PTI chief claims govt, its supporters trying to get him arrested and disqualified from contesting elections
news desk
LAHORE
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman and former prime minister Imran Khan on Thursday said that he is “ready” to talk to the establishment.
In an interview with BBC Urdu, Imran said that all he wants is to hold elections in the country and for that, he is “ready to talk to anyone” and does not need crutches.
“I was asked if I would talk to the establishment should they want to talk. I said that I am a politician and will talk to everyone… except thieves,” said Imran.
Further, the former prime minister clarified that he has not invited Chief of Army Staff General Asim Munir or Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to talk. He said, “There have been rumours that I want to talk to the army chief but I don’t need the establishment. A party with which the people of the country are with does not need crutches.” When asked if the change in military leadership made any difference to him in the attitude of the establishment towards his party, he said, “it didn’t make any difference to us.” “Cases were made against us during the tenure of General Bajwa. Never before has there been so much custodial violence against seniors. We thought this would change when the new chief comes, but difficulties have only increased,” Imran said.
He furthered that the Supreme Court has ordered elections to be held in 90 days and the president has announced the same. However, when the PTI held an election rally, there was a police crackdown, vehicles were broken, a water cannon was used and people were arrested.
The deposed premier said that the job of the caretaker government is to conduct elections. “How can elections be held without election campaigns and rallies?” he questioned.
On Wednesday, dozens of PTI supporters were arrested and injured while one was killed in a police crackdown on an election rally around Zaman Park in Lahore.
The police had used baton charge, shelling and a water cannon to disperse the rally while the PTI workers also pelted the police with stones. In this clash, several policemen were also injured
The PTI chief said that this type of violence is a tactic “to run away from the election” and urged party workers not be a part of any chaos “so that the government does not get a chance to run away from the election”.
“If we wanted, the fight would have continued till night, but we do not want to give them a chance to get out of the elections by creating chaos,” he said.
‘Govt doesn’t want elections’
Imran said that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has given the election dates on the order of the Supreme Court, but “it seems that the government does not want to hold the election”.
“All kinds of excuses are still being given as to why elections should not be held. I am afraid that they will kill a big personality like Benazir Bhutto. They are trying to somehow get out of the election,” he said.
When asked what would happen if the election does not take place, Imran asserted that this would be contempt of court as it would be a violation of the constitution and Supreme Court orders. “If elections aren’t held, the constitution and law will be destroyed,” he said.
He furthered that the government “wants me to be disqualified or go to jail so that it can win this election”.
Imran said that he had won the 2018 election because the nation had turned against the government parties. “Given the current inflation, these parties have been completely buried,” he said.
He said that “common sense says that all the elections should not be held together. This will also be better for the country. Let the people choose who they want. The government that will come will solve the country’s problems”.
Elahi ‘No 2’ PTI leader
Regarding Pervaiz Elahi’s appointment as PTI president, Imran said that he is the vice-chairman and number two leader of the party. “Pervaiz Elahi bore the pressure of the establishment and stayed with us in difficult times, so the position was given to him,” he said.
Govt ‘petrified’ of elections
In an interview with Al-Jazeera yesterday, Imran said that the coalition government is “petrified” of losing the elections, accusing them of trying to get him arrested and disqualified from contesting elections.
“The government and its backers are petrified of elections because so far in the last eight months, out of the 37 by-elections, my party has won 30 out of them,” he said.
“They want to either arrest or disqualify me because they are scared [of the fact] that my party is one of the most popular in Pakistan’s history,” the PTI chief added.
Referring to the clash between the police and PTI workers at the rally yesterday, Imran said that “it is clear that the government does not want elections,” he said.
“Police had given permission and approved the route of the rally, but suddenly this [Wednesday] morning the permission was taken away. Heavy contingent of police was deployed and people coming to attend peaceful rally were hit with tear gas shells and water cannon,” the ousted premier said.
‘My life under threat’
Referring to his assassination attempt, Imran told Al-Jazeera that his life is in danger. He claimed that those who tried to kill him are in power, questioning how he could run an election campaign and attend his court hearings in such circumstances.
“My life is under threat because the people who tried to assassinate me are in power … The question is how do I campaign and secure a safe environment? How do I go to courts? I made three court appearances and unfortunately there was just no protection there,” he added.
The PTI chief dismissed the cases against him as “frivolous” saying that they are “just another way to have me out of the way to contest the elections”.
“It’s just a question on how do you deal with 76 cases – how many court appearances do you make?” Imran said, stressing that he could not keep showing up to court due to injuries suffered from the assassination attempt.
“For four months I had three bullets in my legs so I couldn’t walk,” he said, adding that he has repeatedly asked for security during court appearances but adequate security measures were not taken.
