How an anti-corruption campaign became a struggle over political power, credibility and the meaning of justice.
In Pakistan, corruption is more than a political accusation. It is a story told at election rallies, repeated on television screens and invoked whenever governments fall. Almost every political leader promises to fight it. Yet the country remains caught in a familiar cycle: yesterday’s accusers become today’s accused, while the promise of accountability survives every change of government. Few political careers illustrate this cycle as vividly as Imran Khan’s.
Khan, who was once the spokesperson for Pakistan’s anti-corruption movement, is currently incarcerated on corruption-related accusations that he and his party deny are politically motivated. While his opponents insist that he must also be held accountable, his supporters continue to call for his release.1
The politician who made his name by questioning the legitimacy of Pakistan’s political system is now the focus of the same accountability controversy that helped propel him to power.
How did corruption turn into such a potent political tool, and why has it been so hard to defeat?
The Prospect of an Altered Pakistan
Long before Khan came to power, his speeches offered a simple explanation for Pakistan’s problems: the country was not intrinsically poor but had been denied its potential by dishonest leaders. His cricketing career, philanthropy and outsider status helped him build a reputation for integrity, which he connected to the promise of a “new Pakistan.” The Panama Papers controversy further intensified public concern about corruption, with former prime minister Nawaz Sharif becoming a central target of Khan’s criticism.
Khan’s appeal went beyond allegations against individuals. He presented corruption as a national grievance, linking everyday concerns to a broader conflict between ordinary Pakistanis and privileged elites. His message thus transformed a governance problem into a question of collective political identity.
When the Outsider Becomes Government
Khan’s 2018 election victory posed a new challenge: after years of denouncing the system, he was now responsible for running it. His anti-corruption message shifted from exposing wrongdoing to promising institutional accountability, recovering stolen money and rejecting political deals with officials facing corruption allegations.
His persistent refusal of an NRO, a reference to the much-debated National Reconciliation Ordinance, became a recurring feature of his political rhetoric. But governing was more complicated than campaigning. His administration came under increasing strain from economic problems, rising inflation and disputes over the use of accountability institutions. Critics have doubted whether anti-corruption investigations were being conducted fairly, particularly when opposition politicians became the primary targets.2
But Khan was not the only one facing a challenge. Pakistan’s accountability mechanisms operate within a political climate where investigations, prosecutions, and charges of selective enforcement have repeatedly accompanied changes of government
For Khan, the challenge was to translate personal credibility into institutional credibility. Promising honest leadership was one thing; establishing an accountability system trusted across political divisions was another.
His premiership revealed the distance between the two.
From Accountability to Political Survival
Khan’s removal through a parliamentary vote of no confidence in April 2022 marked another shift in his political narrative.3
The language of corruption remained, but it was increasingly accompanied by claims about foreign interference, national sovereignty and political betrayal. Khan alleged that his removal was connected to a US-backed regime-change operation, an allegation Washington denied.4
Khan increasingly linked the struggle against corruption to political independence. Following his imprisonment in 2023, he challenged the legal proceedings against him, which his party portrays as politically motivated. His opponents argue that prominence should not provide immunity from investigation. This raises a broader question: can accountability remain credible when the political fortunes of investigators and those investigated repeatedly change?
In September 2026, the dispute remained unresolved. Khan was still imprisoned, while his party prepared another march towards Islamabad to demand his release.5
The anti-corruption campaign that helped bring Khan to power had become part of a much wider confrontation over political legitimacy and the institutions of the Pakistani state.
The Problem is Bigger Than One Politician
Corruption has a double political life in Pakistan: it concerns both the abuse of public resources and the use of corruption claims to build credibility, mobilize supporters and confront opponents.
These two dimensions often overlap, but they are not the same.
In the 2025 Corruption Perceptions Index by Transparency International, Pakistan was ranked 136th among 182 nations with a score of 28 out of 100. The score was marginally higher than the previous year but reflected ongoing worries over alleged corruption in the public sector.6
These statistics cannot prove any politician’s success or failure, but they reveal institutional problems persisting across governments. Khan’s career shows how corruption narratives shift with power: from challenging the establishment to testing his government’s credibility, and finally to linking his removal with political persecution and sovereignty.
Corruption was at the heart of his political identity, even if the arguments around corruption changed.
The larger question for Pakistan is whether accountability can ever be disentangled from the politics behind it.
After all, when every new government vows to prosecute its predecessors, only to face accusations of the same once it leaves office, accountability risks becoming a perennial political fight.
And until Pakistan can establish institutions whose credibility survives changes of government, the promise to end corruption may remain one of its most powerful political slogans—and one of its most difficult promises to fulfil.
Works Cited:
1 Munir Ahmad, “In Islamabad, Shipping Containers on the Streets Signal a Protest Is Imminent,” Associated Press, September 29, 2026, AP News article
2 Asif Shahzad, “Imran Khan, Cricket Star Turned Pakistan Premier, Is Ousted,” Reuters, published by Euronews, April 10, 2022, https://www.euronews.com/2022/04/10/us-pakistan-politics-khan-newsmaker.
3 Asif Shahzad, “Imran Khan, Cricket Star Turned Pakistan Premier, Is Ousted,” Reuters, published by Euronews, April 10, 2022, https://www.euronews.com/2022/04/10/us-pakistan-politics-khan-newsmaker.
4 Asif Shahzad, “Imran Khan, Cricket Star Turned Pakistan Premier, Is Ousted,” Reuters, published by Euronews, April 10, 2022, https://www.euronews.com/2022/04/10/us-pakistan-politics-khan-newsmaker.
5 Reuters, “Imran Khan’s Party Postpones Planned Islamabad March to October 4,” September 26, 2026, https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/imran-khans-party-postpones-planned-islamabad-march-october-4-2026-09-25/.
6 Transparency International, “Our Work in Pakistan,” accessed October 2, 2026, https://www.transparency.org/en/countries/pakistan.