A HIGHLY polarised nation is in the throes of one of its most divisive election campaigns. One candidate is on the wrong side of 70 and the other is backed by the incumbent in power. The candidate mentioned first has not only recently survived an assassination attempt, he has also been convicted on charges of a personal nature that he denies. Yet, most signs point to a victory for this candidate, who has already had one crack at power. At the same time, he is the one who many observers believe caused irreparable damage to his country’s international relations when he was in power.

The irony is that this description of the maverick American presidential candidate Donald Trump can very easily apply to Pakistan’s former prime minister Imran Khan. The two men, despite being geographically apart, seem to be on similar trajectories.

When Imran Khan was in power, he and then president Trump had a public spat on the online platform Twitter. Back then, it appeared that Pakistan would be headed in the direction of fractured relations with the US as long as these two men were at the helm of affairs. Yet, we soon saw Trump and Khan give a display of public bonhomie, with the latter visiting the US at the invitation of the former and coming back to loud fanfare, reminiscent of the time when he had lifted cricket’s holy grail.

Those were the good old days as far as the two were concerned. Since then, one of them lost a hotly contested election to President Joe Biden, while the other first lost a no-confidence vote, leading to his ouster, and then ‘lost’ a disputed election, despite the widespread public adulation for him. What stuck on both Trump and Khan, however, was the ‘anti-establishment’ tag — largely because both individuals have had a hard time accepting their fate and continue to challenge established norms, even if it means calling into question national elections.

Trump and Khan seem to have followed similar paths.

Donald Trump at the time of his ascent to power had witnessed an almost meteoric rise. Running on the back of his notorious television appeal and the fanfare associated with it, he built an almost cult-like following of individuals who even today are ready to back him despite all odds, forgive him for the gravest of gaffes and overlook all his faults. All because Trump has carefully cultivated an image of himself as the only saviour who can make his nation great again. Compare this with the high regard that the supporters of Imran Khan hold the PTI leader in. An icon for his supporters, Khan may have enjoyed excellent relations with those at the helm of affairs once, but now stands for all things anti-establishment.

As fate would have it, both found themselves facing various dates in courts, having to defend themselves against charges of misuse of authority, mishandling of state documents/ secrets among others. While legal challenges for opposition leaders is not a new phenomenon in Pakistan, as far as the US is concerned, the barrage of legal challenges faced by Trump is unprecedented. Whether such charges have any basis in reality or are an attempt to undermine a worthy opponent are questions best left to the courts to answer.

Yet, what sets Trump, the presidential candidate apart from Pakistan’s incarcerated former prime minister — notwithstanding the recent favourable court decisions in the latter’s case — is his ability to still have his skin in the game. For all of the alleged lobbies in America working overtime against Donald Trump, the former president enj-oys the backing of a lopsided supreme court, which has re-cently ruled in fav-our of a partial im-munity for former US presidents in matters related to the exercise of their professional duties while in office. As such, despite being convicted on 34 charges by a court in New York state, Trump is still legally empowered to run for president.

A lot can be said about the justice system in the US and Pakistan and how Pakistan often finds itself having to face a lot of bad press for the supposedly ineffective way its courts operate. Nothing quite amplifies this like the fate of the two leaders in Pakistan and the US.

One despite being convicted finds himself free to conduct his electioneering, appear on television, take part in debates and ride high on the back of the inflation-hit incumbency of the Democrat presidency.

The other finds himself incarcerated for convictions and allegations, kept so far away from the public’s eye that he now captures their imagination. Whether the two men can come back to power remains to be seen, but that their ideas are here to stay is not for argument anymore.

The writer is a lawyer.

X: @sheheryarzaidi

Published in Dawn, August 1st, 2024