When Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan released a photo of a lunch with Bill Gates last month, social media users pay attention to something strange: the round table has 13 seats, but only a dozen men.
Empty space contains a figure like a ghost that seems to be conversing with other people around it, raising questions about whether the image is doctorsed. Shortly thereafter, local news outlets reported that the country’s new spy chief, Lieutenant General Nadeem Anjum, was removed from the shot.

The drama began four months before, when the head of the Army Qamar Javed Bajwa appointed anjum to lead intelligence between services, or content, which oversee Pakistan’s internal security. Mr Khan then postponed the appointment and public support for General Faiz Hameed, widely seen as his allies, to remain in roles. After the deadlock lasted several weeks, the military head was successful.

Pakistani civil leaders have long clashed with the military, who ruled the country about half of its history. But if any, Mr Khan has been criticized because it was too close to the troops since he promised to oversee Pakistani corruption and favoritism “after the 2018 election victory.

His relationship with Faiz Hameed draw certain supervision. While the law said the Premier pointed to the head of the contents of military recommendations, the opposition questioned the motive of Khan: Nawaz Sharif, a prime minister three times, accused Faiz to trigger elections on charges of corruption in 2017 and swung the later year’s election.

Mr Khan’s own actions did not help. In addition to trying to keep Faiz satisfy the contents, the prime minister went bankrupt by mentioning a personal discussion with the head of the military at the general meeting, against its own military claim that it did not disturb politics.

“The naming of the Army in public in a political forum is the biggest mistake that this government has done,” said Shaista Tabassum, former Head of the International Relations Department at Karachi University. Mr. Khan and his ministers, he said, “Has anchored in public into politics, said things like soldiers are very far behind us or that we enjoy the support of the army’s head.”

It functions as a backdrop for lunch last month with a gate, which is in Pakistan to promote the campaign to eradicate polio. Unlike its predecessor, Anjum ordered the media to avoid images or videos about him – leading to a strange picture from lunch with the founder of Microsoft Corp.

The unusual episode gives a glimpse of the redness behind Khan over military promotion that has supported the raft of the problem facing the former 69-year cricket star. An integrated opposition competed with the sound of trust in the next few days, when the second fastest inflation in Asia endangered his chances of becoming the first prime minister in the history of 75 years of Pakistan to resolve full terms in the position.

Even if Khan remains on, the battlefish with the risk of Top General leading to the month of instability that can determine whether the populous nation in the world shifted further towards China and Russia or leaning against the US and Europe.

Gates’s photo gives a clear example of how the military is now acting “neutral” against Mr Khan, indicating the Pakistani political party that he no longer has the support of establishment. Last year, the support of the army tacit helped Khan survive a similar challenge when he was forced to test the majority in parliament.

In one example how it worked in the field, intelligence officers often called certain politicians who criticized Khan on television talks and warned them to remain silent. Now it’s no longer happening, according to someone who is familiar with the problem asking not to be identified given the sensitivity of the problem.

Mr. Khan’s office and the Pakistani Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not reply to a comment request. Pakistani security sources are called accusations that the army or affiliated agency affects the results of the 2018 election “unfounded and unfounded.” They confirmed that the army had “nothing to do with politics” and detonated the reverse claim as “disinformation.” Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation referred to a request to Khan’s office.

For the military, it is called locally as “establishment,” Mr. Khan once represents stability – especially because the economy recovers from a contraction induced by a pandemic. Top General said in every element of the Premier Government, from foreign policy and security issues against economic decisions. Bajwa and other generals regularly hold a private meeting with top businessmen and policy makers.

But the relationship began to deteriorate, both for Mr Khan’s involvement in military promotion and acid relations with US reports to say the Pakistani military, once a recipient of American weapons, has been looking for more balanced foreign policy after being increasingly dependent on weapons.

The bonds down to the bad start just a few days after Joe Biden’s inauguration, when a Pakistani court ordered the release of four men who had previously been punished for decapitating the Head of the Wall Street Journal Bureau Daniel Pearl in 2002. This case draws anger from the White House, where one The previous decade Biden sat next to Barack Obama watching the naval seals quietly entering Pakistan and killed Osama bin Laden.

Biden did not invite Mr. Khan to his climate last April and would not talk to him on the phone. Relations worsened when the Taliban ruled in Afghanistan, with Khan said the militant group had “violated the shackles of slavery.”

Biden seems to offer the olive branch last year when he invited Mr Khan to join his democratic summit in December. But Pakistani leaders thinned the demand in the steps greeted by China, who have funded projects in this country worth more than $ 25 billion. Mr. Khan has since pushed relations with Russia, holding the first level meeting in more than two decades with Vladimir Putin for hours after the Russian leader invaded Ukraine.

Shehbaz Sharif, who led the main opposition party and was ready to take power if Mr Khan was overthrown, had vowed to improve relations with the US and European Union if he won. He said the army had remained neutral ahead of the selection of confidence, an important claim considering his brother was overthrown in the 1999 coup. Nawaz Sharif was currently exiled himself in London after being punished in a corruption case, he called politically motivating.

The National Assembly 342 members will begin the debate about the opposition’s unconscious movement on Thursday, with the expected voice over the weekend. This week Mr Khan lost a slim majority in the room after two coalition allies withdrew support for his government.

In front of the vote, Mr Khan had vowed to stay at. He strengthened thousands of supporters in Islamabad, last week and claimed “foreign troops” came out to remove it.

However, Gallup’s poll last month showed Mr Khan’s approval rating had dropped to 36% from 40% in 2018, while Nawaz Sharif had more than doubled to 55% at that time. In December, Mr Khan lost local elections in the fort that had been ruled for eight years, while parliamentarians from his party had tried to go ahead of the voice.

Large reasons are economics. Mr. Khan has grappled with the fastest price increase in Asia for several years now while managing the $ 6 billion program with an international monetary fund called for a tax increase specified to increase the cost of living further. Mr. Khan this month suddenly cut the price of fuel and electricity to calm public anger, ignore the IMF agreement.