WASHINGTON: The Time magazine on Tuesday published a cover story on former prime minister Imran Khan in its latest edition, putting his picture on the title page with the caption: ‘The Astonishing Saga of Imran Khan’.

The article caught the attention of PTI leaders as well, and former information minister Fawad Chaudhry immediately put it on his Twitter account, along with a picture of the title page.

It’s an article like most articles in Western magazines are; containing some praise and some criticism, analysing the current political situation in Pakistan and projecting the future, both for Pakistan and Mr Khan.

The magazine also did a Zoom interview with Mr Khan, but instead of a Q&A format, it used quotes from the interview throughout the article, some to highlight his achievements and some to back claims of his failures.

Some quotes were also used to back their projections, both positive and negative for Pakistan and Mr Khan.

The article, however, did project Imran Khan’s position that only elections can end the bitter political divide that the entire country is suffering from.

“Political stability in Pakistan comes through elections,” he said in the interview. “That is the starting point for economic recovery.”

The article, however, noted that Pakistan is “the world’s fifth most pop­ulous country,” which “has only $4.6 billion in foreign reserves —$20 per citizen”, indicating that this crisis cannot be solved by the elections alone.

“If they default, and they can’t get oil, companies go bust, and people don’t have jobs, you would say this is a country ripe for a Bolshevik revolution,” Cameron Munter, a former US ambassador to Pakistan, told Time.

The article was published hours before the Supreme Court rejected the Election Commission’s order to delay elections in Punjab and KP. So, it generated much debate in the social media and among scholars of Sou­th Asian affairs in the US.

The debate focused on three key points: Will the PDM government implement the Supreme Court’s verdict and hold elections in Punjab on May 14, as ordered? Will the army persuade the government to implement the order? And who will the US support?

The article answered the last question, saying that “from the US perspective, he (Mr. Khan) may be far from the ideal choice to helm an impoverished, insurgency-racked Islamic state”.