Imran Khan, the Chairman of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and former prime minister, fears he may be arrested by police in Islamabad when he appears in court on Tuesday to get bail in several cases, a private TV channel reported.
“On Tuesday, I’m going to make an appearance for various bails in Islamabad, [there are] 80 chances that I will be arrested. So right now there’s no rule of law,” he said while speaking in an interview with Fareed Zakaria on CNN. “Everything is being done just to dismantle our democracy, so right now, as we speak, over 10,000 workers have been arrested. My entire senior leadership is in jail.”
Imran Khan told CNN that the situation in Pakistan was such that even the decisions of judges and courts were being discarded. “Recently one of the high court judges cried when a PTI leader he had given bail to was re-arrested,” he said. “The Supreme Court chief justice when he says elections are to be held on May 14, his decisions are disregarded as well,” the former prime minister said.Terming the current period an “unpredictable time”, former prime minister Imran Khan has expressed his fear over the coalition government not holding the national elections later in October this year. “My worry now is that they won’t hold the national elections even in October,” he said. “I fear they will hold the elections until they are clear that PTI won’t win.” He said that his party had won by-elections and said that the PDM was therefore “petrified” of polls. “They fear PTI will come into power and everything is being done now to dismantle democracy.”PTI Chairman Imran Khan has claimed that the government wanted to “bump him off” because it was scared of losing elections.
According to Imran, these actions are driven by the government’s desire to eliminate him from the political landscape, stemming from their fear of losing the upcoming general elections. Drawing attention to a past assassination attempt on his life, the former cricketer also expressed lingering concerns for his personal safety. “In November, there was an assassination attempt which I had predicted. I had been warning that they are going to use this so-called religious fanatic who was going to kill me and then, just like Salman Taseer, our governor, he was killed by a religious fanatic…so they were going to use that to bump me off,” he responded to a question on whether he felt safe after the gun attack in Wazirabad.
“The reason [for the assassination attempt] was that they had lost all the by-elections and the party was getting more and more popular. So I knew that my life was in danger and I sort of had to speak publicly about it.” The former prime minister voiced apprehension regarding the intentions of the coalition PDM government towards the scheduled national elections in October, raising concerns over the possibility that the polls might be postponed until the government is confident that PTI does not succeed. Imran further highlighted the success of PTI in previous by-elections, which he believes has unsettled the ruling alliance, heightening their anxiety about facing his party in the upcoming polls.
The PTI chief characterised the current period as “unpredictable”, stressing the significance of a robust defence system for Pakistan’s stability. Imran acknowledged his past collaboration with former army chief General (retd) Qamar Javed Bajwa. However, he claimed that, during the last six months of PTI’s government, attempts were made to remove him from power. He emphasised the importance of a unified Pakistan and urged the avoidance of confrontations with the army, warning that even in the event of a victory against the military, it would ultimately result in a loss for the country.
In a separate interview with Al Jazeera, the ex-prime minister said he does not have any issue with the country’s current army chief, but accused Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Asim Munir of trying to obstruct his return to power. During the interview, Imran expressed his puzzlement over General Munir’s apparent animosity towards him, stating, “I haven’t done anything to antagonise the army chief, but there is something he has against me which I don’t know.” He accused the police of arresting around 7,500 protestors believed to be affiliated with his party. However, he urged his supporters to remain peaceful in the event of his re-arrest, cautioning that the government, led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, may exploit instances of violence to crack down on opposition activists and leaders.
Imran further highlighted the arrest of the entire top leadership of his party and revealed that there are approximately 150 cases pending against him, making his arrest a possibility. However, he asserted, “You cannot arrest an idea whose time has come.” Meanwhile, the PTI chairman rejected a report by The Telegraph which claimed that he had previously dismissed Gen Asim as head of the ISI after the general brought corruption allegations to his attention involving his wife, Bushra Khan. “This is completely false. Neither did Gen Asim show me any proof of my wife’s corruption nor did I make him resign because of that,” he wrote on Twitter.
