rupees (more than 635,000 euros). However, the authorities have not taken away from the 70-year-old former cricket champion the possibility of running again for public office, as some had initially proposed. Disqualification from political life in Pakistan can be up to 5 years.

This saga began in April, when Parliament removed Khan from office with a vote of no confidence and formed a new government led by Shehbaz Sharif. Since then, the PTI leader has not stopped mobilizing his supporters to call early elections, despite the fact that the government has already responded that the elections will be held as planned in the fall of next year.

However, Khan continued to support the thesis that there is an international conspiracy led by the United States that would have decreed the end of his government. He then began attacking judges and members of the opposition and accused the Pakistani military and intelligence (which have always played a key role in politics) of plotting against him. The traditional parties seem to have no idea how to handle the situation.

A few days ago, Khan declared that the assassination of well-known journalist Ashrad Sharif in Kenya was planned and that he knew his life was in danger: “I received information that they were about to kill him,” said the former prime minister, adding that the journalist he had exposed the corruption of the families of Nawaz Sharif and Asif Ali Zardari, two well-known politicians.

At a historic press conference this morning, the head of the intelligence services (ISI), Lieutenant General Nadeem Ahmed Anjum, and Major General Babar Iftikhar, director of inter-service public relations (ISPR), before Fearing that the situation could worsen, they wanted to make it clear that “we must distinguish between facts, fictions and opinions.” It is the first time in the history of the country that the head of the espionage agency speaks directly to the media. Iftikhar presented the information gathered so far about the journalist, saying that despite Sharif’s negative criticism of the army, “we have not had negative feelings towards him and we don’t now.”

Imran Khan’s support base is made up of urban Pakistanis disillusioned with the historical parties: the Pakistan Muslim League (PML) from which the current prime minister hails (but to which his brother Nawaz Sharif also belonged, who held three times as prime minister), and the Pakistan Peoples Party, headed by relatives of former political leaders Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto.

Khan had received the support of the Pakistani army precisely because he presented himself as an alternative to corrupt and dynastic politics, but he was unable to present concrete solutions to the country’s problems, first of all, the economic crisis. The rupee quickly lost value when Khan ignored the recommendations of the International Monetary Fund and returned to subsidizing fuel. Historical allies of Pakistan such as China, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have refused to grant loans to cover the 126,000 million dollars of external debt.

After the floods of recent months, Pakistan needs international help more than ever to revive its economy. However, the rating agencies fear that the current political instability will only fuel economic uncertainty.