Imran Khan: who is the man dividing Pakistan?

The thing about Khan is that he was extremely popular. Some people think that he is finally the person who will break the military away from politics, but other people are more suspicious of Khan's motives here and say that he's trying to put himself back into power in any means possible and will let the country go up in flames. This is a very critical time for Pakistan. Got Imran Khan mobilising thousands of people on the streets against the military. The protesters here have come out to show how angry they are at the arrest of Imran Khan. The military who have seemed to have declared all out war on Khan and his party. It's a doing dire situation for our country.

The take-out is coming pretty thick and fast now. We've got an economic crisis. Pakistan is now on the brink of default. Its democracy hasn't been so at risk for a very long time. Come up with a relief package. Imran Khan first rose to fame as a cricketer. He was the captain of the Pakistan cricket team and he brought them to World Cup fame in 1992.

As his cricket career was winding down, he turned his attention to politics. He made a lot of promises to be this kind of anti-military pro-democracy figure, but ultimately he actually ended up becoming much more pro-military. And Khan kind of became their blue-eyed boy. The military helped go after all of Khan's political opponents. All of them were detained, jailed, harassed. Senior military figures were given important positions in government. There was a kind of boost on military spending, but it was around 2020.

This very close relationship with the military started to sour, and then this led to a vote of no confidence against him, which Khan made every effort to stop. I was told by someone to resign. I resign. But ultimately he was removed from power. And that's really the point at which he became this very divisive figure in Pakistan. Pakistan has been an on-and-off democracy. It's had multiple occasions where the military have overthrown the civilian government, mostly in the name of national security.

The difference this time is that there is an enormous amount of anti-military sentiment. Even though Khan has been seen as a bit of a hypocrite on this, you know, the one thing he has done is kind of broken that spell. The military is facing up to its own unpopularity for the first time. People are frustrated at the economic situation, lack of food, the difficulties in daily life. People are angry at the military, which they feel has once again interfered in politics. And Khan has a lot of support, and he's making this demand for an election. And I think until a date is set for an election, and there is a sense of what will happen next for Pakistan, I think people will keep coming out on the streets.

Hannah Ellis-Petersen, Imran Khan, Pakistan, South Asia, South Asia News, South Asia politics, explainer, gdnpfpnewspolitics, gdnpfpnewsworld, imran khan arrest, imran khan explained, imran khan explainer, imran khan news, news, news explainer, pakistan explainer, pakistan news, pakistan politics, pakistan prime minister, politics, prime minister, who is imran khan, who is imran khan?, world, world news