Imran Khan: Is his political future over now he
Imran Khan has been arrested for the second time in a matter of months, but this time the reaction looks very different. What could happen next?
There could not have been a starker contrast between 9 May and 5 August this year.
While Imran Khan's first arrest led to protests in the streets from Peshawar to Karachi, with buildings burning and the army on the streets, Saturday night was no different from any other normal night in Pakistan.
Mr Khan is currently in prison, sentenced to three years for not declaring money gained by selling state gifts.
The sentence will lead to his disqualification before the upcoming elections.
His call for peaceful protests, urging people not to sit quietly in their homes, has - for now - not worked. Why?
Ask government ministers and they will say that it is because people do not want to follow Imran Khan or his party, the PTI - unwilling to be associated with a group responsible for previous violence. That is not the message from Mr Khan's supporters.
Imran Khan's relationship with the establishment - shorthand in Pakistan for the politically-powerful military and intelligence agencies - soured more than a year ago.
Mr Khan was widely seen by analysts as having come to power with the help of the establishment and to have subsequently lost it when that relationship deteriorated.
Emasculated movement?
Since then, instead of waiting quietly until the next election, he has continued to criticise the army's leadership. When army buildings were attacked following Mr Khan's arrest in May, the military let it be known that they had a zero-tolerance approach to those they saw as responsible.
The subsequent crackdown has left Imran Khan's party decimated.
His supporters were arrested in their thousands, and some will be tried in military courts, despite the outcry from human rights groups that the system should not be used for civilians.
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