Ousted Paskitani Prime Minister Imran Kahn is creating a massive protest movement in Islamabad, threatening its stability. Khan is a Pashtun. The Taliban are dominated and controlled by Pashtun.
Khan, who came to power in 2018, was ousted on April 10th, the only Pakistani Prime Minister ever deposed by a no confidence vote. Sources say he lost the backing of the military when he hesitated to endorse Lt Gen Nadeem Anjum as the ISI spy agency chief. He finally agreed but it soured his relationship there, the beginning of the end.
Since then he as “screamed vengeance.” He has given a series of speeches and urged protesters in Peshawar to channel anger against the government of new Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. Protest began near the border with Afghanistan, moving to speeches, protests, and riots in Islamabad.
Internet service has been suspended in the area, and mainstream media is speculating that the military will be called in to quell the riots.
PB contributor George McMillan provided a more indepth analysis.
Imran Khan, a Pashtun, is drawing on the Pashtuns across the border from Peshawar in Afghanistan. The Taliban is dominated by the Pashtuns, who are looking to expand their newly energized and consolidated caliphate (thanks, Joe Biden…).
The Pashtuns are the third largest population in Pakistan. The Punjabs are the largest, followed by the Sindh.
A Pashtun uprising could draw large numbers of Afghani Taliban across the border, a de facto invasion, that would be nearly unstoppable.
McMillan and others project that if hostilities continue along this this could break apart
A news source from New Dehli is reporting that Imran Khan is threatening to break Pakistian into three parts. The the Punjab area on the east side of the Indus River, Sindh area below that and the Pashtuns and the Baluches on the west side of the indus.
The rest of the world should be concerned – Pakistan is a nuclear power.
https://www.ft.com/content/4021a65c-99ab-4b53-a357-c0659a8d035c
https://therecord.media/pakistan-internet-shutdown-protests-imran-khan/