Adani Enterp. 2326.10↑370.05(18.92%)
Adani Ports 729.70↑41.60(6.05%)
Apollo Hospitals 4605.30↑158.15(3.56%)
Asian Paints 3084.90↑0.45(0.01%)
Axis Bank 917.55↓-6.50(-0.70%)
B P C L 361.60↑1.30(0.36%)
Bajaj Auto 4523.25↑40.05(0.89%)
Bajaj Finance 6793.05↑8.85(0.13%)
Bajaj Finserv 1413.00↓-2.10(-0.15%)
Bharti Airtel 801.85↓-3.90(-0.48%)
Britannia Inds. 4498.95↓-0.90(-0.02%)
Cipla 924.95↑8.70(0.95%)
Coal India 238.70↓-1.20(-0.50%)
Divi's Lab. 3265.00↑166.70(5.38%)
Dr Reddy's Labs 4457.65↑65.70(1.50%)
Eicher Motors 3545.45↓-25.45(-0.71%)
Grasim Inds 1718.35↑2.25(0.13%)
H D F C 2704.75↓-6.20(-0.23%)
HCL Technologies 1119.85↑24.50(2.24%)
HDFC Bank 1641.05↓-5.85(-0.36%)
HDFC Life Insur. 567.00↑9.40(1.69%)
Hero Motocorp 2692.15↓-20.85(-0.77%)
Hind. Unilever 2638.10↓-3.35(-0.13%)
Hindalco Inds. 407.70↑0.95(0.23%)
ICICI Bank 950.35↓-3.95(-0.41%)
IndusInd Bank 1246.15↓-1.85(-0.15%)
Infosys 1292.80↑23.90(1.88%)
ITC 424.75↑4.90(1.17%)
JSW Steel 704.60↑10.75(1.55%)
Kotak Mah. Bank 1940.20↓-1.45(-0.07%)
Larsen & Toubro 2216.60↑26.55(1.21%)
M & M 1265.55↑5.15(0.41%)
Maruti Suzuki 9156.65↑50.70(0.56%)
Nestle India 21494.80↓-195.35(-0.90%)
NTPC 174.10↑0.80(0.46%)
O N G C 165.60↑0.70(0.42%)
Power Grid Corpn 234.35↑0.65(0.28%)
Reliance Industr 2455.00↑13.05(0.53%)
SBI Life Insuran 1150.80↓-3.35(-0.29%)
St Bk of India 577.15↑2.00(0.35%)
Sun Pharma.Inds. 937.45↑11.60(1.25%)
Tata Consumer 766.10↑0.65(0.08%)
Tata Motors 522.50↓-2.45(-0.47%)
Tata Steel 105.00↑0.35(0.33%)
TCS 3298.70↑75.85(2.35%)
Tech Mahindra 1104.45↑32.30(3.01%)
Titan Company 2712.55↑10.90(0.40%)
UltraTech Cem. 7715.65↑34.35(0.45%)
UPL 670.40↑2.40(0.36%)
Wipro 395.75↑9.55(2.47%)

Democracy vs Pakistan

The Imran Khan episode highlights the counterintuitive and unfortunate idea of perils of democracy in a country as large as Pakistan

Shekhar Gupta

Premium

Illustration: Binay Sinha

7 min read Last Updated : May 13 2023 | 9:30 AM IST

Are you with Imran Khan or against him? We can ask this question in two different ways. One, if a fair election is held today, will Imran win or not? And second, if he wins, will it be good for Pakistan or a disaster?

The answer to the first question is, of course, Imran will win. He has the street with him as no Pakistani leader has had, not even Nawaz Sharif at his peak when he could win big majorities by himself. His loyalists were also noisy and boisterous, but they would never take on the might of the army. Or, he would not have been removed from power summarily and unfairly thrice.

Imran’s popularity has risen to a level not seen in Pakistan before. It is because his rivals, enemies and critics, including the army brass, are so convinced that he will easily win an election that they aren’t about to hold one now. Or even, given a choice, on the due date in October unless they can disqualify him constitutionally and prevent him from

Disclaimer: These are personal views of the writer. They do not necessarily reflect the opinion of www-business-standard-com-nalsar.knimbus.com or the Business Standard newspaper