Hello and welcome to the Intelligence from the Economist. I'm Jason Polner.

And I'm Aure Ogunbih. Every weekday we provide a fresh perspective on the events shaping your world.

The ruling party in Poland has passed a law that looks to be a way to root out malign Russian influence in the country's politics.

But many polls and eurocrats reckon the party's real intent is to stifle opposition candidates ahead of an election later this year.

And Japan's aging society means that they're having more and more funerals. Traditionally, people have opted for burying cremated ashes.

But as gravesites run out of space, a more creative option is surging in popularity.

But first.

For years, Imran Khan, a former prime minister of Pakistan and a legendary cricketer, has rarely been out of the country's news.

Until now.

Reports suggest that military leaders who orchestrate Pakistan's politics have ordered the local media to end all coverage of Mr Khan.

And yet he is still the country's most newsworthy figure.

More than once, his supporters have marched on Islamabad protesting his ousting from power in 2022.

He's been shot while out campaigning.

In the last month, he's been arrested, imprisoned and released by a court order.

Mr Khan thinks the military is out to get him.

I think the whole charade of military courts is to imprison me in the end.

But in attempting to silence him, Pakistan's military leaders are once again underlining their own longstanding, destructive political incompetence.

This apparent media blackout, in terms of reporting on Imran Khan, allegedly at the direct command of the army, is absolutely illustrative.

Of its habitual intervention into Pakistani politics.

James Astor is the economist, Asia editor.

Pakistan should be heading towards a parliamentary election, general election in a few months' time.

But that schedule and actually the politics of the whole country have been tipped upside down by a major political crisis involving the arrest of Imran Khan.

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