Imran Khan came to power as a populist right-wing politician. His key support came from the powerful Pakistani military, which arranged favorable judicial verdicts against ex-Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and other leaders of (Sharif's party) Pakistan Muslim League (N), a sycophantic media, a hostile atmosphere for PMLN second-tier leadership forcing them to change loyalties, and rigging on the election day.
The military also helped discredit the religious credentials of the right-of-center PMLN leadership by painting them as pro-Ahmadi or pro-Qadiani. A new extremist organization, the Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan (TLP), was supported by the military to arrange protests all over the country and to force the country to come to a standstill. The military refused to come to the aid of the civilian government which it was constitutionally bound to. Furthermore, once Sharif's government bowed before the extremists, an army general was photographed paying money to the TLP protesters publicly.
All this was, however, before the 2018 elections. As time passed by and the economy and governance deteriorated sharply, the confidence of even Imran Khan's supporters in his competence went downhill. Blaming the opposition and using the COVID-19 pandemic to hide misgovernance worked for a period but when corruption and mismanagement soared and the military also reduced its support, instrumentalizing Islam was the only possible way to retain popularity.
During the last three years, Imran Khan has reversed the trend of decreasing religious nationalism in Pakistan that was almost two decades old. As explained in my book, State, Nationalism, and Islamization, religious nationalism increased during the 30- year period from the early1970s to the late 1990s. With the start of the new century, there was a change, and the Pakistani state reduced (not end) its support for religious nationalism and extremism.
Following are some of the key actions taken by the Imran Khan government/party to instrumentalize Islam after he came to power in 2018:
1. Riyasat-e-Madina rhetoric: From his maiden speech after becoming the Prime Minister, Imran has vowed to make Pakistan a newer version of the Madina state. In his maiden speech, he said that his 22-year struggle was aimed at turning Pakistan into a state like the Madina state, led by Hazrat Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him). He said that the West has adopted riyasat-e-Madina's principles of the welfare state, accountability, simplicity, justice, spending on education, etc., while Pakistan had not. Importantly, during the last three years, he has not worked consistently on any of the above objectives. Pakistan is more corrupt today than it was in 2018 while the accountability regime and courts have only targeted his political opposition.
2. Even during the height of COVID 19 pandemic, Imran Khan was not ready to anger religious extremists and temporarily stop congregation prayers. He risked outbreak of virus and deaths of hundreds of thousands Pakistanis just to appease extremists. Most religious conservatives were ready for the temporary end of congregation prayers as almost all of 50 Muslim-majority countries had done so but Imran was not reasdy to anger extremists who were a minority.
Source: Republicworld.com
3. Imran's government intends to implement the Single National Curriculum which increases the amount of religious content in the primary and secondary school curriculum, including making Arabic mandatory. This will also pave way for the hiring of thousands of madrassa-educated men by the government, influencing not only the teaching of Islamiat and Arabic but also of other subjects and the overall milieu.
4. Imran Khan has twice bowed before the TLP extremists and accepted their demands even when the military was supporting him. He accepted such ridiculous demands as declaring the French ambassador persona non grata. The most recent agreement between the TLP and the government has been kept in secret which shows that it also has some ridiculous and illegal demands. He has also said that the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, which has been implicated in the murder of thousands of innocent Pakistanis, would be pardoned.
5. Imran Khan has repeatedly blamed women clothes for increase in crimes agianst women and then repeatedly claimed that he didn't mean what he said or people didn't understand what he was saying. These statements curry favor with the conservatives who also argue that crimes agianst women are largly due to women's independence, clothes, and activities outside their homes.
5. Rehmatul Lil Alameen Scholarship Program: Prime Minister Imran Khan also launched the Rehmatul Lil Alameen Scholarship Program 2021 which would help finance undergraduate education of underprivileged and deserving students across the country.
6. National Rahmatul-Lil-Alameen Authority was launched by the PM in 2021. This authority aims to promote research on Seeratun Nabi (Peace Be Upon Him) and guide youth on multiple aspects of the Holy Prophet’s (PBUH) life. According to PM Khan, it will monitor media for any blasphemous content and school curriculum for promoting the true image of Islam.
7. The Punjab Government, also led by the PTI, decided in 2021 to make Naazrah Quran education compulsory for classes 1-5 for schools across the province, This was in addition to the Compulsory Teaching of the Holy Quran Act, 2018.
8. The PTI Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar has also ordered that the recitation of Darood-e-Ibrahimi (verses in praise for Holy Prophet (PBUH)) before the national anthem and after the recitation of the Holy Quran must be ensured at the public school assemblies.
9. Imran Khan has raised issue of Islamophobia at various fora, including the UN General Assembly. He has also written letters to major social media companies as well as leaders of 50 Muslim majority states to highlight the issue and to call for its end. However, crucially, he has been very silent about what is happening to Uighar Muslims in China or Sri Lankan Muslims, showing his hypocrisy and duplicity.
