To deal with Imran Khan, Pakistan descends into autocracy

On 19 June, a district and sessions court in Islamabad sent the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) leader and former state interior minister Shehryar Afridi to Rawalpindi's Adiala jail on a 14-day judicial remand in a case related to the 9 May riots. This marks another sobering development in the series of events that have unfolded after supporters of Imran Khan staged riots and unlawfully entered military installations to protest Khan's arrest in May. On 20 June, an anti-terrorism court issued non-bailable arrest warrants against Khan himself and several other PTI leaders on charges related to the rioting.

Many, and especially Khan's supporters, saw the attack on the Corps Commander House (the Jinnah House) in Lahore as a "revolutionary movement." The attack – and the subsequent arrests of the attackers – has now turned into a reason for the military leadership to consolidate its dominant political position, which, before 9 May, seemed under a lot of pressure from Khan's PTI. For the past year, Khan had been directly targeting the military's role in facilitating the end of his government in April 2022 with a vote of no confidence.