Imran Khan’s Ousting and the Crisis of Pakistan’s Military Regime

The Intercept Briefing

The Intercept

Politics, Unknown, Daily News, History, News

4.8 • 6.3K Ratings

🗓️ 31 May 2023

⏱️ 53 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

For the past few weeks, former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has been at the center of an unprecedented political crisis. In the lead-up to new elections, Khan was arrested and released on corruption charges intended to keep him out of his office. Meanwhile, his supporters have been facing off against the military, as the armed forces crack down on his political party in a campaign aimed at excluding them from political life. The conflict drives at the heart of the most important issue in Pakistani politics: the reality of military rule. This week on Intercepted, Jeremy Scahill and Murtaza Hussain are joined by Omar Waraich — a journalist, human rights advocate, and former head of South Asia for Amnesty International. Waraich provides the historical context, explains the Pakistani military’s role in the country, and where U.S. relations with Pakistan stand.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	This is intercepted.
0:30.0	Welcome to Intercepted, I'm Jeremy Scayhill, and I'm Murtazo Sayin.
0:46.0	Pakistan is the world's fifth largest country by population and one of the small number of
0:50.7	countries in the world armed with nuclear weapons.
0:54.0	Today, while the world's attention is focused on Ukraine, this country stands on the brink
0:59.2	of a political crisis unlike any it is seen in the past five decades.
1:04.2	Supporters of Pakistan's populist former Prime Minister Imran Khan are today being arrested,
1:09.5	tortured and disappeared, and massed by the Pakistani military, long the secret power
1:14.8	behind the throne of the nation's politics.
1:17.2	As you see from the footage, they came out and drove and then grabbed Imran Khan, put him
1:22.4	in a car and have driven him off to the National Accountability Bureau.
1:27.2	Fingering against the arrest of Imran Khan has turned into violent confrontations with security
1:31.2	forces.
1:33.2	His Pakistani Derikin Safbati says several people have been killed and hundreds wounded.
1:41.2	Arriving at court amidst tight security and a charged atmosphere in Iran Khan, Pakistan's
1:47.6	former Prime Minister faces dozens of legal cases that dismisses them as politically motivated.
1:54.6	Pakistan today stands at the precipice of a political conflict that could rock the entire
1:59.1	region and potentially the world.
2:02.6	We're now joined by Omar Warayj.
2:04.8	Omar is a journalist and human rights advocate.
2:08.0	He's a former head of South Asia for Abnist to International and is written on the region
2:12.5	for publications including Time Magazine, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The Washington Post
	...

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