KARACHI, Pakistan

Getting relief in one after another case, Pakistan's three-time Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is all set to lead his party in upcoming elections, aiming to secure the coveted post for a record fourth term.

In contrast, jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan, his arch-rival and once a favorite of the country's powerful army, seems to be out of the race, at least for the forthcoming general elections scheduled for January next year.

Sharif, who returned from London last week after four years of self-imposed exile, has already received protective bail in two corruption cases he was convicted in back in 2018.

To make things easier for him, the government of northeastern Punjab province, using its "constitutional powers" suspended his seven-year sentence in one of the two cases on Tuesday, clearing the way for him to lead his center-right Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) in the coming elections.

In a related development, an anti-corruption court in the capital Islamabad canceled an arrest warrant and granted him bail in another case involving the purchase of luxury cars and state gifts, while he was in office.

Sharif was elected three times as prime minister but could not complete even a single term.

Opposite situation for Khan

As Sharif's legal hurdles are falling like dominoes, his arch-rival Imran Khan and his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party have been in hot water.

Many of his party colleagues have been languishing in jail, hiding or reportedly missing, particularly after violent protests and attacks on military installations across the country over Khan's arrest at the Islamabad High Court in a graft case on May 9.

The party claims its thousands of supporters have been arrested in a nationwide crackdown since May.

Imran Riaz Khan, an ardent supporter of Khan and famous TV host, returned home last month after being missing for four months.

Currently jailed in the northeastern garrison city of Rawalpindi on a judicial remand in a case where he is accused of exposing state secrets, Khan himself is facing a slew of cases.

According to his lawyers, he has been nominated in 189 cases since April last year following his ouster from office through a no-confidence vote.

Khan and his former Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi have been indicted in a "cipher case" that accuses them of exposing state secrets. Khan on Wednesday challenged his indictment in the Islamabad High Court.

The case is related to diplomatic communications between Washington and Islamabad which Khan says was part of a US conspiracy to topple his PTI-led government.

Washington and Islamabad have repeatedly rebuffed the accusation.

An Islamabad anti-terrorism court issued perpetual arrest warrants Wednesday for nine PTI leaders, including several former ministers, for their alleged involvement in violent protests outside a court in Islamabad earlier this year.

Concessions to Sharif ‘overwhelming’

Khan, who rose to power following his party's victory in the 2018 elections, served as prime minister till April 2022. His opponents accused him of coming into power with the help of the army but later fell out with it.

Hasan Askari, a Lahore-based political analyst, reckons that the "legal concessions" to Sharif are "overwhelming."

"This is true that in (the) 2018 (elections), the establishment (country's army) was sympathetic to Imran Khan and against Nawaz Sharif. But the nature of the support was different," Askari told Anadolu, referring to several cases Sharif had faced, including his disqualification.

“Imran Khan had got election-related support from the establishment, whereas Sharif seems to have been enjoying both legal and electoral backing,” he said.

According to Askari, the upcoming elections will be one-sided in favor of PML (N) if the "current trends" continue.

“As far as the post-election scenario is concerned, especially the country's political and economic stability, there will be a question on that,” he said.

Sajjad Mir, another Lahore-based political commentator, believes that given the circumstances, the establishment will have no other choice than Sharif.

“This is a ground reality that Sharif has been left as the only choice for the state after what PTI did on May 9,” he told Anadolu.