On June 19, the Election Commission of Gilgit-Baltistan (ECGB) announced the final election results. June 7 pollsthe Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) having won nine seats out of 21. The delay in finalizing the results of the elections in Gilgit-Baltistan, a territory which is part of the Kashmir dispute between Pakistan and India, was largely due to the numerous allegations of misappropriation made by Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).
The PTI insisted that, as 2024 general electionsthe Gilgit-Baltistan polls were also rigged by the military establishment to sideline the party. Eyewitnesses confirmed discrepancies in voting patterns and final results between polling stations, in addition to pre-poll changes to constituency boundaries and voter lists. In addition, the PTI is forced to present independent candidates, its leaders often being prohibited from campaigning.
The state’s marginalization of the PTI from the electoral process is a problem. continuation of the repression of the party by the military establishment following Impeachment of Imran Khan as Prime Minister in April 2022. Since then the party leadership was imprisoned. Khan has been in prison since August 2023, in addition to thousands of PTI workers imprisoned for “anti-state” actions – including riots of May 9, 2023when Khan was first arrested. Last year, 75 PTI leaders were imprisoned in a mass conviction during the 2023 protests.
Khan’s health is deteriorating in prison, as the PTI founder and his wife Bushra Bibi – also imprisoned over corruption allegations – suffer from vision loss. Meanwhile, the media blackout on the party – particularly on Khan, whose name was unofficially forbidden to speak on television channels – has continued over the past four years, including in the run-up to the Gilgit-Baltistan elections.
While anti-army sentiments exploded In Pakistan in the wake of Khan’s removal as prime minister, and drawing global attention amid large-scale electoral manipulation in 2024, the military leadership has seen a dramatic turnaround over the past 12 months. THE ceasefire following the Indo-Pakistani clashes of May 2025, Islamabad was able to claim victory, particularly after the confirmation that several Indian planes were shot down.
Since then, while Pakistan continues to courting US President Donald TrumpIslamabad has become the main broker in the ongoing negotiations between Iran and the United States, even hosting talks between the two sides in April. The all-powerful army chief, Asim Munir, who became the country’s second marshal and the first ever chief of defense forces (CDF), was described by the US Vice President J.D. Vance as “one of the two most important people in my life” during discussions on Lake Lucerne in Switzerland this weekend. Trump has repeatedly said called Munir “my favorite marshal.”
Munir, who had been nicknamed “hard line” in the military ranks even before his ascension to the post of army chief, also has a problem with Imran Khan. While he was Prime Minister, Khan had deleted Munir as head of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) in 2019. Munir is now spearheading the crackdown against Khan and his party as not only the most powerful man in Pakistan, but now also one of the most influential figures in the region.
This turnaround prompted a rethink of the PTI, The Diplomat learned during conversations with the party leadership. The party leadership is now open to the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N)-led government’s long-standing proposal for a “charter of democracy“, originally designed to strengthen parliamentary supremacy, but is now widely seen as a ploy by military leaders to reassert their authority. Many PTI members believe that a compromise with the military leadership is the only possible path to maintaining any political relevance in the country.
“The military establishment has now become so powerful that it has become impossible to maintain democracy in Pakistan,” a PTI leader told The Diplomat. “Politicians can now only operate in the space allowed to them. The hybrid regime is permanent – so Pakistani politics is all about competing for the shrinking civilian space in the hybrid system.” THE “hybrid“The governance model, popularized by current leaders, means a civil-military arrangement, but critics say this is a euphemism for the military dictating all important matters.
Many PTI leaders express such sentiments and believe that the party must abandon its overtly anti-establishment tendency and seek to return to the mainstream by accepting the proposed “charter of democracy”. Many also believe that an upheaval to challenge the status quo maintained by the military is unlikely, given the reluctance of the majority of the population to take to the streets to protest and demand justice for Imran Khan (even though he remains Pakistan’s most popular politician).
In this regard, talks were held between PTI leaders and the government. Last month, PTI Acting President Gohar Ali Khan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi met Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi. On June 19, PTI leaders Asad Qaiser and Junaid Akbar led a party delegation to a meeting with Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb. Officially, these meetings were described as discussions on “security” and “tax” policies. However, internal testimonies indicate that there were discussions on the need to bridge differences between the PTI and the government regarding the “charter of democracy”. While the ruling parties largely play the role of intermediary, the conversation is actually with the military.
“We [the PTI] are always ready to dialogue to establish a true democracy. This requires a level playing field. [for all parties]. There should be no political vendetta. The country is ours and so is the army,” Qaiser said.
The PTI leadership’s change of discourse on the army is already bearing fruit. On June 19, the National Assembly lifted the ban on the broadcast of speeches by PTI leaders. The day before, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, a senior PTI leader, long considered favorable to the policies of the military establishment, was acquitted by an anti-terrorism court. Last week, the Supreme Court restored Imran Khan’s right to challenge defamation suit filed by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. The apex court is also expected to hear Khan’s plea regarding access to his lawyers and family.
While any negotiations between the PTI and the military leadership through the ruling parties will inevitably include relief for Khan, many in the party believe the PTI founder will not adhere to the charter of democracy. “He would rather die than accept a compromise with the parties. It would undo his entire political legacy,” said a long-time PTI stalwart, speaking on condition of anonymity due to his position of having bid farewell to formal politics.
These sentiments were also echoed by veteran politician and former PTI president Javed Hashmi. “Imran Khan could have compromised with the army to come to power [in 2018] but now he has nothing to gain from any compromise – neither with the PML-N and the PPP nor with the military establishment,” he told The Diplomat.
Given Khan’s popularity, any charter that did not include him and the PTI would amount to nothing significant. “With Imran and the PTI, the charter can set the ground rules of the game. Whether a charter comes to fruition or not… an attempt must be made,” said Miftah Ismail, co-founder of the Awaam Pakistan Party and former PML-N leader. He added that questions about the validity of the charter itself can only become relevant when all parties are at the negotiating table.
Supporters of the “Charter of Democracy” believe that once all major parties agree to have a conversation, they could eventually create a united front to reclaim the space ceded to the military. Critics, meanwhile, insist that given the expansion of the military’s powers, led by Munir, the charter is now the formalization of hybrid rule and the sanction of the limited role reserved for civilian leaders.
Given Imran Khan’s popularity, and his own role in facilitating the military rulers’ relentless takeover, he remains central to any hope of saving democracy in Pakistan. But Khan and the PTI, with all the support they enjoy, may find it difficult to undo the autocratic policies of a military leadership that not only luxuriates in totalitarian policies at home, but now also hobnobs with global power players.