Pakistan is “close to the edge” of chaos

Pakistan’s former president Imran Khan, who was ousted in a no-confidence vote last year, was arrested by paramilitary troops earlier this week in a “significant escalation of a yearlong political standoff that has put the South Asian country on edge”, says CNN. Khan now faces charges of corruption, but the move has infuriated his supporters, leading to “deadly and unprecedented clashes”. The authorities have blocked access to the internet “in an attempt to quell the chaos”.

Khan (pictured) is seen as the most divisive man in Pakistan, says Hannah Ellis-Petersen in The Guardian, and he is at the centre of “an unprecedented political, economic and constitutional crisis that is tearing the country apart”. To his supporters he is “the antiestablishment saviour that Pakistan has long been waiting for”; others blame his “alleged corruption, economic ineptitude and scorched-earth political tactics” for Pakistan’s current predicament.

But whether Khan is demagogue or reformer, the government faces an uphill battle, says The Economist. The willingness of Khan’s supporters to take to the streets against the usually “feared and respected” armed forces risks a “breakdown of law and order”. And even if the government manages to contain the shortrun chaos, it faces elections in October while fighting annual inflation now running at 36.4%. Growth is projected to be just 0.5% this year and Pakistan is in danger of defaulting on its debt, despite support from China. The government may fancy its odds of staying in power. “But Pakistan could be closer to the edge than they realise.”