LAHORE: Imran Khan, the charismatic cricket star-turned-opposition-leader,is brimming with newfound confidence.

With general elections expected in July, Khan made a spirited claim to leadthe next government when headdressed thousands of his supporterslink>who had gatheredin the politically important city of Lahore a week ago. The rally kickedoff the election season, and other political parties have begun campaigningaround the country.

Khan — a populist whose nationalist appeal rests in part on ananti-American platform — is the main challenger to the political party offormer Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who was ousted last year by the SupremeCourt after a corruption inquiry. Sharif was barred from holding publicoffice, and he faces a verdict next month on corruption charges.

With Sharif looking at possible jail time, and several leaders of hisparty, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, ensnared in corruptioninvestigations, Khan says his time has arrived. He presents himself as analternative to what he calls a corrupt political elite, and says he willwork to improve education, health and the environment.

His prospects have brightened in light of his warming ties with themilitary, which controls the main levers of power in Pakistan and hasdominated foreign and security policies for decades. Sharif’s efforts toassert civilian control over the military during his last term failed,turning him into an intensely hated figure among the military establishment.

Khan, on the other hand, has no qualms about working with the military.

“I think a democratic government rules from moral authority,” Khan said inan interview at a party office in Lahore. “And if you don’t have moralauthority, then those who have the physical authority assert themselves. Inmy opinion, it is the Pakistan army and not an enemy army. I will carry thearmy with me.”

In recent months, the army chief, General Qamar Javed Bajwa, has increasedhis clout, while dissenting voices in the country have come under greaterpressure and restrictions on the media have increased.

Sharif has accused the army and judiciary of working together to have himremoved from office, depriving his party of a level playing field in thegeneral elections. Both the military and the judiciary deny theallegations, which Sharif repeated last week at a rally in Punjab province.

In the coming election, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz party “will be upagainst forces that cannot be seen,” Sharif said, in a veiled reference tothe military’s intelligence agencies.

Hasan Askari Rizvi, an analyst based in Lahore, said Khan’s political stockhas risen as his relationship with the military has gotten closer.

“Imran has realized that if you want to run Pakistan, you have to work withthe military because of the internal and external challenges,” Rizvi said.”By fighting with the military, you cannot run the state.”

Those relations have improved despite Khan’s long opposition to themilitary’s operations against Talibanlink> insurgents in the tribalregions bordering Afghanistan and its cooperation with the United States.

“I hear all this stuff about how the army is influential in Pakistan. Thearmy depends on one man. Whoever is the army chief, the army policy goesthe way of the army chief,” Khan said in the interview.

Khan then praised Bajwa.

“It’s the first time that I am seeing an army chief saying time and againthat ‘I will ensure free and fair elections,’ which is the one thing thatwe want. That’s all I want. This is music to our ears.”

Khan blames what he callsthe corrupt and inept civilian leadership of thepast for the imbalance in civilian and military relations. He is alsocritical of neighboring India and Afghanistan, saying their hostilitytoward Pakistan forces the military to play an outsize role in the country.

With adversarial neighbors, “clearly, the military will have a bigger sayin the security policy,” he said. “But I don’t blame the army. I blame themost corrupt governments whose main concern has only been making corruptmoney and protecting the corrupt money. They could easily have taken a moreassertive role in foreign policy.”

He added: “I have very clear foreign policy objectives, and where there aresecurity concerns of the army, we will address them. We will sit down. Itis our army.”

Khan has been a bitter critic of the United States, and in recent years,the Pakistan military has also veered away from its traditionally closeties with the United States, looking toward China and Russia.

Critics say Khan is pandering to the military.

Maryam Nawaz, the daughter and political heir apparent of the ousted primeminister, goes as far as calling Khan a “stooge” and “pawn” of the militaryand its intelligence agencies. Khan dismisses such criticism.

In the last elections, in 2013, Khan’s party won 33 of the 342 seats in theNational Assembly. But he remained the key opposition figure, keepingSharif off balance through a mix of street agitation and court petitions,which finally led to Sharif’s dismissal last July.

“I think we should take Imran Khan much more seriously this time,” saidZaigham Khan, a political analyst and newspaper columnist. “He is notalone.” – New York Times