Pakistan is a nation where democracy has long been under pressure, and the West’s cynical disregard for morality only deepens the crisis.

Pakistan’s history is scarred by repeated interruptions of democratic rule, replaced time and again by military dictatorships. Field Marshal Ayub Khan’s coup in 1958, General Yahya Khan’s authoritarian grip in the late 1960s, General Zia-ul-Haq’s theocratic tyranny in the 1980s, and General Pervez Musharraf’s so-called enlightened moderation in the 2000s are not distant memories, they are living chapters of a cycle we have failed to break.

Today, Pakistan is once again under martial law, only this time it hides behind a democratic disguise. The so-called parliamentary system is a hollow shell, existing only to provide a veneer of legitimacy. Civilian leadership has been stripped of real authority, the judiciary operates under intimidation, and the press has been muzzled into submission. The levers of power are firmly in the hands of the Chief of Army Staff, Field Marshal Asim Munir, a man whose very appointment as Chief was irregular. Having technically reached retirement before the position fell vacant, his tenure was salvaged only through a deliberate delay to accommodate him.

This was not a smooth transition. It was an engineered manoeuvre by the corrupt leader of PMLN, Nawaz Sharif, to install a loyalist at the helm. This was done in an attempt to cement his own control. But in trying to play kingmaker, Sharif may have created the proverbial monster who devours its own creators. Munir is consolidating power with a ferocity that spares no one, ally or opponent.

The only real obstacle on his path to unchallenged authority is a 72-year-old man, imprisoned for two years on trumped-up charges, yet still the living heartbeat of the nation, Imran Ahmed Khan Niazi. Munir may command the guns, but Khan commands the hearts of millions. His enduring love for his supporters, especially the poor and working class, has for now kept Pakistan from tipping into a violent revolution. But the balance is precarious, and the patience of the people is not infinite.

Munir is not merely another general continuing the army’s long-standing interference in politics. He is, in many ways, the worst culmination of his predecessors’ flaws, Ayub’s arrogance, Yahya’s incompetence, Zia’s manipulative religiosity, and Musharraf’s deceptive international image.

Like I mentioned at the start, Pakistan has a long list of dictatorial interruptions to the fragile and........

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