Explainer | Why Pakistan’s Islamists aren’t the real problem for Imran Khan
- An influential cleric is leading the campaign to bring down Pakistan’s leader but the Islamists are really window dressing for an intricate opposition movement
- Should Beijing be worried about the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor?

With the leaders of the country’s two largest mainstream opposition political parties, ex-prime minister Nawaz Sharif and former president Asif Ali Zardari, behind bars on corruption charges, Rehman has assumed leadership of a campaign against the controversial 2018 elections that brought Khan to power.

WHY ARE ISLAMISTS PROTESTING?
Rehman has dubbed the protest campaign the “azadi [freedom] march”. This is reflected in his four-point charter of demands: the resignation of Khan, fresh elections, non-interference by the military, and the upholding of the constitution in letter and spirit.
Rehman is giving voice to the widely held public sentiment that the 2018 general elections were brazenly rigged by the military to bring about the downfall of their civilian rivals for power.