<
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/mar/24/prisoner-number-804-pakistan-plot-to-erase-imran-khan>
"Just so we’re clear, the following is a fact. Not opinion, not a point of
view, not a hot take. Fact. There is no Pakistani – male, female, dead, alive,
real, imagined – as famous as Imran Khan. Every turn in a multifarious public
life has abounded in fame, first as a cricket legend, then as a beloved
philanthropist who built a cancer hospital for the poor, latterly as a maverick
politician who swept to power promising reform, and now, as the sole occupant
of a cell in Pakistan’s most notorious jail. So famous he’s been the subject of
two death hoaxes – most recently in November, when he went unseen for so long
that many concluded he had died.
There have been others with greater accomplishments. There may come others in
the future. But in almost 79 years of Pakistan, in the pure currency of fame,
of being known and recognised, of being talked about, of being the one
Pakistani everyone can name, there is nobody beyond Imran. (He is almost
universally known by his first name alone.) It holds even now, two years into
the state’s attempts to erase him from public life. In that time, they’ve
barred TV channels from saying his name on air and stopped newspapers from
publishing his picture; they’ve even scrubbed him from the footage of his
greatest sporting triumph.
In cricket-obsessed countries, it’s often said the PM’s job is second in
difficulty only to the national team’s captaincy. Imran is the only person who
can tell us for sure. He publicly arrived 50 years ago, delivering Pakistan a
famous first cricket win in Australia. He did it in the sexiest, most masculine
way the sport offers, by bowling very fast. He went on to become, unarguably,
the greatest cricketer Pakistan has produced, leading them to their headiest
triumphs. But his premiership was neither as successful nor as long-lasting as
his captaincy, ending as every tenure preceding it has, incomplete – and often
with its occupants under arrest or in jail.
That is where he has been since August 2023, the result of a political fracture
with the ruling authorities: a domineering military establishment with an
emaciated civilian government in tow. This is a serious business with
consequences for more than 250 million people, but it has also played out like
a nasty breakup: burn your ex’s photos in the hope of burning them from your
heart.
An authoritarian government trying to vanish a popular political leader is
hardly an unfamiliar tale. But it is a tall order in a digital age – and taller
still when that leader happens to be the country’s most famous person, with a
fame that long predates their political career."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
