WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.140 Welcome back to the Deep Dive. Today, we are 00:00:02.140 --> 00:00:05.360 opening a file that honestly, it feels less like 00:00:05.360 --> 00:00:08.080 a standard political biography and more like 00:00:08.080 --> 00:00:10.900 a rejected screenplay. Oh, absolutely. If you 00:00:10.900 --> 00:00:12.939 pitch this story to a studio, they'd probably 00:00:12.939 --> 00:00:14.779 send you away saying the main character's arc 00:00:14.779 --> 00:00:17.280 is just too unbelievable. It's just too much. 00:00:17.359 --> 00:00:19.780 I mean, the story is so packed with contradictions, 00:00:19.780 --> 00:00:22.239 these Sutter reversals, these huge cinematic 00:00:22.239 --> 00:00:24.719 moments. It's a narrative that just seems to 00:00:24.719 --> 00:00:27.969 defy the normal laws of political gravity. Usually 00:00:27.969 --> 00:00:30.829 a public figure gets one act, maybe two if they're 00:00:30.829 --> 00:00:33.670 lucky. This man has lived about five completely 00:00:33.670 --> 00:00:36.109 distinct lives. We're talking about someone who 00:00:36.109 --> 00:00:38.979 was, and this is an official description. Once 00:00:38.979 --> 00:00:41.840 called the sexiest man alive by the British media, 00:00:42.039 --> 00:00:45.039 a guy who was a fixture of London's high society 00:00:45.039 --> 00:00:47.759 nightclubs. And then becomes a global sporting 00:00:47.759 --> 00:00:50.619 icon, a titan of cricket, captains his country 00:00:50.619 --> 00:00:52.399 to its greatest ever victory. Then transforms 00:00:52.399 --> 00:00:55.240 into a philanthropist, then a conservative politician 00:00:55.240 --> 00:00:58.299 promising an Islamic welfare state, and is now 00:00:58.299 --> 00:01:01.460 sitting in a tiny cell in Etiala Jail, known 00:01:01.460 --> 00:01:05.700 simply as Prisoner Gnome 804. And that right 00:01:05.700 --> 00:01:08.400 there. is this central paradox we are going to 00:01:08.400 --> 00:01:11.379 try and unpack today. We are talking, of course, 00:01:11.420 --> 00:01:14.409 about Imran Khan. Former prime minister of Pakistan, 00:01:14.829 --> 00:01:18.329 cricket legend, and right now, probably the most 00:01:18.329 --> 00:01:20.569 famous prisoner in all of South Asia. This is 00:01:20.569 --> 00:01:23.290 a massive topic. It is. We have a huge stack 00:01:23.290 --> 00:01:26.030 of source material here, a comprehensive biography. 00:01:26.310 --> 00:01:28.629 We've got cricket almanacs, political analyses, 00:01:28.790 --> 00:01:33.290 and the legal briefs on the more than 180 cases 00:01:33.290 --> 00:01:35.329 filed against him. It's a mountain of information. 00:01:35.590 --> 00:01:37.609 And our mission today is really to try and connect 00:01:37.609 --> 00:01:39.430 these dots. We want to understand how you go 00:01:39.430 --> 00:01:42.129 from, say, dating socialites in Chelsea to... 00:01:42.189 --> 00:01:45.049 leading a populist movement in rural Punjab. 00:01:45.069 --> 00:01:47.609 And maybe the more important question, how does 00:01:47.609 --> 00:01:50.609 the man who is arguably... the military establishment's 00:01:50.609 --> 00:01:53.390 chosen one in 2018, become their most vocal, 00:01:53.530 --> 00:01:55.409 their most existential threat just a few years 00:01:55.409 --> 00:01:57.269 later. OK, so let's start at the very beginning, 00:01:57.390 --> 00:01:59.269 the line of Lahore. Because when you look at 00:01:59.269 --> 00:02:01.810 the early sources, the young Imran Khan, he bears 00:02:01.810 --> 00:02:04.269 almost zero resemblance to the, you know, the 00:02:04.269 --> 00:02:06.469 pious politician we see on the news today clutching 00:02:06.469 --> 00:02:09.210 prayer beads. It is a stark, stark contrast. 00:02:09.590 --> 00:02:13.389 I mean, he was born in 1952 in Lahore to a very 00:02:13.389 --> 00:02:15.770 affluent, passionate family. And when we say 00:02:15.770 --> 00:02:17.729 affluent, you have to understand we mean the 00:02:17.729 --> 00:02:19.759 absolute upper class. This isn't just comfortable. 00:02:19.900 --> 00:02:22.400 This is elite. Totally. He went to Aitchison 00:02:22.400 --> 00:02:24.620 College, which is basically the Eden of Pakistan. 00:02:24.860 --> 00:02:27.960 It's where the old feudal elite send their sons. 00:02:28.180 --> 00:02:30.780 And from there, he follows that classic colonial 00:02:30.780 --> 00:02:33.870 elite path. straight to England, Royal Grammar 00:02:33.870 --> 00:02:36.550 School, Orser, and then, of course, Oxford. Keeble 00:02:36.550 --> 00:02:39.830 College, specifically. And he studied PPE philosophy, 00:02:40.270 --> 00:02:43.030 politics, and economics. The prime minister factory 00:02:43.030 --> 00:02:46.090 degree. Exactly. It's the degree half the British 00:02:46.090 --> 00:02:48.469 prime ministers have. Yeah. But if you read the 00:02:48.469 --> 00:02:50.349 accounts from his time at Oxford, and especially 00:02:50.349 --> 00:02:53.229 in London in the 70s, he wasn't exactly spending 00:02:53.229 --> 00:02:55.629 his nights in the library debating Keynesian 00:02:55.629 --> 00:02:59.189 economics. No. This is the Playboy era. The British 00:02:59.189 --> 00:03:01.349 tabloids were completely obsessed with him. He 00:03:01.349 --> 00:03:03.710 was a fixture at Tramp. That legendary private 00:03:03.710 --> 00:03:05.810 nightclub on German Street. Right. He was rubbing 00:03:05.810 --> 00:03:08.150 shoulders with Mick Jagger. He was the center 00:03:08.150 --> 00:03:11.050 of attention. He was this exotic star. He was 00:03:11.050 --> 00:03:14.169 handsome. He was a world -class athlete. And 00:03:14.169 --> 00:03:17.250 he was dating very high -profile women socialites. 00:03:17.550 --> 00:03:25.169 Artists like Emma Sargent, he was the it boy 00:03:25.169 --> 00:03:27.930 of London. But here's the interesting nuance 00:03:27.930 --> 00:03:29.830 in the sources, and it's a detail that comes 00:03:29.830 --> 00:03:32.949 up again and again. Despite being in the absolute 00:03:32.949 --> 00:03:36.189 center of this hedonistic swirl, he claims he 00:03:36.189 --> 00:03:38.669 never drank alcohol. And people who knew him 00:03:38.669 --> 00:03:41.550 back then, they corroborate that. It's fascinating. 00:03:41.770 --> 00:03:44.909 He had this peculiar ability to be in the scene, 00:03:45.009 --> 00:03:47.310 but not entirely of it. He was always sort of 00:03:47.310 --> 00:03:49.289 observing. He definitely enjoyed the attention. 00:03:49.490 --> 00:03:52.310 I mean, he was voted sexiest man alive by a newspaper. 00:03:52.530 --> 00:03:55.400 Oh, for sure. But he maintained a certain Pashtun 00:03:55.400 --> 00:03:57.719 conservatism when it came to substances. His 00:03:57.719 --> 00:04:00.000 focus was always on his physical prime. He was 00:04:00.000 --> 00:04:01.800 an athlete first. Speaking of which, there's 00:04:01.800 --> 00:04:03.699 a funny anecdote in the notes about Bollywood. 00:04:03.819 --> 00:04:06.400 Oh, this is a classic. Devanand, who is a true 00:04:06.400 --> 00:04:09.060 titan of Indian cinema, he actually approached 00:04:09.060 --> 00:04:12.180 Imran Khan to star in a movie, offered him the 00:04:12.180 --> 00:04:14.340 lead role. Can you even imagine that? Imran Khan 00:04:14.340 --> 00:04:16.540 doing a Bollywood song and dance number? It's 00:04:16.540 --> 00:04:18.680 impossible to picture. But Khan just turned him 00:04:18.680 --> 00:04:22.759 down flat. He reportedly told Anand, I cannot 00:04:22.759 --> 00:04:26.339 act. Which, depending on who you ask in Pakistan 00:04:26.339 --> 00:04:28.420 today, might be the only time he's ever admitted 00:04:28.420 --> 00:04:31.139 to a lack of talent. Well, exactly. But it shows 00:04:31.139 --> 00:04:33.399 his focus was singular. He didn't want to be 00:04:33.399 --> 00:04:35.980 a movie star. He wanted to be the best cricketer 00:04:35.980 --> 00:04:38.160 on the planet. And we really have to talk about 00:04:38.160 --> 00:04:40.360 the cricket. Because for people outside the Commonwealth, 00:04:40.699 --> 00:04:43.420 I think it's hard to grasp just how good he was. 00:04:43.459 --> 00:04:46.019 He wasn't just a good player. No, no. He is in 00:04:46.019 --> 00:04:48.519 the pantheon. He's on the Mount Rushmore of cricket. 00:04:48.680 --> 00:04:51.579 The stats are just undeniable. In test cricket, 00:04:51.759 --> 00:04:53.819 which is the longest form of the game, he scored 00:04:53.819 --> 00:04:59.379 3 ,807 runs and took 362 wickets. So he was elite 00:04:59.379 --> 00:05:01.399 at both batting and bowling. One of the very 00:05:01.399 --> 00:05:03.480 few in history to achieve what they call the 00:05:03.480 --> 00:05:06.120 all -rounders triple. That's 3 ,000 runs and 00:05:06.120 --> 00:05:09.100 300 wickets. It's an incredibly exclusive club. 00:05:09.279 --> 00:05:11.519 But stats can be dry. It was the leadership, 00:05:11.620 --> 00:05:14.120 wasn't it? The presence. It was all psychology. 00:05:14.439 --> 00:05:17.699 You have to remember, in the 80s, the West Indies 00:05:17.699 --> 00:05:20.259 cricket team was the dominant force. They were 00:05:20.259 --> 00:05:23.060 terrifying. I mean, they had these huge, fast 00:05:23.060 --> 00:05:25.680 bowlers who would physically intimidate teams 00:05:25.680 --> 00:05:28.199 into submission. And what was Pakistan's team 00:05:28.199 --> 00:05:31.240 like before him? Often brilliant, but mercurial. 00:05:32.199 --> 00:05:35.439 Undisciplined. Khan took that raw talent and 00:05:35.439 --> 00:05:37.800 he forged it into a unit that could look the 00:05:37.800 --> 00:05:41.120 West Indies in the eye and not blink. He gave 00:05:41.120 --> 00:05:42.860 them steel. There's a note here about neutral 00:05:42.860 --> 00:05:45.139 umpiring. I didn't realize that was his innovation. 00:05:45.519 --> 00:05:48.180 This is a crucial detail because I think it foreshadows 00:05:48.180 --> 00:05:50.300 his later political obsession with justice and 00:05:50.300 --> 00:05:53.699 fairness. So back then, home umpires would officiate 00:05:53.699 --> 00:05:55.500 matches. And they'd probably be a bit biased. 00:05:55.740 --> 00:05:58.459 A bit? There was always a suspicion, often totally 00:05:58.459 --> 00:06:00.939 justified, that they favored their own team. 00:06:01.019 --> 00:06:02.699 It created a lot of bitterness and controversy. 00:06:03.000 --> 00:06:05.180 So what did Khan do? In a series against the 00:06:05.180 --> 00:06:07.800 mighty West Indies, played in Pakistan, he wanted 00:06:07.800 --> 00:06:09.819 to prove his team could win without any help. 00:06:10.079 --> 00:06:12.680 So he invited Indian umpires to officiate. Indian 00:06:12.680 --> 00:06:15.560 umpires in Pakistan. Given the political tensions 00:06:15.560 --> 00:06:17.879 between the two countries, that was a massive, 00:06:17.939 --> 00:06:20.199 massive gesture of confidence. He was basically 00:06:20.199 --> 00:06:23.120 saying, we are so good, we don't need the refs 00:06:23.120 --> 00:06:25.839 on our side. That experience was so successful, 00:06:25.959 --> 00:06:28.259 it eventually led the International Cricket Council 00:06:28.259 --> 00:06:31.699 to adopt neutral umpires as the global standard. 00:06:32.060 --> 00:06:34.279 He literally changed how the sport was governed. 00:06:34.439 --> 00:06:37.579 But the peak, the moment that is just etched 00:06:37.579 --> 00:06:42.120 into the Pakistani national psyche. Is 1992 the 00:06:42.120 --> 00:06:45.339 World Cup? It's the cinematic climax of his first 00:06:45.339 --> 00:06:48.339 life. He was 39 years old. He'd already retired 00:06:48.339 --> 00:06:51.079 and come back. He had a bad shoulder. In cricketing 00:06:51.079 --> 00:06:53.519 terms, he was an old man in a young man's game. 00:06:53.660 --> 00:06:55.839 And the team started the tournament horribly. 00:06:56.079 --> 00:06:57.639 Oh, they were a disaster. They were practically 00:06:57.639 --> 00:06:59.160 on the plane home. They lost three of their first 00:06:59.160 --> 00:07:01.279 five matches. They were saved by a rainout in 00:07:01.279 --> 00:07:02.959 one match, right? That got them a single point. 00:07:03.079 --> 00:07:05.779 Yes, a moment of divine intervention, as the 00:07:05.779 --> 00:07:08.319 commentators called it. But they were at rock 00:07:08.319 --> 00:07:11.269 bottom. And this is where the legend of the cornered 00:07:11.269 --> 00:07:13.949 tigers was born. The famous speech. He gets the 00:07:13.949 --> 00:07:15.889 team together in the locker room. He's wearing 00:07:15.889 --> 00:07:18.250 a t -shirt with a tiger on it. And he doesn't 00:07:18.250 --> 00:07:20.149 talk about batting technique or bowling lines. 00:07:20.370 --> 00:07:23.009 He talks about mindset. He tells them to play 00:07:23.009 --> 00:07:25.370 like cornered tigers. What did he mean by that? 00:07:25.550 --> 00:07:28.370 He said, there is nothing more dangerous than 00:07:28.370 --> 00:07:31.310 a tiger that has no way out because it attacks 00:07:31.310 --> 00:07:34.740 with total freedom. He told them to forget the 00:07:34.740 --> 00:07:37.540 fear of losing and just fight. Unleash themselves. 00:07:37.920 --> 00:07:39.480 And it worked. It was like a switch flipped. 00:07:39.680 --> 00:07:42.319 It triggered this miraculous turnaround. They 00:07:42.319 --> 00:07:44.899 just started winning. They scraped into the semifinals. 00:07:44.899 --> 00:07:47.120 They beat New Zealand. Then they face England 00:07:47.120 --> 00:07:48.959 in the final at the massive Melbourne Cricket 00:07:48.959 --> 00:07:51.079 Ground. And he took the final wicket himself. 00:07:51.480 --> 00:07:54.459 He did. The winning moment. That image of him, 00:07:54.519 --> 00:07:57.639 39 years old, lifting that crystal trophy. That 00:07:57.639 --> 00:08:00.160 was the moment he went from being just a celebrity 00:08:00.160 --> 00:08:03.560 athlete to a kind of national savior. He delivered 00:08:03.560 --> 00:08:06.379 glory. And that gave him a reservoir of public 00:08:06.379 --> 00:08:09.319 trust that no politician in Pakistan could even 00:08:09.319 --> 00:08:13.399 dream of. And that trust, that became the currency 00:08:13.399 --> 00:08:16.180 for his next great transformation. Because shortly 00:08:16.180 --> 00:08:18.980 after that triumph, tragedy struck his personal 00:08:18.980 --> 00:08:22.680 life. His mother, Shakat Khanum. Yes. She was 00:08:22.680 --> 00:08:25.209 diagnosed with cancer. And during her treatment, 00:08:25.389 --> 00:08:27.889 Khan came face to face with the grim reality 00:08:27.889 --> 00:08:31.889 of health care in Pakistan. He realized that 00:08:31.889 --> 00:08:34.629 if you were poor, a cancer diagnosis was basically 00:08:34.629 --> 00:08:37.190 a death sentence. The facilities just weren't 00:08:37.190 --> 00:08:39.889 there. So he decides to build a hospital. But 00:08:39.889 --> 00:08:42.269 not just any hospital. A world -class cancer 00:08:42.269 --> 00:08:44.769 center that treats the poor for free. And all 00:08:44.769 --> 00:08:47.029 the experts told News Crazy they said it's completely 00:08:47.029 --> 00:08:50.169 unsustainable. You can't run a free state -of 00:08:50.169 --> 00:08:52.230 -the -art cancer hospital in a developing economy 00:08:52.230 --> 00:08:55.210 without massive state support. But he didn't 00:08:55.210 --> 00:08:57.690 listen. He applied that same stubborn cornered 00:08:57.690 --> 00:09:00.450 tiger mentality. He got in a van and he toured 00:09:00.450 --> 00:09:02.909 the country. This is the real grassroots phase 00:09:02.909 --> 00:09:05.759 of his public life, isn't it? Absolutely. He 00:09:05.759 --> 00:09:07.639 went to tiny villages. He went to schools. He 00:09:07.639 --> 00:09:09.340 went to factories. Schoolchildren gave him their 00:09:09.340 --> 00:09:11.879 lunch money. Laborers gave him a day's wages. 00:09:11.980 --> 00:09:14.220 He raised millions upon millions of dollars, 00:09:14.340 --> 00:09:16.059 essentially just through the force of his own 00:09:16.059 --> 00:09:18.960 reputation. He was a brand people trusted. And 00:09:18.960 --> 00:09:21.860 when the Shikot Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital 00:09:21.860 --> 00:09:25.419 opened in 1994, it wasn't just a medical facility. 00:09:25.779 --> 00:09:28.799 It was proof that he could execute a grand vision. 00:09:28.899 --> 00:09:31.279 And more importantly, that he was incorruptible. 00:09:31.519 --> 00:09:33.600 He had handled all that money and delivered. 00:09:34.240 --> 00:09:37.039 So, OK, he has the fame from cricket. He has 00:09:37.039 --> 00:09:39.179 the deep public trust from the hospital. He has 00:09:39.179 --> 00:09:41.519 a proven track record of management. It seems 00:09:41.519 --> 00:09:44.960 like the next logical step is politics. But looking 00:09:44.960 --> 00:09:47.779 at the wilderness years in our outline, it was 00:09:47.779 --> 00:09:50.059 anything but a smooth transition. It was a complete 00:09:50.059 --> 00:09:52.799 disaster, politically speaking. He founded the 00:09:52.799 --> 00:09:57.240 Pakistan Tariki Insaf, the PTI, in 1996. The 00:09:57.240 --> 00:10:00.059 name means movement for justice. But for well 00:10:00.059 --> 00:10:02.370 over a decade, it was a party of one. The critics 00:10:02.370 --> 00:10:04.429 were absolutely beautiful. I saw the nickname 00:10:04.429 --> 00:10:06.409 they gave him in the Western press in the dim. 00:10:06.570 --> 00:10:08.669 Yes, that was the line mocking his political 00:10:08.669 --> 00:10:10.909 intellect, suggesting he was just this handsome, 00:10:11.049 --> 00:10:13.669 naive sportsman who was out of his depth. But 00:10:13.669 --> 00:10:16.190 locally in Pakistan, he earned a much more controversial 00:10:16.190 --> 00:10:19.009 nickname, Taliban Khan. Right. And we need to 00:10:19.009 --> 00:10:20.889 unpack that because it's a very heavy label. 00:10:20.929 --> 00:10:23.029 It is. So where did that come from? It really 00:10:23.029 --> 00:10:27.500 stems from the post 9 -11 era. Pakistan, under 00:10:27.500 --> 00:10:30.240 General Musharraf, became a key ally in the U 00:10:30.240 --> 00:10:33.379 .S. war on terror. But Khan was vehemently publicly 00:10:33.379 --> 00:10:36.539 opposed to the U .S. drone strikes in Pakistan's 00:10:36.539 --> 00:10:39.419 tribal areas along the Afghan border. He argued 00:10:39.419 --> 00:10:41.539 they were counterproductive. He argued that for 00:10:41.539 --> 00:10:43.700 every one terrorist you kill with a drone, you 00:10:43.700 --> 00:10:46.039 create 10 more because of the collateral damage, 00:10:46.200 --> 00:10:48.820 the innocent civilians who get killed. He said 00:10:48.820 --> 00:10:51.320 Pakistan was fighting America's war, not its 00:10:51.320 --> 00:10:54.179 own war. He even led a protest march to South 00:10:54.179 --> 00:10:56.789 Waziristan. And his critics saw that as? They 00:10:56.789 --> 00:10:58.710 saw it as being an apologist for the Taliban. 00:10:59.070 --> 00:11:01.610 The liberal intelligentsia in Pakistan especially 00:11:01.610 --> 00:11:04.330 thought he was soft on extremism, that he was 00:11:04.330 --> 00:11:07.070 romanticizing the Pashtun tribal code and ignoring 00:11:07.070 --> 00:11:09.409 the brutality of the militants. But electorally, 00:11:09.429 --> 00:11:11.049 nobody was buying what he was selling anyway. 00:11:11.210 --> 00:11:13.929 Not at all. It was a joke. In the 1997 general 00:11:13.929 --> 00:11:17.610 election, his party, the PTI, lost every single 00:11:17.610 --> 00:11:21.169 seat they contested. Everyone. In 2002, he was 00:11:21.169 --> 00:11:23.590 the only member of his party to get elected to 00:11:23.590 --> 00:11:27.220 the National Assembly. One man. He spent years 00:11:27.220 --> 00:11:30.139 as this lonely backbencher just railing against 00:11:30.139 --> 00:11:33.080 the system, completely dismissed by the big political 00:11:33.080 --> 00:11:35.720 dynasties, the Sharifs and the Buddhas. They 00:11:35.720 --> 00:11:37.919 thought he was an irrelevant nuisance. So what 00:11:37.919 --> 00:11:40.200 changed? How on earth do you go from being a 00:11:40.200 --> 00:11:42.720 one -man political joke to the prime minister? 00:11:43.279 --> 00:11:45.600 The turning point, the moment everyone points 00:11:45.600 --> 00:11:49.139 to, is October 30, 2011. The rally at Minari, 00:11:49.159 --> 00:11:51.929 Pakistan in Lahore. The tsunami. That's what 00:11:51.929 --> 00:11:53.970 he branded it. And honestly, all the political 00:11:53.970 --> 00:11:56.710 pundits expected it to be a flop. Another small 00:11:56.710 --> 00:11:59.710 gathering of his diehard fans. Instead, over 00:11:59.710 --> 00:12:03.049 100 ,000 people showed up. It was a sea of green 00:12:03.049 --> 00:12:05.929 and red flags. It stunned everyone. And who were 00:12:05.929 --> 00:12:07.549 these people? Because they clearly weren't the 00:12:07.549 --> 00:12:09.750 traditional voters for the big parties. That's 00:12:09.750 --> 00:12:12.809 the key. He had tapped into a brand new constituency. 00:12:13.250 --> 00:12:16.309 The urban middle class and the youth. A generation 00:12:16.309 --> 00:12:18.370 that had grown up idolizing him as a cricketer, 00:12:18.429 --> 00:12:20.809 who were educated, connected on social media, 00:12:20.950 --> 00:12:23.450 and were just sick and tired of the endless corruption 00:12:23.450 --> 00:12:25.289 of the two -party system. He offered a third 00:12:25.289 --> 00:12:28.870 option. He promised Naya Pakistan a new Pakistan, 00:12:29.210 --> 00:12:32.450 free from corruption. And the momentum just started 00:12:32.450 --> 00:12:34.809 to build. Then you have the 2013 election, where 00:12:34.809 --> 00:12:36.750 he becomes a serious Karen for the first time. 00:12:36.830 --> 00:12:38.879 Right. And you have that incredibly dramatic 00:12:38.879 --> 00:12:41.759 moment just days before the election where he 00:12:41.759 --> 00:12:44.139 falls off a forklift at a rally. I remember seeing 00:12:44.139 --> 00:12:46.200 that. It was a terrifying fall. She fractured 00:12:46.200 --> 00:12:48.980 his vertebrae. He could have been killed, but 00:12:48.980 --> 00:12:51.120 he gave this powerful speech from his hospital 00:12:51.120 --> 00:12:54.519 bed, lying there in a neck brace. The imagery 00:12:54.519 --> 00:12:56.700 was incredible. He ended up losing that national 00:12:56.700 --> 00:12:59.340 election to Nawaz Sharif, but his party won control 00:12:59.340 --> 00:13:02.379 of the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. They finally 00:13:02.379 --> 00:13:04.659 had a real foothold. But he didn't just accept 00:13:04.659 --> 00:13:07.059 that loss gracefully. He immediately started 00:13:07.059 --> 00:13:10.879 crying foul. Oh, yeah. He alleged massive systematic 00:13:10.879 --> 00:13:13.259 rigging. He spent the next four years in the 00:13:13.259 --> 00:13:15.659 streets, basically, leading sit -ins, locking 00:13:15.659 --> 00:13:17.659 down the capital city, demanding investigations. 00:13:17.940 --> 00:13:20.759 He was absolutely relentless. He kept the pressure 00:13:20.759 --> 00:13:23.860 on constantly. Which brings us to 2018, the year 00:13:23.860 --> 00:13:26.539 it finally happens for him. But reading the analysis, 00:13:26.879 --> 00:13:30.559 this victory, it wasn't exactly seen as clean, 00:13:30.659 --> 00:13:33.220 was it? The 2018 election is probably one of 00:13:33.220 --> 00:13:35.620 the most controversial in Pakistan's recent history. 00:13:35.960 --> 00:13:39.059 On the one hand, Khan made history. He personally 00:13:39.059 --> 00:13:41.679 won five different constituencies, which is a 00:13:41.679 --> 00:13:44.519 record. But the opposition alleged that the military 00:13:44.519 --> 00:13:47.720 establishment, the deep state, if you will, had 00:13:47.720 --> 00:13:50.740 decided it was finally Imran's turn. This is 00:13:50.740 --> 00:13:53.379 where that selected versus elected debate comes 00:13:53.379 --> 00:13:55.820 from. Exactly. The opposition parties claimed 00:13:55.820 --> 00:13:58.720 the military had paved the way for him. They 00:13:58.720 --> 00:14:01.000 alleged a campaign of pre -poll rigging, cracking 00:14:01.000 --> 00:14:03.940 down on Nawaz Sharif's party, censoring the media 00:14:03.940 --> 00:14:06.539 and orchestrating judicial cases against all 00:14:06.539 --> 00:14:09.080 of Khan's main rivals. What do the official observers 00:14:09.080 --> 00:14:11.409 say? Well, the Election Commission of Pakistan 00:14:11.409 --> 00:14:14.350 rejected the rigging claims and EU observers 00:14:14.350 --> 00:14:16.909 called the election satisfactory overall. But 00:14:16.909 --> 00:14:19.870 that stain, that perception, it remained. His 00:14:19.870 --> 00:14:21.870 critics refused to call him the elected prime 00:14:21.870 --> 00:14:24.929 minister. To them, he was always selected. So 00:14:24.929 --> 00:14:27.129 he finally gets the top job. He's in the prime 00:14:27.129 --> 00:14:29.190 minister's house. He's promised an Islamic welfare 00:14:29.190 --> 00:14:31.429 state. He's promised to end corruption in 90 00:14:31.429 --> 00:14:34.490 days. But as soon as he sits in that chair, reality 00:14:34.490 --> 00:14:37.570 hits. And the economic reality was absolutely 00:14:37.570 --> 00:14:40.519 brutal. He inherited a balance of payments crisis. 00:14:40.759 --> 00:14:43.639 The country was bleeding foreign reserves and 00:14:43.639 --> 00:14:46.899 was on the verge of default. Now, Khan had campaigned 00:14:46.899 --> 00:14:49.580 on a platform of national sovereignty. He famously 00:14:49.580 --> 00:14:51.919 said he would rather commit suicide than go to 00:14:51.919 --> 00:14:54.620 the IMF and beg for a bailout. That is a really 00:14:54.620 --> 00:14:56.779 tough soundbite to have floating around when 00:14:56.779 --> 00:14:59.039 you desperately need money from the IMF. That's 00:14:59.039 --> 00:15:01.559 a trap of his own making, really. It was. And 00:15:01.559 --> 00:15:04.879 so he hesitated. He spent months trying to get 00:15:04.879 --> 00:15:07.480 loans from friendly countries like Saudi Arabia, 00:15:07.659 --> 00:15:11.019 the UAE, and China to avoid going to the IMF. 00:15:11.500 --> 00:15:14.600 But that delay, it just created massive uncertainty 00:15:14.600 --> 00:15:17.700 in the markets. The currency plummeted. Inflation 00:15:17.700 --> 00:15:19.779 just soared. The buffaloes didn't help, I take 00:15:19.779 --> 00:15:22.580 it. Ah, the buffaloes, yes. In a symbolic gesture 00:15:22.580 --> 00:15:25.240 of austerity, he auctioned off the dairy buffaloes 00:15:25.240 --> 00:15:27.279 and the fleet of luxury cars for the prime minister's 00:15:27.279 --> 00:15:29.659 house. Which his base must have loved. They loved 00:15:29.659 --> 00:15:32.000 it. It was great symbolism. But the problem is 00:15:32.000 --> 00:15:34.399 you can't fix a multi -billion dollar deficit 00:15:34.399 --> 00:15:37.340 by selling a few cars and some livestock. Eventually, 00:15:37.659 --> 00:15:40.580 humiliated, he had to go to the IMF anyway. So 00:15:40.580 --> 00:15:42.879 he got all the political pain of the austerity 00:15:42.879 --> 00:15:45.279 measures without any of the credit for having 00:15:45.279 --> 00:15:47.720 avoided the bailout in the first place. Precisely. 00:15:47.720 --> 00:15:50.539 And for the average Pakistani, life became very, 00:15:50.600 --> 00:15:53.740 very expensive. Prominent economists like Atif 00:15:53.740 --> 00:15:56.440 Mian pointed out that during his entire tenure 00:15:56.440 --> 00:15:58.919 there was essentially zero increase in average 00:15:58.919 --> 00:16:01.700 income. People were getting poorer. But it wasn't 00:16:01.700 --> 00:16:04.000 all bad news on the domestic front. The sources 00:16:04.000 --> 00:16:06.779 do mention some significant successes in social 00:16:06.779 --> 00:16:09.480 welfare. Yes. And this is where his vision of 00:16:09.480 --> 00:16:11.940 an Islamic welfare state actually had some real 00:16:11.940 --> 00:16:15.309 teeth. He launched the ASAS program, which is 00:16:15.309 --> 00:16:19.090 a massive social safety net, using data to identify 00:16:19.090 --> 00:16:21.330 and distribute cash to the poorest families in 00:16:21.330 --> 00:16:23.190 the country. And the health card program. The 00:16:23.190 --> 00:16:25.769 Sihat Sahulat program. This was genuinely revolutionary 00:16:25.769 --> 00:16:28.169 for the poor in the provinces where it was rolled 00:16:28.169 --> 00:16:30.029 out. It was essentially universal health insurance. 00:16:30.389 --> 00:16:32.809 So what did that mean in practice? It meant a 00:16:32.809 --> 00:16:35.409 poor laborer who could never afford it could 00:16:35.409 --> 00:16:37.909 walk into a high -end private hospital and get 00:16:37.909 --> 00:16:40.230 life -saving heart surgery, and the state would 00:16:40.230 --> 00:16:43.159 pay for it. That bought him a huge amount of 00:16:43.159 --> 00:16:45.860 loyalty and goodwill among the working classes. 00:16:46.120 --> 00:16:47.960 And then in the middle of all this, the entire 00:16:47.960 --> 00:16:51.139 world stopped. COVID -19 hits. This was probably 00:16:51.139 --> 00:16:53.600 Khan's single biggest gamble as prime minister. 00:16:53.779 --> 00:16:56.919 The entire world was locking down. The pressure 00:16:56.919 --> 00:16:59.059 on him, both internationally and domestically, 00:16:59.159 --> 00:17:02.179 to shut down Pakistan completely was immense. 00:17:02.399 --> 00:17:05.440 But he refused. He refused a total lockdown. 00:17:06.059 --> 00:17:08.339 What was his logic there? That seems like a huge 00:17:08.339 --> 00:17:10.619 risk. He said, in Pakistan, we have a different 00:17:10.619 --> 00:17:13.660 problem. If we shut down the cities, the wealthy 00:17:13.660 --> 00:17:16.279 and their big houses will survive. But the poor, 00:17:16.420 --> 00:17:18.619 the daily wage earners, they will die of hunger. 00:17:19.140 --> 00:17:21.180 He made the calculation that starvation was a 00:17:21.180 --> 00:17:23.339 more immediate and deadly threat than the virus 00:17:23.339 --> 00:17:25.720 for millions of his people. That is a terrifying 00:17:25.720 --> 00:17:27.799 calculation for a leader to have to make. It 00:17:27.799 --> 00:17:30.119 is. So instead, he opted for what he called smart 00:17:30.119 --> 00:17:32.700 lockdowns. They used the military's intelligent 00:17:32.700 --> 00:17:34.980 software technology that was actually designed 00:17:34.980 --> 00:17:38.519 to track terrorists, to track virus hotspots. 00:17:38.740 --> 00:17:41.460 Yes, they would identify an outbreak and then 00:17:41.460 --> 00:17:43.779 seal off just a specific street or a neighborhood, 00:17:44.039 --> 00:17:46.720 test everyone, and leave the rest of the city 00:17:46.720 --> 00:17:48.920 and the economy open. And what was the result 00:17:48.920 --> 00:17:52.490 of this strategy? Surprisingly and controversially 00:17:52.490 --> 00:17:55.650 effective, Pakistan's death rates were significantly 00:17:55.650 --> 00:17:58.170 lower than its neighbor India and many Western 00:17:58.170 --> 00:18:01.829 nations. Now, whether that was down to his policy, 00:18:01.970 --> 00:18:04.289 the country's young demographics, or just plain 00:18:04.289 --> 00:18:06.890 luck is still debated. But politically, it was 00:18:06.890 --> 00:18:09.670 seen as a major win for him. He was vindicated. 00:18:09.869 --> 00:18:12.490 Now, let's pivot to foreign policy, because this 00:18:12.490 --> 00:18:15.289 is where things start to get really, really spicy. 00:18:15.960 --> 00:18:18.720 This is where he starts poking some very powerful 00:18:18.720 --> 00:18:22.059 bears. Khan's entire foreign policy vision was 00:18:22.059 --> 00:18:24.960 to shift Pakistan away from being a U .S. client 00:18:24.960 --> 00:18:27.339 state, a hired gun, as he called it, to being 00:18:27.339 --> 00:18:29.660 a more neutral, independent player. He got into 00:18:29.660 --> 00:18:31.839 those Twitter fights with Donald Trump. He did. 00:18:32.000 --> 00:18:35.220 But the real friction, the big break, came after 00:18:35.220 --> 00:18:37.259 the U .S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021. 00:18:37.539 --> 00:18:40.000 The famous absolutely not moment. That's the 00:18:40.000 --> 00:18:42.960 one. The Biden administration was looking for 00:18:42.960 --> 00:18:46.680 bases in the region for over -the -horizon counterterrorism 00:18:46.680 --> 00:18:49.779 operations. In an interview with HBO, he was 00:18:49.779 --> 00:18:52.180 asked directly if you would allow the CIA to 00:18:52.180 --> 00:18:55.160 use bases in Pakistan for that purpose. And his 00:18:55.160 --> 00:18:58.619 answer was a flat, unambiguous, absolutely not. 00:18:58.900 --> 00:19:00.720 That must have rung some serious alarm bells 00:19:00.720 --> 00:19:03.160 in Washington, D .C. It certainly chilled relations, 00:19:03.519 --> 00:19:05.799 but the timing of his next big foreign policy 00:19:05.799 --> 00:19:08.920 move was, you could argue, even worse. He decided 00:19:08.920 --> 00:19:11.519 to pivot towards Russia to diversify Pakistan's 00:19:11.519 --> 00:19:14.480 options and secure cheaper energy. The Moscow 00:19:14.480 --> 00:19:16.039 trip. You couldn't write a script with worse 00:19:16.039 --> 00:19:19.579 timing. Imran Khan landed in Moscow for a summit 00:19:19.579 --> 00:19:23.440 with Vladimir Putin on February 24, 2022. That's 00:19:23.440 --> 00:19:25.380 the day the full -scale invasion of Ukraine began? 00:19:25.579 --> 00:19:27.900 The exact day. He was caught on a hot mic as 00:19:27.900 --> 00:19:29.660 he was being greeted, saying something like, 00:19:29.799 --> 00:19:32.319 what a time I have come. So much excitement. 00:19:32.660 --> 00:19:35.380 Oof, that's a bad look. A terrible look. He argued 00:19:35.380 --> 00:19:37.700 he was there for his people to get cheap weed 00:19:37.700 --> 00:19:40.940 and gas. At the UN, he refused to condemn Russia, 00:19:41.140 --> 00:19:44.160 citing Pakistan's neutrality. But in Western 00:19:44.160 --> 00:19:46.019 capitals, this looked like he was clearly picking 00:19:46.019 --> 00:19:49.660 a side, and it wasn't their side. So he's alienating 00:19:49.660 --> 00:19:52.519 the United States. But at home, he's making an 00:19:52.519 --> 00:19:55.420 even more dangerous enemy, the very institution 00:19:55.420 --> 00:19:57.480 that allegedly helped him get into power in the 00:19:57.480 --> 00:20:01.160 first place, the military. In Pakistani politics, 00:20:01.460 --> 00:20:03.819 the golden rule, the one rule you never break, 00:20:03.960 --> 00:20:07.079 is this. You cannot survive without the army's 00:20:07.079 --> 00:20:10.000 support. For the first three years of his government, 00:20:10.319 --> 00:20:12.279 Khan and the army chief at the time, General 00:20:12.279 --> 00:20:15.000 Bajwa, were famously said to be on the same page. 00:20:15.140 --> 00:20:17.519 So what happened? What tore the page? In a word, 00:20:17.700 --> 00:20:21.779 appointments. In late 2021, the Army chief wanted 00:20:21.779 --> 00:20:24.039 to rotate the head of the powerful spy agency, 00:20:24.279 --> 00:20:27.640 the ISI. Khan wanted to keep the incumbent, General 00:20:27.640 --> 00:20:29.880 Faiz Hamid, who was seen as being personally 00:20:29.880 --> 00:20:32.759 loyal to Khan himself. So Khan tried to overrule 00:20:32.759 --> 00:20:35.140 the Army chief on a key military appointment. 00:20:35.299 --> 00:20:37.539 That sounds like a bad idea. He delayed the official 00:20:37.539 --> 00:20:40.299 notification. He made it a public standoff. In 00:20:40.299 --> 00:20:42.220 the rigidly hierarchical world of the Pakistani 00:20:42.220 --> 00:20:44.220 military, that is seen as a direct challenge 00:20:44.220 --> 00:20:46.059 to the authority of the chief and the institution. 00:20:46.400 --> 00:20:49.359 It shattered the trust. The military leadership 00:20:49.359 --> 00:20:52.000 decided to withdraw its support and become officially 00:20:52.000 --> 00:20:54.980 neutral. And in Pakistan, when the army becomes 00:20:54.980 --> 00:20:57.559 neutral, that's usually the kiss of death for 00:20:57.559 --> 00:21:00.599 the government. The opposition coalition smelled 00:21:00.599 --> 00:21:02.900 blood in the water. They immediately brought 00:21:02.900 --> 00:21:05.099 a vote of no confidence against him in parliament 00:21:05.099 --> 00:21:09.200 in April 2022. Khan tried everything to stop 00:21:09.200 --> 00:21:12.190 it. He even tried to dissolve the assembly, a 00:21:12.190 --> 00:21:14.869 move the Supreme Court later ruled was unconstitutional. 00:21:15.809 --> 00:21:18.789 Finally, late at night on April 10th, the vote 00:21:18.789 --> 00:21:21.069 went through. And just like that, he became the 00:21:21.069 --> 00:21:23.269 first prime minister in Pakistan's entire history 00:21:23.269 --> 00:21:26.950 to be ousted by a vote of no confidence. But 00:21:26.950 --> 00:21:28.750 he didn't go quietly into the night, did he? 00:21:28.930 --> 00:21:32.089 No, that's not his style. Usually ousted PMs, 00:21:32.089 --> 00:21:34.990 they go into exile or they just sulk for a while. 00:21:35.430 --> 00:21:37.490 Khan went straight to the streets. Yeah. And 00:21:37.490 --> 00:21:39.250 he brought a prop with him to his first rally. 00:21:39.640 --> 00:21:42.660 A piece of paper. The now infamous cipher. This 00:21:42.660 --> 00:21:44.980 is where the story turns into a full -blown spy 00:21:44.980 --> 00:21:47.839 thriller. Khan stood on stage in front of hundreds 00:21:47.839 --> 00:21:50.380 of thousands of people, waved this document in 00:21:50.380 --> 00:21:52.660 the air, and he claimed it was a secret diplomatic 00:21:52.660 --> 00:21:55.099 cable, a cipher, from the Pakistani ambassador 00:21:55.099 --> 00:21:57.059 in Washington. And what did he say was in it? 00:21:57.180 --> 00:21:59.339 He claimed it was proof that the United States 00:21:59.339 --> 00:22:01.359 had conspired to have him removed from power. 00:22:01.900 --> 00:22:04.799 He even named a specific official, Donald Liu. 00:22:05.180 --> 00:22:06.700 from the U .S. State Department. What was the 00:22:06.700 --> 00:22:09.059 specific allegation? Khan alleged that Liu had 00:22:09.059 --> 00:22:11.920 told the Pakistani ambassador that if Khan remained 00:22:11.920 --> 00:22:15.279 in power, Pakistan would face isolation and consequences, 00:22:15.539 --> 00:22:18.859 but if he was removed, all would be forgiven. 00:22:19.319 --> 00:22:22.500 Wow. And was any of that true? Well, a leaked 00:22:22.500 --> 00:22:24.460 version of the cipher did eventually surface 00:22:24.460 --> 00:22:27.000 in the media, and is more nuanced, of course. 00:22:27.279 --> 00:22:29.799 It did confirm that U .S. officials were very 00:22:29.799 --> 00:22:32.480 unhappy with Khan's trip to Russia and his neutral 00:22:32.480 --> 00:22:35.059 stance on Ukraine. It implied relations would 00:22:35.059 --> 00:22:37.599 be very difficult if he stayed. But the U .S. 00:22:37.619 --> 00:22:39.720 has always vehemently denied that it orchestrated 00:22:39.720 --> 00:22:42.220 the no -confidence vote itself. But for con supporters, 00:22:42.480 --> 00:22:44.920 that nuance probably didn't matter much. Not 00:22:44.920 --> 00:22:46.900 at all. The narrative was simple and it was perfect. 00:22:47.440 --> 00:22:49.740 I stood up for Pakistan's sovereignty against 00:22:49.740 --> 00:22:52.299 a global superpower, and they conspired with 00:22:52.299 --> 00:22:54.400 our corrupt local politicians to take me out. 00:22:54.660 --> 00:22:57.420 It was explosive. It completely galvanized his 00:22:57.420 --> 00:22:59.920 support base. He was drawing massive crowds all 00:22:59.920 --> 00:23:02.019 over the country, demanding immediate new elections. 00:23:02.569 --> 00:23:04.470 The political temperature was rising very, very 00:23:04.470 --> 00:23:08.609 fast. And then, November 2022, the city of Wazirabad. 00:23:08.829 --> 00:23:12.529 The Long March. Khan was leading this huge convoy 00:23:12.529 --> 00:23:14.829 of supporters toward the capital, Islamabad. 00:23:15.190 --> 00:23:17.390 He was standing on top of a shipping container 00:23:17.390 --> 00:23:19.609 that had been converted into a makeshift stage, 00:23:19.930 --> 00:23:22.549 waving to the crowds. And then a gunman in the 00:23:22.549 --> 00:23:25.490 crowd opened fire with an automatic pistol. And 00:23:25.490 --> 00:23:28.029 he was hit. He was hit. He took several bullets 00:23:28.029 --> 00:23:30.410 to his leg. A supporter standing near him was 00:23:30.410 --> 00:23:33.420 killed. It was absolute chaos. Khan was rushed 00:23:33.420 --> 00:23:36.019 away to his cancer hospital for treatment. But 00:23:36.019 --> 00:23:38.500 even as he was being wheeled into surgery, he 00:23:38.500 --> 00:23:40.519 did something that crossed the ultimate red line 00:23:40.519 --> 00:23:42.920 in Pakistani politics. He pointed the finger 00:23:42.920 --> 00:23:45.599 publicly. He didn't just blame some lone wolf 00:23:45.599 --> 00:23:48.559 attacker. He recorded a video message and publicly 00:23:48.559 --> 00:23:51.200 accused three specific people of plotting his 00:23:51.200 --> 00:23:54.059 assassination. The current prime minister, Shabazz 00:23:54.059 --> 00:23:56.599 Sharif, the interior minister, and a serving 00:23:56.599 --> 00:23:59.039 major general in the ISI, a man named Faisal 00:23:59.039 --> 00:24:00.980 Nazir. Accusing a serving intelligence general 00:24:00.980 --> 00:24:03.240 of trying to kill you. It was a declaration of 00:24:03.240 --> 00:24:06.220 total war against the state establishment. The 00:24:06.220 --> 00:24:09.259 military furiously denied the allegation, but 00:24:09.259 --> 00:24:12.160 Khan just kept repeating it day after day. He 00:24:12.160 --> 00:24:14.799 completely broke the fear barrier. Suddenly, 00:24:14.980 --> 00:24:17.319 ordinary people started criticizing the army 00:24:17.319 --> 00:24:19.819 openly on social media in a way that had never 00:24:19.819 --> 00:24:22.440 ever happened before. And the establishment, 00:24:22.460 --> 00:24:25.140 I assume, fought back. We enter the phase you've 00:24:25.140 --> 00:24:27.759 labeled the legal onslaught. It was a blizzard. 00:24:28.140 --> 00:24:31.380 A relentless storm of litigation. Over 180 cases 00:24:31.380 --> 00:24:33.980 filed against him. Everything from terrorism 00:24:33.980 --> 00:24:36.740 and blasphemy to treason and corruption. Let's 00:24:36.740 --> 00:24:38.400 break down the big ones that actually landed 00:24:38.400 --> 00:24:41.819 him in jail. First, the Toshikana case. So Toshikana 00:24:41.819 --> 00:24:44.339 means treasure house. It's the state repository 00:24:44.339 --> 00:24:46.460 where gifts given to heads of state are kept. 00:24:46.779 --> 00:24:49.559 The accusation was that Khan had kept or sold 00:24:49.559 --> 00:24:52.240 a number of these gifts, including a very expensive 00:24:52.240 --> 00:24:54.960 graph watch given by the Saudi crown prince and 00:24:54.960 --> 00:24:57.140 had not properly declared the proceeds in his 00:24:57.140 --> 00:24:59.579 tax filings. And he was convicted on that. Yes. 00:25:00.039 --> 00:25:02.460 Convicted and sentenced to 14 years in prison. 00:25:02.890 --> 00:25:05.410 It was framed as a clear -cut case of corruption, 00:25:05.690 --> 00:25:07.690 though his supporters argue it was really just 00:25:07.690 --> 00:25:10.470 a technicality regarding asset declaration that 00:25:10.470 --> 00:25:12.509 was weaponized against him. Okay, then the Cipher 00:25:12.509 --> 00:25:15.390 case. They went after him for waving that paper. 00:25:15.529 --> 00:25:17.690 Exactly. For making the contents of that diplomatic 00:25:17.690 --> 00:25:20.349 cable public. He was tried under the Official 00:25:20.349 --> 00:25:22.950 Secrets Act and sentenced to 10 years for leaking 00:25:22.950 --> 00:25:26.450 state secrets. Now, that conviction was later 00:25:26.450 --> 00:25:29.349 overturned by a high court, but it served its 00:25:29.349 --> 00:25:31.349 purpose of keeping him locked up during a critical 00:25:31.349 --> 00:25:33.869 period. But the one case that seemed to shock 00:25:33.869 --> 00:25:37.869 even his critics was the Eidat case. This was 00:25:37.869 --> 00:25:40.309 the most personal and, to many, the most bizarre. 00:25:40.869 --> 00:25:43.710 The court sentenced both Khan and his wife, Bushra 00:25:43.710 --> 00:25:46.309 Bibi, to seven years in prison because it ruled 00:25:46.309 --> 00:25:48.750 that their marriage was un -Islamic and therefore 00:25:48.750 --> 00:25:51.150 illegal. How can a marriage be illegal in that 00:25:51.150 --> 00:25:53.990 context? It all revolved around a religious concept 00:25:53.990 --> 00:25:56.900 called Eidat. which is a mandatory waiting period 00:25:56.900 --> 00:25:59.980 in Islam that a woman must observe after a divorce 00:25:59.980 --> 00:26:02.779 or the death of her husband before she can remarry. 00:26:03.319 --> 00:26:06.799 The accusation brought by Bushra Bibi's ex -husband 00:26:06.799 --> 00:26:09.259 was that they got married before her waiting 00:26:09.259 --> 00:26:11.700 period was officially over. To drag something 00:26:11.700 --> 00:26:15.059 so private, so religious into a criminal court. 00:26:15.339 --> 00:26:18.380 It was widely seen, even by people who dislike 00:26:18.380 --> 00:26:22.160 Khan, as a form of moral lawfare, a vindictive 00:26:22.160 --> 00:26:25.170 attempt to humiliate him and his wife. But like 00:26:25.170 --> 00:26:27.329 many of the other moves against him, it arguably 00:26:27.329 --> 00:26:29.789 backfired. It made him look even more like a 00:26:29.789 --> 00:26:32.230 victim of a personal vendetta. And amidst all 00:26:32.230 --> 00:26:34.769 this legal drama, we have the explosion of May 00:26:34.769 --> 00:26:38.450 9th, 2023. This feels like the moment of no return. 00:26:38.730 --> 00:26:41.569 May 9th was the absolute breaking point. Khan 00:26:41.569 --> 00:26:43.869 had gone to the Islamabad High Court for a bail 00:26:43.869 --> 00:26:46.609 hearing in one of his cases. Paramilitary rangers 00:26:46.609 --> 00:26:48.549 smashed a window of the courthouse, dragged him 00:26:48.549 --> 00:26:50.750 out, and threw him into an armored vehicle. It 00:26:50.750 --> 00:26:52.690 was a very violent, very public arrest. And the 00:26:52.690 --> 00:26:55.160 country burned. His supporters didn't just protest. 00:26:55.420 --> 00:26:59.160 They rioted. And for the first time, they directly 00:26:59.160 --> 00:27:02.019 targeted the military. They stormed the Corps 00:27:02.019 --> 00:27:04.859 commander's house in Lahore, a historic building 00:27:04.859 --> 00:27:08.079 called Jinnah House, and they looted it and set 00:27:08.079 --> 00:27:10.799 it on fire. They attacked the gates of the general 00:27:10.799 --> 00:27:13.920 headquarters, the GHQ, in Rawalpindi. This was 00:27:13.920 --> 00:27:16.079 the public attacking the holies of the state. 00:27:16.220 --> 00:27:18.329 It was a mutiny. And the state's reaction was 00:27:18.329 --> 00:27:20.750 absolutely ruthless. They launched a massive 00:27:20.750 --> 00:27:23.309 crackdown. They used facial recognition technology 00:27:23.309 --> 00:27:26.509 to round up thousands of supporters. They arrested 00:27:26.509 --> 00:27:28.809 the entire senior leadership of Khan's party. 00:27:28.970 --> 00:27:31.710 They put them in jail and basically told them, 00:27:31.730 --> 00:27:34.009 you do not get out until you hold a press conference, 00:27:34.210 --> 00:27:37.109 denounce May 9th and quit the party. A systematic 00:27:37.109 --> 00:27:39.410 dismantling of his political machine. Totally. 00:27:39.720 --> 00:27:41.619 They stripped the party of its election symbol, 00:27:41.720 --> 00:27:44.339 the iconic cricket bat. They banned Khan's name 00:27:44.339 --> 00:27:46.200 and his image from being mentioned on television. 00:27:46.400 --> 00:27:48.279 They essentially tried to erase him from public 00:27:48.279 --> 00:27:50.720 life. And yet we get to the general election 00:27:50.720 --> 00:27:53.960 of February 2024. And this is the plot twist 00:27:53.960 --> 00:27:56.859 that absolutely no one saw coming. The AI election. 00:27:57.200 --> 00:28:00.670 It was incredible. So Khan is in jail. His party 00:28:00.670 --> 00:28:02.970 is shattered. Its leaders are in hiding or have 00:28:02.970 --> 00:28:05.670 quit. His candidates are barred from using the 00:28:05.670 --> 00:28:08.130 party name, and they're forced to run as independents 00:28:08.130 --> 00:28:10.789 with random confusing symbols like brinjals and 00:28:10.789 --> 00:28:13.710 tongs and kettles. So how on earth did they campaign? 00:28:14.150 --> 00:28:16.710 Through technology. Khan would pass handwritten 00:28:16.710 --> 00:28:18.910 notes to his lawyers from his jail cell. The 00:28:18.910 --> 00:28:20.750 party's social media team would take those notes, 00:28:20.890 --> 00:28:23.470 feed them into an AI voice generator that had 00:28:23.470 --> 00:28:26.529 been trained on Khan's speech patterns. And they 00:28:26.529 --> 00:28:28.809 would create these AI -generated audio speeches. 00:28:29.130 --> 00:28:32.150 That is some real cyberpunk -level politics. 00:28:32.450 --> 00:28:35.450 The leader is in a dungeon, but his AI avatar 00:28:35.450 --> 00:28:37.990 is out there rallying the masses on the internet. 00:28:38.250 --> 00:28:40.369 And they blasted these speeches out on YouTube, 00:28:40.410 --> 00:28:43.589 on TikTok, through virtual rallies. And it worked. 00:28:43.769 --> 00:28:45.730 The establishment thought the game was over. 00:28:45.829 --> 00:28:48.190 They thought they had crushed him. But on election 00:28:48.190 --> 00:28:50.289 night, as the results slowly started to trickle 00:28:50.289 --> 00:28:53.210 in, the shock was palpable. The independent candidates 00:28:53.210 --> 00:28:56.250 backed by Imran Khan. They were winning. They 00:28:56.250 --> 00:28:58.450 were beating the big established parties. They 00:28:58.450 --> 00:29:00.329 won the most seats of any single group in the 00:29:00.329 --> 00:29:03.289 country. It was a massive, stunning shock to 00:29:03.289 --> 00:29:05.829 the system. It proved that despite the year -long 00:29:05.829 --> 00:29:08.269 crackdown, despite the incarceration, despite 00:29:08.269 --> 00:29:11.049 the media blackout, his popularity was not only 00:29:11.049 --> 00:29:14.450 intact, it was arguably stronger than ever. But 00:29:14.450 --> 00:29:16.509 they didn't end up forming the government. No. 00:29:16.690 --> 00:29:19.269 The math of a parliamentary system didn't work 00:29:19.269 --> 00:29:21.470 out. Because they were all officially independent, 00:29:21.769 --> 00:29:24.819 they were vulnerable to being picked off. The 00:29:24.819 --> 00:29:27.099 other two big parties, the PMLN of the Sharifs 00:29:27.099 --> 00:29:29.480 and the PPP of the Bhuttos, who had been bitter 00:29:29.480 --> 00:29:32.440 rivals for decades, they quickly formed a coalition 00:29:32.440 --> 00:29:35.039 government specifically to keep Khan's supporters 00:29:35.039 --> 00:29:38.660 out of power. But the moral victory was undeniable. 00:29:39.220 --> 00:29:42.240 So that brings us to today. Imran Khan, prisoner 00:29:42.240 --> 00:29:45.549 No. 1, 804. He's being held in a small cell. 00:29:45.769 --> 00:29:47.710 The government releases photos saying he has 00:29:47.710 --> 00:29:50.269 an air cooler and an exercise bike. He sends 00:29:50.269 --> 00:29:52.109 messages out through his lawyers that he's being 00:29:52.109 --> 00:29:54.170 held in a death cell in solitary confinement. 00:29:54.390 --> 00:29:56.829 But either way he is still the undeniable center 00:29:56.829 --> 00:29:59.789 of gravity of Pakistani politics. It is a complete 00:29:59.789 --> 00:30:02.789 stalemate. The government can't release him because 00:30:02.789 --> 00:30:04.890 they're terrified he would sweep any new election. 00:30:05.759 --> 00:30:07.539 But they can't seem to keep him there forever 00:30:07.539 --> 00:30:10.880 because the constant political instability is 00:30:10.880 --> 00:30:13.660 just wrecking an already fragile economy. It 00:30:13.660 --> 00:30:15.559 really makes you wonder what the endgame here 00:30:15.559 --> 00:30:18.539 could possibly be. It does. And that brings me 00:30:18.539 --> 00:30:20.180 to the provocative thought I want to leave you 00:30:20.180 --> 00:30:23.920 with. In the game of Pakistani politics, the 00:30:23.920 --> 00:30:27.220 one ironclad rule has always been the road to 00:30:27.220 --> 00:30:29.480 power always passes through army headquarters. 00:30:30.250 --> 00:30:33.150 Khan took that road to get into power. But now 00:30:33.150 --> 00:30:35.369 he's trying to dynamite that road and build a 00:30:35.369 --> 00:30:37.529 new one directly through the people. Right. You 00:30:37.529 --> 00:30:39.109 see that he's been nominated for the Nobel Peace 00:30:39.109 --> 00:30:42.309 Prize again for 2025. He even tried to run for 00:30:42.309 --> 00:30:44.410 the post of chancellor of Oxford University from 00:30:44.410 --> 00:30:47.089 his jail cell. He's constantly finding ways to 00:30:47.089 --> 00:30:49.250 keep himself relevant on the global stage. So 00:30:49.250 --> 00:30:52.609 the question is. The question is, has Imran Khan. 00:30:53.049 --> 00:30:55.049 actually change the fundamental rules of the 00:30:55.049 --> 00:30:57.950 game by mobilizing the public against the very 00:30:57.950 --> 00:31:00.670 establishment that once sponsored him? Or is 00:31:00.670 --> 00:31:02.869 he just another powerful player in this brutal 00:31:02.869 --> 00:31:05.569 cycle who challenged the system and will eventually 00:31:05.569 --> 00:31:08.230 be discarded by it? Is he a Nelson Mandela figure 00:31:08.230 --> 00:31:10.170 for his supporters just waiting for his long 00:31:10.170 --> 00:31:13.170 walk to freedom? Or is this a classic Greek tragedy 00:31:13.170 --> 00:31:16.269 where the hero's own hubris leads to his permanent, 00:31:16.390 --> 00:31:19.029 inevitable fall? That is the billion -dollar 00:31:19.029 --> 00:31:21.720 question. And for now, the answer is locked inside 00:31:21.720 --> 00:31:25.480 Selenium 804 in Adiela Jail. A truly incredible 00:31:25.480 --> 00:31:28.339 story of ambition, resilience, and the brutal 00:31:28.339 --> 00:31:31.039 reality of power. Thanks for joining us on this 00:31:31.039 --> 00:31:33.279 deep dive into the life of Imran Khan. Thank 00:31:33.279 --> 00:31:34.380 you. We'll catch you on the next one.