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How Pakistan’s Imran Khan is losing a remittance war against the government
Despite Khan’s calls to the diaspora to stop sending money back home, remittances are soaring — even from his own supporters abroad. For many, it’s not a choice.
Overseas Pakistanis have sent more than $3bn in remittances in January this year for the second consecutive month [File: Fareed Khan/AP Photo]
Islamabad, Pakistan –
In December last year, former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan issued an unlikely threat to the country’s government: After spending more than 15 months behind bars on what he called “politically motivated charges” and following multiple failed protests, he warned that he would launch a civil disobedience movement.
“As part of the movement, we will urge overseas Pakistanis to limit remittances and start a boycott campaign,” read a message posted on his account on X
With a precariously balanced economy, with the country seeking new loans and debt rollovers from key allies such as Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and China, turning off the valve of remittances from overseas Pakistanis could, in theory, bring the government to its knees.
Heeding that call, 28-year-old Muhammad Waseem, a devoted supporter of Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party who works in Doha, Qatar, telephoned his family in Punjab, Pakistan, to tell them he would be temporarily halting the monthly instalments of cash he was sending them since moving to the Middle East last August.
How Pakistan’s Imran Khan is losing a remittance war against the government
Despite Khan’s calls to the diaspora to stop sending money back home, remittances are soaring — even from supporters.
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