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Thanks to Imran Khan, the case of his Chief of Staff (COS), Shahbaz Gill continues to hog the headlines, with inconvenient truths and convenient falsehoods sprouting by the hour.  People say Imran is worried that Mr Gill might spill the beans about his (Imran’s) hand in the anti-army campaign that has outraged its rank and file and led to the crackdown on him. Indeed, there is even fear in PTI circles that if Mr Gill is threatened with Court Martial, he might succumb and become an Approver against Imran, a throwback to the murder case against Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in 1978 based on the testimony of an Approver, Masood Mahmood, the then head of the Federal Security Force.

On his part, Imran has launched a propaganda blitzkrieg to secure Mr Gill’s freedom. He has alleged “brutal torture” and “sexual abuse” of his COS, never mind that his own Punjab Government’s Home Minister has said the prisoner wasn’t harmed, never mind too that a panel of top doctors at the Pakistan Institute of Medicine in Islamabad has examined Mr Gill and vouched that there is no evidence of torture and he is as fine as can be under the stressful circumstances. Imran has also “ordered” the Punjab government to stop the transfer of Mr Gill from Adiala jail in Punjab to Islamabad Police, never mind that such instructions were in defiance of court orders and could have led to the framing of contempt of court charges against the Punjab Chief Minister, IGP, IGP Prisons, DIG and Superintendent Adiala Jail. But he was quick to relent when the federal government threatened to send the Rangers to secure Mr Gill from Adiala Jail. When all else failed, he jumped into an armoured car and raced to PIMs, with PTI stalwarts screeching behind, and tried to storm his way into the hospital, only to be foiled once again by the police security on detail.

The PTI has also launched an ingenious campaign to target PDM leaders of equivalence in guilt but discrimination in punitive action. Why, they ask, are PDM leaders like Nawaz Sharif, Asif Zardari, Maulana Fazal ur Rahman, Khwaja Asif, Mariam Nawaz Sharif, etc., not charged with the same crime as Shahbaz Gill when they have also criticized the Miltablishment in the past? Indeed, Imran Khan made a big song and dance of this charge in his Lahore rally on August 13 and the youthful crowd lapped it up deliriously, as usual. But, never mind, there is no equivalence. The PDM leaders have certainly criticized the partisan and unconstitutional political intervention of the Miltablishment that has brought the country to this pass but never ever tried to foment rebellion and revolt in military ranks, as Imran Khan, Shahbaz Gill and PTI social media activists have all been trying to do for months by exhorting officers to disobey the “evil” orders of the high command and stand on the side of the ‘righteous” (PTI). In fact, Imran’s grouse against the Miltablishment is not that it has usurped civilian space but that it has not done so to support him. “Neutrality” is an “evil animal”, he has thundered time and again, “it’s never too late to review your stance and come back to my side”, says the gentleman who has made the vice of U-Turns a virtue in politics.

Now Imran Khan has absolved the PDM civilian government of instigating the case against Mr Gill by pointing the finger at the Miltablishment and revealed that the “disappearances” of journalists and social media activists during his time in office were also the handiwork of the ubiquitous and unaccountable security agencies. This is a damning indictment of the very Miltablishment that helped bring him into office and propped him up for four years (“changed his nappies”, according to Chaudhry Pervez Elahi, his very own Chief Minister of Punjab). The threat to reveal more dirt has been hurled in a last ditch act of defiance.

Imran Khan has also upped his personal attacks on the integrity and neutrality of the Chief Election Commissioner, Sikandar Sultan Raja, attributing his appointment by his own government to the advice of the Miltablishment. Understandably, he has been summoned to answer charges of contempt, along with a clutch of his “ more-loyal-than-the-King” ex advisors and ministers. In the past groveling apologies have got some of these same gents off the hook. But now Imran Khan is making a habit of ignoring or rejecting summons of various government agencies and departments for investigation or inquiries into various illegal acts of omission and commission. It is argued that the disqualification case against Imran Khan pending in the election commission of Pakistan scheduled to conclude in one month could spark the ultimate showdown if he is convicted. He seems aware of this probability and that is why he is getting more desperate by the day.

People who know Imran Khan intimately say that his popularity has gone to his head and he will not back down. Similarly, Miltablishment-watchers say there is too much at institutional and personal stake for kid-glove treatment any more. The stage is therefore set for escalation of conflict between Imran Khan and the Miltablishment.

Imran Khan’s popularity was at its lowest ebb on the eve of his ouster. If the PDM government had opted for quick elections without signing the IMF programme and imposing hardship on Pakistanis, the PMLN would conceivably have romped home comfortably. But it has become progressively unpopular because of a string of bad or unpalatable decisions. By contrast, the PTI’s resistance has given it a fillip. But the balance could just as easily tilt in the other direction over time as the economy limps back into shape and passion dissipates in Khan’s supporters out of frustration or failure.

Watch this space for further action and reaction.