Link to the Article – https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/11/28/pakistan-court-orders-ex-pm-imran-khans-open-trial-inside-jail-premises
Summary – Imran Khan, the former prime minister of Pakistan from 2018 to 2022, is being taken to trial for allegedly leaking state secrets. The case is being held in jail in a “public trial” but he is upset because he says no trial in a jail can be public and free for everyone to see. Khan believes that this is a conspiracy hatched by his political opponents and the Pakistani military in collusion with the US because the case is built upon a cypher sent by a former Pakistani ambassador to the United States. Khan is facing many charges which he says are a ploy by the government and the military to keep him out of the crucial general elections, scheduled on February 8. The US and Pakistani government deny both of these accusations.
Analysis – I find it hard to believe that the United States would get involved in the politics of Pakistan, especially trying to sabotage a possible Prime Minister from reclaiming his office. Of course we care about the leadership in Pakistan and we may even have an opinion on Imran Khan as a leader but there are not many situations that I think we would find serious enough that we felt the need to step in and interfere. I feel as though Imran and his team are throwing accusations at everyone else for everything they can think of to try and draw attention away from what is really happening here. The Prime Minister of a major country has been caught releasing information that he shouldn’t have and he’s desperately trying to find a way out of it. I do think it’s weird that Pakistan is trying to make the trial less public though, by having it in a jail you are taking away some publicity. There may be security concerns or any number of things that went into this decision that I am not aware of, but it does seem like a bit of an attempt to silence Khan.
Connection to class – This connects to the idea of Liberal Theory. The United States and Pakistan are working together because we are democratic, creating peace with each other because of our common ideas. We see Pakistan as an ally even though they are located in a dangerous area because they are democratic and we have similar views to them. Different traditions and culture but our democracy is a big trait we have in common so we are supporting them in their endeavors.