On November 3, while he was leading a march to Pakistan’s capital demanding fresh elections, the country’s ousted prime minister, Imran Khan, was the target of an assassination attempt. Thankfully, given Pakistan’s long history of former government leaders meeting violent deaths, Khan survived with minor injuries, although one person was killed.

In subsequent speeches, Khan has directly accused the Pakistani military establishment of trying to get rid of him. His furious supporters have taken to the streets, often outside major military installations, to demand accountability. This is an outpouring of anti-military sentiment without precedent in central Pakistan since the end of direct rule by the officer corps in 2007–8.

To understand where things now stand with Imran Khan’s project in Pakistan, we need to establish some historical and theoretical coordinates that can help make sense of the country’s recent political turbulence. Beneath the surface of events is a profound structural crisis that neither Khan nor his opponents will be able to address.