BIG GAME CHANGER:THE TIME MAGAZINE MAY 23 ISSUE ELABORATELY COVERS THE SAGA OF EX-PM IMRAN KHAN'S MALTREATRMENT?

1.????????Worthy audience PTI Chief Imran Khan laments his helplessness, as article points to his failure to enact economic reforms while in government. The ousted prime minister will feature in May's issue of the magazine featuring the interview in which he shares his?views of future plan. The first look of the magazine cover was released by TIME on their official Twitter account. The former premier shared these views in an exclusive interview with Time magazine. Along with the interview, the PTI chief has also made it to the cover of the magazine amid an increasing stand-off with the incumbent government. Main points are:-

• Imran Khan has been?ousted from government?and faced an assassination attempt, but remains the most popular politician in Pakistan," the tweet read. Khan was overthrown in a parliamentary vote of no-confidence, exactly a year ago. Since then, the PTI chief has been demanding snap polls with the pressure he exerts on the incumbent government via power shows every now and then with thousands of followers in attendance across the country.
• Khan said in the interview that it has never happened in history that a single man has "scared the establishment as much as right now, “They worry about He, however, asks the government if they have the plan to steer the country out of the ongoing crisis. Khan said that the country's economy has "gone into a tailspin”. “We now have the worst economic indicators in our history."
• In a bid to persuade the government into early elections, Khan took out two long marches last year, one of which saw an assassination attempt on the PTI chief in November. “One bullet damaged a nerve so my foot is still recovering,” the former premier told TIME, adding that he has had trouble walking for a long due to the injury. With even more outraged PTI leaders and followers, Khan alleges his opponents, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah and others to be behind the attack.
• He claimed that another assassination attempt had been waiting for him outside the Islamabad Judicial Complex, the first time he left his residence since the November attack to appear in a court on March 18. He, however, said that the bid was thwarted by the "intelligence agencies and paramilitary.”
• As Khan continues to come hard against the incumbent government, he faces resistance in terms of raids involving the use of tear gas by Punjab police in riot gear at his Lahore residence. “This sort of crackdown has never taken place in Pakistan,” said Khan in the interview. “I don’t know even if it was as bad under martial law," he added.
• In another argument to support his demand for polls, Khan asserted that the election could bring political stability, which according to him is "the starting point for economic recovery.” Imran Khan Unveils Economic Revival Plan at Minar-e-Pakistan.
• When asked how he would get Pakistan back on track, the PTI chief said that a “completely new social contract” is required to enshrine power in political institutions, rather than the military.
• Khan reiterated his idea of the State of Madina while speaking about his plan to turn the country into Islamic Welfare State.
• Despite being disqualified by the election commission and over a hundred cases involving allegations of corruption, sedition, blasphemy and terrorism registered against the former premier during the past year, Khan remains the most popular politician in the country with thousands of diehards willing to take to streets on his one call.?

2.???Worthy readers in a cover story for?Time?magazine, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan has called for a “new social contract” to empower political institutions, lamenting that he was “helpless” while in government because the Army chief did not “think corruption was that big a deal. “Titled “Imran Khan on his Plan to Return to Power,” the wide-ranging article outlines the year the ousted prime minister has spent out of power, highlighting the U.S.’s disenchantment with his rhetoric and his vague plans for Pakistan’s economic revival if he is re-elected. “Our economy has gone into a tailspin,” Khan tells author Charlie Campbell, claiming the country has the “worst economic indicators in our history.” However, the article notes, this is unlikely to garner much sympathy from the West, which has been “put off” by Khan’s anti-American bluster and cozying up to autocrats and extremists, including the Taliban. Referring to his ties with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin, as well as his declaring Osama bin Laden a “martyr” and praise for Beijing’s confinement of Uighur Muslims, it points to his “strong sense of grievance” over U.S. President Joe Biden’s failure to call him after entering the White House. “Morality in foreign policy is reserved for powerful countries,” Khan tells Campbell in justification for his at-times contradictory positions.

?3????. Dear readers the article maintains, the PTI chief can “legitimately claim” to have democracy on his side, as poll numbers show his messaging is finding support among the masses. To counter this, it notes, the state has “flirted” with the idea of detaining Khan—which the former prime minister claims is worse than a martial law—leading to at-times-violent clashes between his supporters and law enforcers. Adding to the intrigue, it states, is Khan’s continued insistence that he faces another assassination attempt after surviving an attack on his convoy in November that left him injured for months. “One bullet damaged a nerve so my foot is still recovering,” the PTI chief tells Campbell. “I have a problem walking for too long,” he adds.?

4.????Ladies & gentlemen with no end in sight to the confrontation between the government and Khan,?Time?magazine warns the confrontation could remain in the streets indefinitely. “Political stability in Pakistan comes through elections,” states Khan. “That is the starting point for economic recovery,” he says, adding that “never has one man scared the establishment … as much as right now.” He continues: “They worry about how to keep me out; the people how to get me back in.”Recalling that Khan has accused the U.S. of instigating his downfall through a “regime change conspiracy,” the article posits that the “actual intrigue is purely Pakistani.” Highlighting Khan’s rift with the military after refusing to replace then-ISI chief Lt. Gen. (retd.) Faiz Hameed, it says this allowed the opposition to oust him through a no-confidence vote, which coupled with the assassination attempt on his life to boost his supporters’ “sense of injustice.” Khan, in the interview, claims the rift developed because of the military’s unwillingness to go after the Sharifs and Bhuttos for alleged corruption. But according to analysts, says?Time, “it was Khan’s relentless taunting of the U.S. that torpedoed his relationship with the military, which remains much more interested in retaining good relations with Washington. “While Khan has stressed to?Time?that “criticizing U.S. foreign policy does not make you anti-American,” the articles makes it clear that Pakistan’s instability has raised the question of who actually “wins” from supporting the country. Noting that Washington now prioritizes its ties with India due to Pakistan’s relationship with China, it cites the U.S. exit from Afghanistan as a key reason for this. “Lots of Americans in Washington say we lost the war in Afghanistan because the Pakistanis stabbed us in the back,” says Cameron Munter, a former U.S. ambassador to Pakistan, who warns that Islamabad’s economic struggles have left a country “ripe for a Bolshevik revolution.”

?5???.Worthy audience according to?Time, Pakistan’s current political instability comes amid devastating floods, runaway inflation, and resurgent cross-border terrorist attacks from neighboring Afghanistan. “It’s a country where rape and corruption are rife, and the economy hinges on unlocking a stalled IMF bailout, Pakistan’s 22nd since independence in 1947,” it states, noting inflation in March hit 47 percent year-over-year, as the rupee lost 54 percent of its value. This “new nadir” of the economy, as described by author Campbell, was triggered by Khan’s governance, which saw mismanagement that exacerbated global headwinds from the pandemic and soaring oil prices. Stressing that the PTI-led government did little to address Pakistan’s fundamental structural issues of tax avoidance, it notes that the country has relied on foreign money to balance its budget and provide government services. “But if Khan recognized the problem, he did little to solve it,” it states, noting he was in an “uncommonly strong position” after 2018 with the backing of the military and progressives, as well as the tolerance of the Islamists. Now, it warns, he would be in a significantly weaker position to enact reforms if he were to return to power. Khan, meanwhile, has offered few details on his economic plan, merely reiterating his aim to turn Pakistan into an “Islamic Welfare State. “Noting that Khan’s time in government saw Pakistan praised for its handling of the pandemic; the “Ten Billion Tree Tsunami” reforestation drive; the 2019 return of international test cricket, the article recalls that he also provoked outrage by saying the Taliban had “broken the shackles of slavery” by taking back power—which he says was “taken out of context” and made various comments seen as misogynistic.

?6??. Dear readers for now, states the article, many within the PTI fear that the government would declare the party a “terrorist organization” or ban it from politics. Ultimately, though, it says all sides are using the tools at their disposal to prevent their own demise: “Khan wields popular protest and the banner of democracy; the government has the courts and security apparatus.” The entire crisis, Campbell cites Khan as stating, can be resolved through elections. “The same people who tried to kill me are still sitting in power,” he says. “And they are petrified that if I got back [in] they would be held accountable. So they’re more dangerous. Ruling Coalition Wants ‘Favorite’ Army Chief to Protect Corruption: Says Imran Khan