The writer is author of The Bhutto Dynasty: The Struggle for Power in Pakistan. COMPARED to other Pakistani civilian leaders Imran Khan has had it easy. Although there may have been tension between him and the army, he has never had reason to fear that his government was about to be overthrown. That is something others have not enjoyed. Right from the start of his time in power, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was on a path of confrontation with the military. He always believed the most significant threat to his holding on to power was a military coup and he devoted considerable amounts of his political capital to trying to avoid that outcome. One of his last prison cell requests was for books by the German wartime dictator Adolf Hitler. He said he wanted to understand how Hitler, unlike himself, had been able to control his generals.