I have watched taimur rehman stuff before. In fact when I stopped listening to him was when he said the recent coup had no US involvement on Luna Oi's show and then the leaked memos came out that they did. He is a bhutto fan boy and that family sucks. So do the Sharifs, Zardaris, other elites and the military. Feudalist are not socialists, sorry not sorry bhutto family.

Is religion a particularly strong factor there? Yes, not the only one. Religious parties never win in elections there though and even trump pretended to read the Bible to kiss evangelical ass here. That's just how it goes.

Did Imran Khan use religious principles to garner support for social welfare programs and speak up for the oppressed? Sure did, it's a country full of Muslims after all. Did he give Sikhs access to their holy sites in a gesture of tolerance? Yep.

Did he win an election free and fair despite being pushtoon, a minority in Pakistan? Yep, and he is even further in the polls now despite tens of thousands of political arrests and military crackdowns. He even wins in Punjab province. People will put aside their differences there for a leader of good conscience, efficacy aside (even his fans admit he made mistakes, but he is a decent person).

Is Urdu a national language there? Yes, so is English actually. It has more English speakers than England even.

While I am not disagreeing with you 100%, I don't want to condemn pakistanis as too religious/ culturally bias to have better lives. It would take more than a few families and the military stripped of their wealth and power there but it would be a great start.

Edit: I also wanted to make it clear that I am glad we are having this discussion as we both clearly care about the country. No animosity on my part.