Former Pakistan PM tells Al Jazeera the government and military want to ‘crush’ his PTI party ahead of the polls.
Former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has told Al Jazeera he does not “have a problem” with the country’s army chief but accused Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Asim Munir of trying to stop him from returning to power.
“I have no problem with him, but he seems to have a problem with me,” Khan told Al Jazeera in an interview on Saturday days after the civilian government said it will use a controversial army law to try supporters of his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party involved in damaging military installations.
“I haven’t done anything to antagonise the army chief, but there is something he has against me which I don’t know,” the former prime minister and head of the PTI party said.
The cricketer-turned-politician has accused Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif of being “a puppet” of the powerful army, which has carried out multiple coups against civilian governments since the South Asian country’s independence in 1947.
The 70-year-old leader, speaking from his residence in the eastern city of Lahore, accused the police of arresting 7,500 protestors believed to be from his party. Khan urged his supporters to remain peaceful in case he is arrested, adding that the government will use instances of violence to launch a crackdown on the opposition activists and leaders.
“Entire top leadership [of the party] is arrested. You know, there are about 150 cases on me, so I could be arrested any time. But the point is, you cannot arrest an idea whose time has come,” Khan told Al Jazeera from his Zaman Park residence, where he has been holed up since May 13 after his release on bail.
Protests against his May 9 arrest sparked widespread unrest, with a mob of his alleged supporters storming the residence of a top military commander in Lahore and setting it on fire.
Call to end ‘arbitrary arrests’
Last week, the country’s civilian and military leaders said rioters and their backers who attacked Pakistan’s state assets and military installations during protests will be tried under army law.
The move has been condemned by rights organisations and activists, who argue that this risks violating civilians’ right to due process.
On Saturday, Human Rights Watch (HRW) condemned what it called “arbitrary arrests” of more than 4,000 people in the wake of the protests.
“The Pakistani authorities should end their arbitrary arrests of political opposition activists and peaceful protesters,” said HRW’s Associate Asia Director Patricia Gossman.
