Will Pakistan become a pariah state?

Azeem Ibrahim | 19th April 2023 | Comment, Uncategorised
Imran Khan, Prime Minister of Pakistan speaking in the Special Address by Imran Khan, Prime Minister of Pakistan session at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2020 in Davos-Klosters, Switzerland, 22 January. Congress Centre - Plenary. Copyright by World Economic Forum / Valeriano Di Domenico
Imran Khan, Prime Minister of Pakistan speaking in the Special Address by Imran Khan, Prime Minister of Pakistan session at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2020 in Davos-Klosters, Switzerland, 22 January. Congress Centre - Plenary. Copyright by World Economic Forum / Valeriano Di Domenico

With the military running out of options, could the assassination of Imran Khan be on the cards?

Rumour swirls in Pakistan and among the Pakistani diaspora. The rumour concerns the de facto leader of the opposition, Imran Khan. Khan was prime minister of Pakistan before his removal from office in 2022. The rumours concern the possibility of Khan’s coming assassination.

This may seem strange: Khan is a heroic sportsman, a national figure. Why would he be killed? The possible reason lies in Pakistan’s politics, and the hold the army still has over the government of the country.

Ever since his ouster, Khan has been on a roll. He has denounced the country’s politicians as corrupt and the military as a malign force. He has called for fresh elections. And he has toured the country, giving barn-burning speeches in a populist manner unknown to the rest of Pakistan’s political class, calling for major reform.

And he has been met with violence, bans, and censorship wherever he has gone.

Khan’s supporters charge that the army is behind all this: the torture and arrest of Khan’s people, an attack on Khan’s person with a gun which left the politician unable to walk, and repeated attempts to jail Khan for alleged corruption (corruption his supporters say is fabricated).

Faced with the prospect of a major shake-up in Pakistan’s elected politics, therefore, they argue that army has decided to do everything it can to remove Khan from the stage. Now that these gambits have failed, and …

Subscribe to The Mace

Join the member community shaping British politics and stay ahead of what's really happening in the world of politics and public affairs, with expert analysis, breaking news, and insider insights from Westminster and Brussels. The Mace is the leading news source and resource for the government affairs industry, offering required reading and lobby intelligence for professionals.

To see what you are missing out on by not subscribing to The Mace, click here to download our full membership info-pack. This includes having no paywall on op-ed content or profiles/interviews, allowing professional profiles to be read with maximum impact and visibility by government, special advisers, MPs, peers, civil servants, and policy and political decision-makers.



The continuing political Whydunnit of the murder of Ann Widdecombe

Mace Magazine | July 23, 2026

The strangely guilty way that the media, and some politicians have reacted to Widdecombe’s shocking death shows the double standards that can operate when a politician of the

What James Purnell’s return to No 10, along with the new cabinet, reveals about Burnham’s Labour network

Mark Leftly | July 21, 2026

James Purnell’s return to frontline politics is more than a nostalgic Blair-Brown era reunion. As Andy Burnham builds his Downing Street operation, public affairs professionals will need to

Ann Widdecombe Devon hamlet murder mystery continues as tributes make her a political saint

William Cash | July 16, 2026

The death of Ann Widdecombe raises serious questions about the security of high-profile politicians. The shocking episode seems out of Midsomer Murders with the former Tory minister being turned into

The Families Left Out of the Nicotine Policy Debate

Beatriz Santos | July 15, 2026

Beatriz Santos argues that both scientific evidence and lived experience should remain the foundation of policymaking, especially for understanding how people succeed in quitting cigarettes.

Olly Robbins shows Whitehall is prepared to hold Westminster to account

Lucy Carrier-Pilkington | July 14, 2026

The former head of the Foreign Office is now taking legal action, putting the government's treatment of senior civil servants under fresh scrutiny.

Kemi is right to lift the white, Oxbridge fatwa and purge the Conservative party of non-Tories

William Cash | July 10, 2026

Overhauling the Tory candidates list is a shrewd political move which will allow her to put her own stamp on the party, and more importantly, shape its future,

Burnham is right: The future lies with devolution

Gill Morris | July 1, 2026

After Andy Burnham's first major speech since the resignation, devolution has been the word on everyone's lips - Gill Morris explains why it's the way forward.

Caroline Simpson: Why devolution needs this technocrat

Lucy Carrier-Pilkington | July 1, 2026

Amid the frenzy over who Burnham will choose as his chancellor, his shrewd appointment of Caroline Simpson to lead No. 10 North has been overlooked.

UK’s £4.7 billion Defence black hole: Dan Jarvis is inheriting a defence settlement Britain can no longer afford

Mace Magazine | July 1, 2026

Britain cannot afford to fall behind its NATO allies on defence spending, writes Jasset Harlech.

CPAC GB 2026: “Save Britain, save the West” 

Mace | June 30, 2026

Introducing the inaugural Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) on British soil, a landmark expansion of the world's premier conservative networking brand.