Pakistan's parliament has officially disbanded, yet the upcoming polls slated within 90 days are likely to face postponement. The electoral commission cites the need to redraw electoral boundaries based on new census data, a process expected to span several months.

Last week saw the arrest and subsequent imprisonment of former prime minister Imran Khan, who was subsequently banned from political engagement for five years. Khan had openly confronted the influential military establishment, asserting their fear of elections.

Following President Arif Alvi's directive to dissolve the National Assembly on Wednesday, a caretaker government is poised to assume control. The outgoing Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and his administration have been granted a three-day window to designate an interim leader.

A senior official from the Election Commission of Pakistan informed the BBC that elections would transpire post-completion of the census, a procedure anticipated to span approximately four months. Consequently, the elections might encounter a delay until the following year.

Sharif, emphasizing the necessity of "national unity" for the nation's progress, recently conveyed to reporters that elections might not materialize this year.

Speculations arise that the election postponement stems from the ruling Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) coalition's lack of confidence in winning at the polls, due to Imran Khan's enduring popularity and the lingering impacts of soaring inflation despite an International Monetary Fund bailout.

Despite their once-close relationship, Mr. Khan has rattled the military like no other politician before him. Senior analyst Rasool Bakhsh Raees even reckons that the former cricket star's detention will increase his popularity.

In May, Mr Khan's arrest on corruption charges sparked nationwide protests that saw at least eight deaths and some 1,400 arrests, amid unprecedented attacks on military property and buildings.

The 70-year-old, who is appealing his conviction on graft charges, has claimed that the military's goal was to "eventually put me into prison and to crush my party."

But the rule remains the same: anyone who challenges Pakistan's military, even someone with the charisma and international stature of Mr Khan, must go. The former cricket star is simply the latest politician since the 1970s to find this out the hard way.

As former senator Afrasiab Khattak told the BBC, there are two systems of government operating in parallel. Now, "the unsanctioned, de facto force wants to take over the parliamentary process," said Mr Khattak. "Pakistan's military has always been powerful, but they want more powers so that their unsanctioned rule is not challenged either by politicians, activists, or journalists."

Perhaps this was why two draconian laws were tabled in the National Assembly last week, in a bid to further enhance the powers of the military and intelligence agencies.

Proposed amendments to the century-old Official Secrets Act will broadly empower the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and Intelligence Bureau (IB) to arrest citizens over "suspected breach of official secrets". In addition, a new bill recommends a three-year jail term for anyone who discloses the identity of an intelligence official.

The amendments provoked a ruckus in parliament, with both the opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and PML-N's coalition partners calling the government out for passing "draconian laws in haste" and without discussion.

Senator Mushtaq Ahmed of Jamaat-e-Islami also warned that the Official Secrets Act amendment will grant intelligence agencies "extraordinary powers" of arrest and search without a warrant. "This will have an impact on human rights, individual rights and press freedom across the country."

The Pakistani intelligence services are regularly accused of illegally detaining opposition members, politicians, activists, and journalists, with human rights organizations noting the increasing number of enforced disappearances every month.

In the month of July alone, 157 more cases of enforced disappearances were reported, according to the government-led Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances.

The bills have been sent to President Alvi, a co-founder of the PTI, and must be signed by him before they can be legislated into law.

Too bad

Really