Imran Khan vs Nawaj Sharif: Army’s tactics are useless, after AI speech, now 100 independents of Imran will form the government, why is Khan so popular in Pakistan?

No party in Pakistan has got a clear mandate. While on one hand Nawaz-Bilawal’s PMLA and PPP together do not seem to be crossing the figure of 134, on the other hand the candidates supported by Kaptaan Saheb i.e. Imran Khan have achieved good success. According to the latest updates, Imran supported candidates have won 100 seats. Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz has got 71 seats. While Bilwal Bhutto’s PPP has got 53 seats.

Imran Khan’s ‘AI-generated’ victory speech

In his victory speech, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founding chairman Imran Khan congratulated his supporters on the nationwide victory in the general elections and claimed that the party is winning more than 170 National Assembly seats as per Form-45 data. . In his AI-generated speech posted on Twitter late Friday night, the former prime minister told his supporters that by casting your vote yesterday, you have laid the foundation of real freedom and I congratulate you on your victory in the general elections 2024.

Sharif, Imran Khan claimed victory

Former prime ministers Nawaz Sharif and Imran Khan both claimed victory after the results were delayed. Due to which the country is stuck in more political turmoil. Sharif’s party won the most seats of any single party, but supporters of the jailed Khan, who contested the elections as independents rather than as a faction after his party was barred from the elections, prevailed over all parties and Won the most seats overall. Sharif said his party would talk to other groups to form a coalition government as it had failed to get a clear majority on its own.

messiah image

Khan is not just a political leader for his followers, but he has made his personality a ‘messiah’ among them. According to The Express Tribune, supporters of the PTI chairman see him not just as a political leader but as a political messiah. The only hope of the ‘doomed nation’. The Daily Times, citing a nationwide survey conducted last year by Gallup Pakistan, had reported that Khan is the most popular leader in Pakistan, with 61 percent people having a positive opinion about him. Even before entering politics by forming PTI in 1996, Imran was a respected cricket icon in Pakistan. Who led the country to its historic victory in the 1992 World Cup. His supporters feel that Khan can do no wrong. Samina Yasmin, director of the Center for Muslim States and Societies at the University of Western Australia, told Time magazine that whatever story he comes up with, right or wrong, rational or irrational, people support him. He has this habit of convincing people that he is the only honest person in the entire country. PTI is not really a political party that has evolved naturally over time. Imran’s core supporters are more ideological, having been successfully indoctrinated in Pakistani textbook nationalism and are charmed by Imran, who in their opinion is the embodiment of patriotism and religious devotion.

Khan’s strategy has been to maintain pressure on the country’s corrupt political parties by creating a narrative and dividing the society into pure people and corrupt elites. Even after becoming Prime Minister in 2018, Khan continued raising the issue of corruption of his previous government. The youth of the country took Imran Khan’s promise of ‘Naya Pakistan’ very seriously. Sitara Noor, an independent political and security analyst from Pakistan, says her party has effectively used social media to connect with the youth, who constitute about 65 percent of the total population.

For the first time a leader was seen directly confronting the army.

The ongoing proxy war between Army Chief General Asim Munir and Imran Khan also complicated the matter. In this proxy war, the civilian government led by Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif appeared to be taking the lead for General Munir. At one time, such situations occurred when it seemed that the fear and terror of the army had disappeared. This is completely unfamiliar and unknown to the army. Suddenly he is finding himself in such a situation. After all, how to handle this threat to our supremacy?