Where is Imran Khan?

We all know that former prime minister Imran Khan has been in jail since May 2023 but the question still is: where is Imran Khan? And one can ask that question because, in a lot of ways, it now seems to be business as usual for many people in his party, in particular among the senior leadership.

Of course, this is not to say that his popularity among his supporters would have eroded over the past two years -- it may have well grown -- but the point being made is that with every passing day, he is figuring less and less in public discourse and even on social and digital media, where his party and its supporters dominate and vastly outnumber those from other parties or non-supporters.

As for his party, its legislators are now attending parliamentary sessions regularly and are also part of National Assembly and Senate committee meetings. In other words, in a possibly welcome change, the PTI is playing a healthy role inside parliament -- that of being the opposition. What is healthy and welcome about this is that the opposition is being carried out inside parliament and not on the streets, which was tried several times but failed when it mattered most.

As for the PTI government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur, seems to have finally settled down to performing his actual role, that of governing and running the province, rather than being a rabble-rouser and public roadside agitator.

Then there's the ban on Twitter/X, which is now over a year old and while many people use the social media platform using a VPN, the number of users from Pakistan has halved from around four million to two million. Of course, heads of all political parties, the head of the government, ministers, ministers of state, SAPMs, advisers to the prime minister, and various state institutions all seem to be using the social media platform as if nothing ever happened.

But the ban has been kept in place for a reason -- because the former prime minister's party and its followers dominate it with their narrative and since the PML-N (or the PPP, for that matter) don't have an effective answer to that narrative or are in any way able to rebut it, it was deemed best to ban it. That however goes against the government's self-proclaimed support for a vision for what it calls 'Digital Pakistan' which envisages digital technology permeating all facets of life for Pakistanis and driving the economy forward along with making the functioning of government transparent, and so on.

Bans, of course, run counter to anything even remotely linked to transparency because they show a mindset that isn't willing to adapt to change, one that would rather not have to deal with the reality and truths, and which believes that it can wish criticism and dissent away by simply prohibiting platforms that are used to broadcast and relay it.

However, from a purely practical point of view, the government will feel that the ban on X has had some benefit at least in the short term because Imran Khan's presence has diminished in public discourse. This has been caused not only by the ban but also his being in jail for almost two years and not having his picture, video or audio shown on television channels. On social media, he can be seen and heard, and hence the ban on X/Twitter.

The questions that come as a consequence of him being increasingly pushed out of public discourse are not only 'Where is Imran Khan?'. They also include, perhaps more importantly, 'What next?', and 'Does the government think that he can be kept in detention forever?'. Or: 'Does the government think that Imran Khan will break under detention and agree to leave the country and live with his children in the UK?' (if that indeed is the plan, and there has been indication from any quarter as such that it is).

As for the PTI, it's good to see that it has finally gotten out of its so-called 'container' politics and has taken to parliament as a political opposition should. But it has to decide when its founder is released: what will it plan on doing? Will it continue on the path of playing the role of a parliamentary opposition or will it again come out on the streets and demand that it be installed back in power and that the 2024 election was a complete and unacceptable farce? Will it continue to dwell in the past and on the Form 45 vs Form 47 debate, or will it move forward and wait till the next general election is held and seek to become re-elected through that as its longer-term goal?

Most importantly, will it have realised that when it comes to advocating and struggling for democracy, the path towards greater democracy is not through friendship with the establishment but seeking common ground with other political parties, even if they are your opponents?

The writer is a journalist based in Karachi. He tweets/posts @omar_quraishi and can be reached at: omarrquraishi@gmail.com