Why Did The Military Establishment Help Imran Khan?

Imran Khan is widely seen as a messiah by the burgeoning youth of Pakistan who holds the miracle to take them out of poverty and provide them with jobs

Idealism aside, let us ascertain some ground facts which are well established in Pakistan, before answering the subject question :-

1- Nawaz Sharif made billions of USD acquired through systematic white collar crimes commissioned while he held power in Pakistan as the Chief Minister of Punjab and Prime Minister of Pakistan. Through this ill gotten wealth his sons acquired multi million pounds properties in the UK. He was kicked out of power by General Musharraf and pardoned off his crimes because the military dictator wanted to legitimize his rule. More than a decade later, Nawaz Sharif ultimately came back and regained power, but this time around decided to show the all powerful military as to who is the BOSS. However, with the kinds of skeletons the BOSS had hidden in his cabinet, the military establishment refused to take him seriously. Upon this, the advisors of Nawaz led by his wannabe next Benazir, daughter Maryam, initiated a campaign on social and mainstream media to malign the reputation of the military in Pakistan. The military got further estranged and decided to show Nawaz Sharif the mirror hung on the wall made by the bricks of gold acquired through decades of corruption and plunder in Pakistan. Nawaz would not have budged even then, but the global exposure through PANAMA PAPERS after WIKILEAKS brought his tall claims of honesty to ground. Imran Khan, as a result got the opportunity of his life time and took Nawaz Sharif to court over the charges of corruption as levelled in the PANAMA PAPERS. The military which was already infuriated by the funny behavior of Nawaz Sharif and his daughter, just had to tell the Judges, that their security will be ensured if they decided to judge Nawaz Sharif on merit. The rest is on historic record.

2- Irrespective of Nawaz and his daughter becoming convicted criminals and put behind bars, his brother Shahbaz held power in the biggest and richest province of Pakistan, that's Punjab. Nawaz Sharif still held the ace cards in his hands with his party ruling both Punjab and the central government in Pakistan. They choose the key appointments who had to conduct the elections 2018 themselves leaving little to no room for election rigging on the polling day in Pakistan.

3- Pakistan is essentially a tribal society where majority of power is held by the feudal lords specially in the rural areas. These feudal lords always side with the governing party in Pakistan to stay relevant. They follow the advise of the military establishment who are the strongest power broker in Pakistan holding the dominant share in the power dynamics of the country having ruled Pakistan for majority of its independent history.

4- Imran Khan due to his celebrity status is the hope and source of aspiration for the desperate for change, burgeoning youth of Pakistan who forms 60% of the vote bank in country. However, what these dominant youth cult following don't know or wish to acknowledge is that Imran Khan failed to reign in corruption of his party members who are chip from the same old block in Pakistan. Besides the fact that he is reportedly a drugs addict and can not operate without the cocaine he is used to since decades.

5- Military establishment of Pakistan is not ruled by dynasties or a permanent chair, but those in charge come up, through a strictly merit based system which is open for all Pakistanis without any prejudice unlike the case in politics. Also the bosses in the military establishment has to retire permanently after a prescribed time period unlike politics. They are a collation of patriotic Pakistanis who have pledged their lives for the country and supreme national interest. Having said that, the same system is at times misused by those at the top and exploited to attain personal benefits.

6- Like all powerful countries in the world, in particular the USA, military establishment of Pakistan possesses an intricate system to collect and analyze information regards domestic and foreign matters having an impact on the national interest. Owing to the international non acceptance of military dictatorships and its economic ramifications, after the Musharraf era, the Pakistani military bosses decided in principal not to carry out another coup, until and unless forced by actual circumstances as per the constitution of Pakistan. There is a consensus among all ranks of the Pakistani military establishment that the continuation of the democratic process is the only way forward for Pakistan for the sake of her people and their prosperity. In the absence of strong institutions but the military establishment still holds the role of the power broker in the country for the sake of her stability upon which the economies of modern nation states are based upon.

7- With Nawaz Sharif loosing his credibility and hell bent to destroy the repute of the military which is sacrificing their lives on daily basis in a terrorism infested country, the military establishment was apparently left with no other choice but forced to tell the feudal lords in their established role as the power brokers in the country to either join the opposition party of Imran khan who is definitely seen as a messiah by the youth of the country waiting for a miracle to happen and change their lives or contest the elections as independent candidates leaving Nawaz Sharif and his party to themselves. Without the support of traditional winning horses Nawaz was bound to loose the race.


    That's what exactly transpired on the election day, which resulted in a win for Imran Khan.

    For the sake of stability and economic prosperity of Pakistan, Imran Khan is thus likely to be supported and obeyed by the military establishment till such time he delivers upon his promises and is able to reign in his team, making them perform and keep a check on his own addictions.