Imran Khan is back in the pavilion. But this time, the pavilion is not the cricket ground where he once scored fours, sixes and centuries before lifting the World Cup for Pakistan and becoming a national hero. It is Adiala Jail, where Pakistan’s former Prime Minister was returned after being taken out for what has become a deeply questionable medical episode.

On August 18, Pakistan’s Supreme Court ordered that Imran Khan, who has been incarcerated since 2023, be transferred to Shifa Hospital for medical assessment and treatment. Instead, he was examined at PIMS and, after being declared medically fit, sent back to Adiala Jail. Whatever the legal justification may be, the episode raises a larger question: what happens to democracy when even the orders of its highest court appear vulnerable to executive preferences and, ultimately, those of the military establishment?

Pakistan has repeatedly witnessed the same political cycle. Politicians rise with the support or acquiescence of the establishment, consolidate power and pursue their opponents. Sooner or later, the same machinery is turned against them. The old saying, “Do not do to others what you would not want done to yourself,” remains particularly relevant.

I first met Imran Khan in London with my father in 1994. His passion and conviction about bringing positive change to Pakistan deeply impressed my father. Yet when Imran Khan became Prime Minister, his government too became part of the same political culture. His opponents were pursued with the same zeal with which he is being pursued today. PML-N leaders, including Nawaz Sharif and Maryam Nawaz, faced imprisonment and prosecution during the PTI years.

But that is precisely the point. Pakistan’s problem is bigger than Imran Khan, Nawaz Sharif or any political party. The problem lies in the........

© Greater Kashmir