The government and the military establishment (ME) have decided to label Imran Khan a “fitna” (conspiratorial, divisive, violent). The majority of anti-Khan individuals view him as obstinate, narcissistic, and egotistical, rendering him unfit for any significant political position. Not long before he became state leader in 2018, and during his residency as PM, Khan’s jokes and manner of speaking were either seen as being ‘splendid’ and ‘charming’ by his allies, or were essentially parodied by his rivals.
However, nuclear physicist and author Pervez Hoodbhoy wrote in Dawn in 2015, three years before Khan became PM, that Khan was actually “dangerous.” Hoodbhoy came very close to yelling at him as well. Of course, Khan’s supporters severely criticized Hoodbhoy. However, almost ten years after Hoodbhoy’s article, a lot more people are concerned about Khan’s mental and emotional state today. However, his devoted followers still consider him to be a “master strategist.”
In fact, he has cleverly manipulated the widespread support he enjoys in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and in urban and peri-urban areas of central Punjab to stay in the picture despite being in jail. Additionally, he has skillfully utilized the courts to derail the ME’s plans to completely neutralize him politically.
His party still has a large social media following. However, all of this has only resulted in modest victories for him. In the grand scheme of things, it has more been about him expanding the hole he has been in since his arrest last year.
Over the past few years, Imran Khan’s antics have been motivated by pressure, paranoia, and a fear of losing influence. In a situation in which he is facing a series of serious charges and his party, outside of social media, is in complete disarray, clever little schemes to frustrate his opponents are not sound political strategies. His increasingly untenable position is a product of his own making and appears to be leaving him with no way back. Likewise, the ongoing ME appears to be never going to budge on show him a thing or two for disparaging it.
His “plan” is to continue demonizing the ME on his social media platforms in an effort to annoy it and draw its attention to the point where it will agree to speak with him. Is it a fantasy? Utopian? or simply irate? Khan isn’t idiotic. However, like the majority of populists of today, he considers conventional political strategies beneath his “popular” and charismatic stature.
Therefore, rather than devising practical strategies to engage in a conversation with his civilian adversaries that is more meaningful and to attempt to present a new and improved version of himself to a vengeful ME, he has frequently chosen to employ obscene plans with outcomes that, in his head, do not appear to be very plausible.
For instance, the majority of political commentators maintain that Khan appeared to be persuaded that the riots that occurred last year, which were orchestrated by his party and included attacks on military property, would precipitate a rebellion against the current military chief and see pro-Khan generals free him from jail. Nothing of the kind took place.
The tentative plan to occupy the nation’s capital from last week was the same. Khan accepted that this would raise the chance of a significant global highest point being dropped, which would compel the public authority and the ME to connect with him and solicitation him to pull back. The strategy failed.
So, has Khan lost his sense of smell and taste? Perhaps. However, politicians, particularly those who have enjoyed a high degree of adulation and influence, frequently experience this malaise. David P. Barash, an American psychologist, wrote in 2019 that political leaders can frequently act out of rage, despair, stubbornness, retaliation, pride, and dogmatic conviction, particularly when threatened. Additionally, in some instances, an irrational act, even one that results in death, may appear justified to them.
While in his dugout during the last long stretches of The Second Great War, Adolf Hitler requested what he trusted would be the complete obliteration of Germany, since he felt that its kin had bombed him. “Sometimes it is necessary to close one’s eyes and jump off the Kiyomizu Temple [a renowned suicide spot in Japan],” the Japanese defense minister said in 1941 when he ordered an attack on the US navy at Pearl Harbor.
A political leader can be devastated by pressure, paranoia, and the fear of losing power and influence. Assuming he has gathered impact and backing in overflow yet starts to feel that he is near losing it, he might lose his course and start to plot a restoration through nonsensical means.
J. D. Mayer, a psychologist, wrote in a 1993 study that this is the point at which a political leader becomes “dangerous.” This was referred to as the “Dangerous Leader Disorder” by him. The issue’s side effects include: a grandiose sense of national entitlement, intolerance of criticism, and indifference to the suffering and devaluation of others.
The signs of DLD are evident in a number of contemporary populist leaders. As of late, when Khan and his mouthpieces were egging on his allies to encounter equipped military soldiers posted in Islamabad, a few political experts and observers bemoaned that Khan was dealing with his allies like conciliatory sheep, since he really wanted a few dead bodies to come down on the ME.
It is now well known that Khan does not respond well to criticism and believes he is entitled to become PM again and lead the country in any way he chooses, even while incarcerated. Hoodbhoy anticipated this. In point of fact, others assert that they had warned the previous three ME leaderships against investing in a man who lacked knowledge of “proper politics,” was impulsive, egotistical, and superstitious, and would go to any lengths to regain his position if it were taken away from him.
His position was not actually eliminated. He himself made it clear by acting irrationally on numerous occasions. The ME began to perceive him as a threat to the nation’s foreign policy and economic interests. On the other hand, his civilian adversaries claim that he was conspiring with a few high-ranking military officers and judges to maintain power by completely eliminating opposition, making Pakistan a one-party state, and turning the military into his personal police force.
One facet of his “madness” was that. The opposite side arose when he was naturally removed in 2022, and afterward put in prison on different charges. This is the point at which Mayer’s DLD sincerely kicked in. Additionally, it is diminishing any remaining chance of him becoming PM again.
The government and the military establishment (ME) have decided to label Imran Khan a “fitna” (conspiratorial, divisive, violent). The majority of anti-Khan individuals view him as obstinate, narcissistic, and egotistical, rendering him unfit for any significant political position. Not long before he became state leader in 2018, and during his residency as PM, Khan’s jokes and manner of speaking were either seen as being ‘splendid’ and ‘charming’ by his allies, or were essentially parodied by his rivals.
However, nuclear physicist and author Pervez Hoodbhoy wrote in Dawn in 2015, three years before Khan became PM, that Khan was actually “dangerous.” Hoodbhoy came very close to yelling at him as well. Of course, Khan’s supporters severely criticized Hoodbhoy. However, almost ten years after Hoodbhoy’s article, a lot more people are concerned about Khan’s mental and emotional state today. However, his devoted followers still consider him to be a “master strategist.”
In fact, he has cleverly manipulated the widespread support he enjoys in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and in urban and peri-urban areas of central Punjab to stay in the picture despite being in jail. Additionally, he has skillfully utilized the courts to derail the ME’s plans to completely neutralize him politically.
His party still has a large social media following. However, all of this has only resulted in modest victories for him. In the grand scheme of things, it has more been about him expanding the hole he has been in since his arrest last year.
Over the past few years, Imran Khan’s antics have been motivated by pressure, paranoia, and a fear of losing influence. In a situation in which he is facing a series of serious charges and his party, outside of social media, is in complete disarray, clever little schemes to frustrate his opponents are not sound political strategies. His increasingly untenable position is a product of his own making and appears to be leaving him with no way back. Likewise, the ongoing ME appears to be never going to budge on show him a thing or two for disparaging it.
His “plan” is to continue demonizing the ME on his social media platforms in an effort to annoy it and draw its attention to the point where it will agree to speak with him. Is it a fantasy? Utopian? or simply irate? Khan isn’t idiotic. However, like the majority of populists of today, he considers conventional political strategies beneath his “popular” and charismatic stature.
Therefore, rather than devising practical strategies to engage in a conversation with his civilian adversaries that is more meaningful and to attempt to present a new and improved version of himself to a vengeful ME, he has frequently chosen to employ obscene plans with outcomes that, in his head, do not appear to be very plausible.
For instance, the majority of political commentators maintain that Khan appeared to be persuaded that the riots that occurred last year, which were orchestrated by his party and included attacks on military property, would precipitate a rebellion against the current military chief and see pro-Khan generals free him from jail. Nothing of the kind took place.
The tentative plan to occupy the nation’s capital from last week was the same. Khan accepted that this would raise the chance of a significant global highest point being dropped, which would compel the public authority and the ME to connect with him and solicitation him to pull back. The strategy failed.
So, has Khan lost his sense of smell and taste? Perhaps. However, politicians, particularly those who have enjoyed a high degree of adulation and influence, frequently experience this malaise. David P. Barash, an American psychologist, wrote in 2019 that political leaders can frequently act out of rage, despair, stubbornness, retaliation, pride, and dogmatic conviction, particularly when threatened. Additionally, in some instances, an irrational act, even one that results in death, may appear justified to them.
While in his dugout during the last long stretches of The Second Great War, Adolf Hitler requested what he trusted would be the complete obliteration of Germany, since he felt that its kin had bombed him. “Sometimes it is necessary to close one’s eyes and jump off the Kiyomizu Temple [a renowned suicide spot in Japan],” the Japanese defense minister said in 1941 when he ordered an attack on the US navy at Pearl Harbor.
A political leader can be devastated by pressure, paranoia, and the fear of losing power and influence. Assuming he has gathered impact and backing in overflow yet starts to feel that he is near losing it, he might lose his course and start to plot a restoration through nonsensical means.
J. D. Mayer, a psychologist, wrote in a 1993 study that this is the point at which a political leader becomes “dangerous.” This was referred to as the “Dangerous Leader Disorder” by him. The issue’s side effects include: a grandiose sense of national entitlement, intolerance of criticism, and indifference to the suffering and devaluation of others.
The signs of DLD are evident in a number of contemporary populist leaders. As of late, when Khan and his mouthpieces were egging on his allies to encounter equipped military soldiers posted in Islamabad, a few political experts and observers bemoaned that Khan was dealing with his allies like conciliatory sheep, since he really wanted a few dead bodies to come down on the ME.
It is now well known that Khan does not respond well to criticism and believes he is entitled to become PM again and lead the country in any way he chooses, even while incarcerated. Hoodbhoy anticipated this. In point of fact, others assert that they had warned the previous three ME leaderships against investing in a man who lacked knowledge of “proper politics,” was impulsive, egotistical, and superstitious, and would go to any lengths to regain his position if it were taken away from him.
His position was not actually eliminated. He himself made it clear by acting irrationally on numerous occasions. The ME began to perceive him as a threat to the nation’s foreign policy and economic interests. On the other hand, his civilian adversaries claim that he was conspiring with a few high-ranking military officers and judges to maintain power by completely eliminating opposition, making Pakistan a one-party state, and turning the military into his personal police force.
One facet of his “madness” was that. The opposite side arose when he was naturally removed in 2022, and afterward put in prison on different charges. This is the point at which Mayer’s DLD sincerely kicked in. Additionally, it is diminishing any remaining chance of him becoming PM again.
