How Imran Khan is campaigning from jail in Pakistan: AI and covert canvassing

A man views a computer screen displaying the AI-crafted speech of former Prime Minister Imran Khan, to call for votes ahead of the general elections in Karachi, Pakistan February 2, 2024. (REUTERS)
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Updated 05 February 2024
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How Imran Khan is campaigning from jail in Pakistan: AI and covert canvassing

  • Khan has been in prison since August and numerous members of his party are behind bars or on the run from criminal, terrorism charges
  • His party is deploying two-pronged strategy of secretive campaigning, often led by female teacher volunteers and generative AI technology

LAHORE/KARACHI: Days before Pakistan’s Feb. 8 election, a masked and headscarf-clad Komal Asghar led a team of similarly dressed women through alleys in the eastern city of Lahore.
Their mission: to knock on doors and distribute campaign pamphlets adorned with photos of jailed former prime minister, Imran Khan.
Asghar, a 25-year-old insurance company employee, gave up her day job for a month to canvass for Khan’s embattled Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party.
Khan has been in prison since August. Numerous PTI candidates are behind bars or on the run from criminal and terrorism charges that they say are politically motivated. A Reuters reporter witnessed one of the many rallies that PTI supporters say have been disrupted.
“I’m with Khan. I don’t care about my life. My God is with me,” said Asghar, adding the former premier’s opponents can “do whatever.”
Asghar said the face and hair coverings — which not all the women usually wore — made it easier for them to canvass without attracting unwanted attention. The public perceives women as non-threatening, she said, making it less likely their campaigning would lead to conflict.
The PTI is deploying a two-pronged campaign strategy of secretive campaigning, often led by female teacher volunteers, and generative AI technology, according to interviews with fifteen of its candidates and supporters, as well as political analysts and IT experts.
The party has used generative AI to create footage of Khan, its founder, reading speeches he conveyed to lawyers from his prison cell, urging supporters to turn out on election day. It has organized online rallies on social media that have been watched by several hundred thousand people at a time, according to YouTube data. Khan, who was barred by a court from holding political office last year, is not the first Pakistani leader to be imprisoned during a campaign. But PTI’s ability to tap into new technology and the former cricketer’s personal popularity have kept him in the headlines.
ONE-MAN SHOW?
Khan was sentenced to ten years imprisonment on Jan. 30 for leaking state secrets. He then received a 14-year sentence on Wednesday for illegally selling state gifts. And on Saturday, he was sentenced to seven years for unlawful marriage. He denies all charges and his lawyers say they plan to appeal. The 71-year-old won the last election, in 2018, but was ousted in 2022 after falling out with the country’s powerful military, which PTI has accused of trying to hound it out of existence.
The military denies the allegations and interim Information Minister Murtaza Solangi told Reuters that PTI was only stopped from campaigning when it did not have the required permits or if supporters clashed with law enforcement.
Usman Anwar, police chief of Punjab, Pakistan’s most populous province, said his force’s job was to provide security: “We have not and will not interfere in any political process.”
Rights groups and rival politicians have accused Khan of undermining democratic norms when in power by cracking down on media and persecuting his opponents through the same anti-graft tribunal that sentenced him on Wednesday.
PTI and Khan have called the allegations baseless.




Supporters of former Prime Minister Imran Khan wave flags during a rally ahead of the general elections in Lahore, Pakistan January 28, 2024. (REUTERS)

No reliable polling is publicly available but PTI’s workers and independent analysts such as Madiha Afzal of the US-based Brookings Institution think-tank say Khan maintains strong support, especially among the nation’s large youth population. Nonetheless, restrictions are likely to limit PTI’s ability to compete with rivals such as the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), led by the frontrunner, former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, said Afzal. Sharif returned from exile late last year and his corruption convictions and lifetime ban from politics were recently overturned by the Supreme Court.
A PML-N spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.
“The major structural barriers to the PTI in this election ... make it likely that the party will lose despite its popularity,” said Afzal, adding that Khan’s dedicated supporters meant it was too early to write off the party entirely.
PTI has not said who it will put forward as prime minister if it is victorious on Feb. 8.
VIRTUAL CAMPAIGN
The restrictions on the party have forced it to prioritize digital campaigning, said PTI’s US-based social media lead Jibran Ilyas, who like the party’s other digital leaders is based abroad. Though only about half of Pakistan’s 240 million people have smartphones and Internet connectivity is patchy, PTI hopes that it can reach enough young people to impact the election. The voting age is 18 and more than two-thirds of the electorate is under 45.
Central to this strategy is reminding people who may have voted for PTI due to its famous founder that it is still Khan’s party.
“We have never had a political rally without Imran Khan so when we were planning the online rally, we wanted to find a way to present him to the people,” Ilyas said.
His team used generative AI software from US startup ElevenLabs to create three clips of the former premier delivering speeches. Khan’s lawyers passed messages between PTI and its founder during jailhouse visits and the party wrote the speeches off his notes.
“We debated the misuse potential and decided to stick with audio AI only,” Ilyas said.




Women supporters of former Prime Minister Imran Khan hold flags during a rally ahead of the general elections in Lahore, Pakistan January 28, 2024. (REUTERS)

ElevenLabs didn’t immediately return a request for comment. PTI also created an app that allows Facebook and WhatsApp users to find the party’s candidate in their constituency. Many voters had identified PTI with its cricket bat electoral symbol but the electoral commission recently banned PTI from using it on the technical grounds that it did not hold an internal leadership election. The decision means the PTI candidates are running without official party affiliation.
The PTI has also held online rallies in an attempt to recreate jalsas, the massive Urdu-language rallies that take place in parks and major intersections nationwide.
But voters have had trouble accessing the rallies. Since Khan’s first arrest in May, the Netblocks global Internet monitor found six disruptions of access to social media platforms including YouTube, X and Facebook at times when the PTI was holding virtual jalsas.
Information minister Solangi said the national disruptions were due to technical reasons unrelated to PTI’s campaign. Pakistan’s IT ministry and telecommunications authority did not return requests for comment.
POLICE PRESENCE
Despite PTI’s online reach, elections in Pakistan — whose voters live in teeming port cities, vast desert and some of the world’s highest mountains ranges — depend on election workers generating turnout.
Banners and posters for parties such as PML-N are a common sight nationwide, but Reuters reporters in Karachi and Lahore — cumulatively home to more than 30 million people — saw almost no PTI banners.
Lahore-based PTI organizer Naveed Gul said that posters were often taken down by authorities shortly after being put up, an accusation that Punjab police chief Anwar called “malicious.” Reuters could not independently verify that PTI party material was taken down.
The ongoing crackdown boiled over on Jan. 28, when PTI planned to hold nationwide rallies on a cool Sunday morning.
But in Karachi, Pakistan’s most populous city, police and Khan’s backers violently clashed. Law enforcement fired tear gas shells, according to television footage. A police spokesperson said 72 arrests were made in the three days after the clashes.
In Lahore, hundreds of PTI workers and supporters gathered at the home of Khan’s lead lawyer, Salman Akram Raja, who is also a PTI legislative candidate. As he emerged from his house, Reuters reporters saw him met by a large police contingent.
Raja said that he was threatened with detention if he did not cancel the planned rally, and Reuters reporters heard a police official telling him they had “orders from high ups.” Asked about the incident, police chief Anwar said he would hold an inquiry if a formal complaint was made.
After consulting with his aides, Raja told supporters to disperse peacefully. He told Reuters that it was important to be free from detention and able to campaign, even in a limited way, in the immediate run-up to the election.
“Each time we go out to campaign, there is fear hanging over our most candidates,” he said. “Everybody feels that each day of campaign ... is a war.”


Pakistan face India in Champions Trophy clash with no room for error

Updated 6 sec ago
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Pakistan face India in Champions Trophy clash with no room for error

  • The neighbors only meet in multi-nation events because of political tensions and the match is taking place in Dubai after India refused to travel to Pakistan
  • Pakistan were well beaten by New Zealand by 60 runs in the opening game of the competition in Karachi and need to beat favorites India to stay in the hunt

DUBAI: Pakistan face arch-rivals India in a Champions Trophy blockbuster on Sunday in front of a sell-out Dubai crowd knowing that another defeat will virtually end their title defense.
The neighbors only meet in multi-nation events because of political tensions and the match is taking place in Dubai after India refused to travel to tournament hosts Pakistan.
In front of what is expected to be a full house at the 25,000-capacity Dubai International Stadium, and with hundreds of millions more watching glued to their televisions, Pakistan are under pressure.
Mohammad Rizwan’s side were well beaten by New Zealand by 60 runs in the opening game of the ODI competition in Karachi and realistically need to beat favorites India to stay in the hunt for a semifinal spot in the eight-nation tournament.
New Zealand top Group A ahead of India — who beat Bangladesh on Thursday by six wickets — on a better run-rate. Pakistan are fourth and bottom of the group.
The top two teams from each of the two groups make the semifinals.
“If we want to win against the great teams of the world and be one of the great teams of the world we will have to bring consistency,” Pakistan batsman Salman Ali Agha said.
“We can’t play well in one game and bad in another.”
Pakistan chased down a record 353 against South Africa last week in a tri-nation tournament at home but in the final crashed to 242 all out in a defeat to New Zealand.
They suffered a big blow in the loss on Wednesday when their premier batsman Fakhar Zaman suffered a muscle injury. He has been ruled out of the tournament.
Imam-ul-Haq came in as replacement for a team that hammered India in the final of the previous Champions Trophy, in 2017.
That was India’s last defeat to Pakistan in an ODI match and Rohit Sharma’s men have since won five of the last six games against their greatest rivals, with one rained off.
They last met in a one-day game at the 2023 World Cup in Ahmedabad, with hosts India winning by seven wickets.
Another loss and an early exit for the hosts would take the gloss off the tournament, Pakistan’s first ICC event since co-hosting the 1996 World Cup with India and Sri Lanka.
In contrast, India lived up to their favorites tag against Bangladesh, chasing down a tricky 229 with 21 balls to spare in Dubai.
In-form Shubman Gill hit an unbeaten 101 for his second successive ODI century after pace spearhead Mohammed Shami returned bowling figures of 5-53.
Victory for India would put them on the cusp of the last four.
“After winning there is no point in having a mindset,” a confident-looking Shami said in response to a question on facing Pakistan next.
“You should stay in the same frame (habit) when you win a match and when you perform well. I don’t think you need to think too much about the ICC tournament or any international match.”
Fellow pace bowler Harshit Rana claimed three wickets in his team’s win and exuded the same confidence.
“It’s great to perform ahead of the Pakistan match and hopefully I can take this momentum forward,” said Rana. “But the Pakistan match is just another game for us.”
Nuclear-armed India and Pakistan have fought three wars since being carved out of the subcontinent’s partition in 1947 and that rivalry is often reflected on the cricket field.
Deteriorating political ties have meant the bitter rivals have not played a bilateral cricket series for over a decade.
India last visited Pakistan in 2008, for the Asia Cup.


Two cops, four militants killed in attack on police check-post in Pakistan’s southwest

Updated 33 min 38 sec ago
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Two cops, four militants killed in attack on police check-post in Pakistan’s southwest

  • The attack comes two days after gunmen offloaded seven passengers from a Punjab-bound bus and killed them in Balochistan’s Barkhan
  • Pakistan has been struggling to contain mounting attacks by separatists in Balochistan, which has been the site of an insurgency for decades

QUETTA: Two policemen and four militants were killed in an attack on a police check-post in Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province, police officials said Friday.
Balochistan, Pakistan’s largest province in terms of landmass, has been the site of an insurgency for the last two decades, with separatists frequently attacking police, security forces and civilians they see as “outsiders” in the resource-rich region.
In the latest incident, armed men attacked a police check-post in Shaban area, some 35 kilometers away from the provincial capital of Quetta, local police station in-charge Munir Khan told Arab News.
“Terrorists attacked a police post in Shaban, killing two policemen and injuring two others. The police force timely retaliated and killed four terrorists,” he said.
“Search and clearance operation continued till early hours of Friday as some terrorists fled to the nearby mountains.”
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but suspicion was likely to fall on armed separatist groups who have carried out a number of attacks in a similar fashion in the past.
It comes two days after the outlawed Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) group killed seven passengers, who hailed from the Punjab province, after off-loading them from a bus in Balochistan’s Barkhan district, according to authorities.
Pakistan has been struggling to contain mounting attacks by separatists in Balochistan, which shares a porous border with Iran and Afghanistan.
At least, 25 policemen were killed and 61 others injured in Balochistan in nearly 40 attacks against police in 2024, according to provincial government figures. This is apart from losses incurred by security forces and civilians killed in targeted killings.
The separatists accuse the Pakistani government of exploiting the province’s natural resources for development elsewhere in the country, while neglecting the local population. The government denies the allegations and says it has prioritized Balochistan’s development through investments in health, education and infrastructure projects.
Separately, a man, who was allegedly carrying explosives, was killed in an explosion on Quetta’s Qambrani Road on Thursday night, according to police.
“It has been unclear whether he was a suicide bomber or delivering the explosives,” Qasim Rodeni, a police officer in Quetta, told Arab News.
“The man was carrying around 4-5 kilograms of explosive material which exploded on the road. We are investigating the incident.”
More than 50 people, including security forces, were killed in August last year in a string of assaults in Balochistan that were claimed by the BLA. Last month, dozens of fighters of the separatist outfit wrested control of a small town in Khuzdar from the Levies paramilitary forces. Pakistani authorities had regained the town after hours of efforts. 


Pakistan approves tax exemptions for ICC in Champions Trophy tournament

Updated 21 February 2025
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Pakistan approves tax exemptions for ICC in Champions Trophy tournament

  • Government says the exemption for the ICC is not expected to result in revenue loss
  • Pakistan’s cricket board, residents will be taxed on earnings during the tournament

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) has approved tax exemptions for the International Cricket Council (ICC) in connection with the ongoing 2025 Champions Trophy tournament, the government announced on Thursday.
The South Asian nation is hosting the tournament, a major ICC event in Pakistan in nearly three decades, from Feb. 18 to March 9, with India’s matches scheduled to be played in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Cricket teams had abandoned Pakistan after an attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team outside Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium on Mar. 3, 2009, forcing the cricket-mad South Asian nation into wilderness for several years.
On Thursday, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb presided over the ECC meeting to discuss key economic matters, including tax exemptions for the ICC, in line with international best practices.
“Under the standardized hosting rights agreement between ICC and Pakistan, no taxes or deductions will be applied to ICC revenues, its subsidiaries, associates, officials and non-resident delegates,” the Press Information Department (PID) of the Pakistani information ministry said.
“The tax exemption is not expected to result in a revenue loss as it was a prerequisite for securing the tournament’s hosting rights.”
The PID clarified that Pakistani nationals as well as the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) would be taxed on tournament earnings.
Pakistan entered the eight-team ICC tournament as the defending champions, having beaten India in the final of the 2017 edition. The participating teams have been divided into two groups with hosts Pakistan, Bangladesh, India and New Zealand pooled in Group A, while Group B comprises Afghanistan, Australia, England and South Africa.
Pakistan suffered a 60-run defeat to New Zealand in their opening match of the tournament in Karachi. The team will be looking to make a comeback in their next match against arch-rivals India in Dubai on Feb. 23.


Pakistan, EU officials discuss Middle East, Afghanistan situation among global security challenges

Updated 21 February 2025
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Pakistan, EU officials discuss Middle East, Afghanistan situation among global security challenges

  • The talks were part of 2019 Strategic Engagement Plan between the EU and Pakistan, which seeks to enhance mutual engagement on security matters
  • Both sides exchanged views on countering of ‘violent extremism, recruitment and movement of foreign fighters, offline and online radicalization’

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and the European Union (EU) officials held their 9th Counter-Terrorism Dialogue in Brussels and discussed regional and global challenges, including the situation in the Middle East and Afghanistan, the Pakistani foreign office said on Thursday.
The dialogue is part of the broader 2019 Strategic Engagement Plan between the EU and Pakistan, which seeks to enhance mutual engagement on security matters and regional cooperation. It reflects a shared determination to address the evolving challenges posed by militancy.
The development comes amid a turmoil in the Middle East resulting from Israeli military actions against several regional countries, including the war on Gaza, as well as fears among some nations, including Pakistan, about the resurgence of militant groups in Afghanistan.
Pakistan has repeatedly called on Israel and world powers for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza and withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanon and Syria. Islamabad has also accused Afghanistan of supporting militant groups amid a recent surge in militancy in Pakistan’s western regions, an allegation denied by Kabul.
“The European Union and Pakistan condemned terrorism in all its forms and confirmed their steadfast commitment to fight it. The Dialogue allowed for an exchange on regional and global challenges, including the security implications of the situation in Afghanistan and in other areas, like the Middle East,” the Pakistani foreign office said in a statement.
“Both parties confirmed the importance of a strong cooperation with international partners in multilateral fora. This includes the work in the United Nations’ framework and in the Global Counter-Terrorism Forum, which the EU has been co-chairing since 2022.”
Abdul Hameed, director-general for counter-terrorism at the Pakistani foreign ministry, led the Pakistan side, while the EU delegation was headed by Maciej Stadejek, director for security and defense policy at the European External Action Service.
“The European Union and Pakistan also discussed areas for exchange of best practices and for concrete cooperation, with a focus on common actions on prevention and countering of violent extremism, recruitment and movement of foreign fighters, offline and online radicalization, combating terrorism financing and more topics that are relevant to address the growing challenges posed by terrorism,” the foreign office added.


IMF mission to visit Pakistan by mid-March to review $7 billion loan program, official says

Updated 21 February 2025
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IMF mission to visit Pakistan by mid-March to review $7 billion loan program, official says

  • A successful review would see the Washington-based lender release around $1 billion tranche to cash-strapped South Asian country
  • Islamabad has also requested IMF for additional $1.5 billion Resilience and Sustainability Facility to deal with climate-related issues

KARACHI: A team of experts from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will be visiting Pakistan in mid-March for the first review of the South Asian country’s $7 billion loan program, an IMF official said on Friday.
A successful review would see the Washington-based lender release around $1 billion tranche to cash-strapped Pakistan, which seeks to boost its foreign exchange reserves to achieve the IMF’s threshold of three-month import cover.
IMF bailouts are critical for Pakistan which narrowly avoided a sovereign default in June 2023 by clinching a last-gasp, $3 billion IMF loan and is currently navigating a tricky path to economic recovery.
“An IMF staff team is scheduled to visit Pakistan in early to mid-March for discussions around the first review under Pakistan’s Extended Fund Facility-supported program,” Mahir Binici, the IMF resident representative in Pakistan, told Arab News in response to a query.
Pakistan, which averted a default in 2023, is currently navigating a path to economic recovery under the $7 billion bailout. The review is expected to revolve around the country’s compliance with its taxation targets and overall structural reforms.
The South Asian country has undertaken several reforms in taxation, energy and others sectors as well as with regard to better management of loss-making state-owned enterprises (SOEs), while provincial governments in Pakistan’s Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan have recently enacted laws to impose taxes on farm incomes in line with the lender’s requirements.
Pakistan’s finance adviser Khurram Schehzad told Arab News in a recent interview that the country was “fully prepared to go into the review process,” adding that the IMF was on board “on the targets and benchmarks that we have achieved as well as only a few we are chasing.”
The South Asian country also seeks to secure an additional $1.5 billion loan from the IMF to deal with climate-related issues under a Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF) arrangement.
“In this regard, a technical team will be in Pakistan starting in late February to discuss technical issues related to a possible RSF arrangement,” Binici said.
The Global Climate Risk Index places Pakistan among the countries most vulnerable to climate change.
Floods in 2022, which scientists said were aggravated by global warming, affected at least 33 million people and killed more than 1,700. The country’s economic struggles and high debt burden impinged its ability to respond to the disaster.