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Imran Khan

Silencing Dissent

The imprisonment of a former Prime Minister would ordinarily dominate political debate in a democracy.

The question Imran did not answer

This question, about whether he would condemn Chinese atrocities against the Uighur Muslims, effectively stood for whether Pakistan would stand with the liberal order and its centring of human rights, or with China. There was a time immediately after the collapse of the former USSR in 1989 that suggested that unlike international orders that have existed before, the liberal order would last forever.