PTI chief claims govt, its supporters trying to get him arrested and disqualified from contesting elections
\nnews desk
\nLAHORE
\nPakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman and former prime minister Imran Khan on Thursday said that he is \u201cready\u201d to talk to the establishment.
\nIn an interview with BBC Urdu, Imran said that all he wants is to hold elections in the country and for that, he is \u201cready to talk to anyone\u201d and does not need crutches.
\n\u201cI 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\u2026 except thieves,\u201d said Imran.
\nFurther, 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, \u201cThere have been rumours that I want to talk to the army chief but I don\u2019t need the establishment. A party with which the people of the country are with does not need crutches.\u201d When asked if the change in military leadership made any difference to him in the attitude of the establishment towards his party, he said, \u201cit didn\u2019t make any difference to us.\u201d \u201cCases 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,\u201d Imran said.
\nHe 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.
\nThe deposed premier said that the job of the caretaker government is to conduct elections. \u201cHow can elections be held without election campaigns and rallies?\u201d he questioned.
\nOn 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.
\nThe 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
\nThe PTI chief said that this type of violence is a tactic \u201cto run away from the election\u201d and urged party workers not be a part of any chaos \u201cso that the government does not get a chance to run away from the election\u201d.
\n\u201cIf 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,\u201d he said.
\n\u2018Govt doesn\u2019t want elections\u2019
\nImran said that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has given the election dates on the order of the Supreme Court, but \u201cit seems that the government does not want to hold the election\u201d.
\n\u201cAll 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,\u201d he said.
\nWhen 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. \u201cIf elections aren\u2019t held, the constitution and law will be destroyed,\u201d he said.
\nHe furthered that the government \u201cwants me to be disqualified or go to jail so that it can win this election\u201d.
\nImran said that he had won the 2018 election because the nation had turned against the government parties. \u201cGiven the current inflation, these parties have been completely buried,\u201d he said.
\nHe said that \u201ccommon 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\u2019s problems\u201d.
\nElahi \u2018No 2\u2019 PTI leader
\nRegarding Pervaiz Elahi\u2019s appointment as PTI president, Imran said that he is the vice-chairman and number two leader of the party. \u201cPervaiz Elahi bore the pressure of the establishment and stayed with us in difficult times, so the position was given to him,\u201d he said.
\nGovt \u2018petrified\u2019 of elections
\nIn an interview with Al-Jazeera yesterday, Imran said that the coalition government is \u201cpetrified\u201d of losing the elections, accusing them of trying to get him arrested and disqualified from contesting elections.
\n\u201cThe 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,\u201d he said.
\n\u201cThey 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\u2019s history,\u201d the PTI chief added.
\nReferring to the clash between the police and PTI workers at the rally yesterday, Imran said that \u201cit is clear that the government does not want elections,\u201d he said.
\n\u201cPolice 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,\u201d the ousted premier said.
\n\u2018My life under threat\u2019
\nReferring 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.
\n\u201cMy life is under threat because the people who tried to assassinate me are in power \u2026 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,\u201d he added.
\nThe PTI chief dismissed the cases against him as \u201cfrivolous\u201d saying that they are \u201cjust another way to have me out of the way to contest the elections\u201d.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s just a question on how do you deal with 76 cases \u2013 how many court appearances do you make?\u201d Imran said, stressing that he could not keep showing up to court due to injuries suffered from the assassination attempt.
\n\u201cFor four months I had three bullets in my legs so I couldn\u2019t walk,\u201d he said, adding that he has repeatedly asked for security during court appearances but adequate security measures were not taken.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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 \u201cready\u201d to talk to the establishment. In an interview with BBC Urdu, Imran said that all he wants is to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":308683,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-318485","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-top-news"},"yoast_head":"\n