Imran Khan: ‘Why has UK not spoken up about Pakistan dismantling democracy?’
- 22nd Prime Minister of Pakistan from 2018 to 2022
Imran Khan has criticised the United Kingdom for not speaking up on behalf of his opposition party, which he says is being systematically eradicated by Pakistan’s powerful military in the “most draconian crackdown” in the country’s history.
More than 80 senior politicians from Mr Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) party have quit in recent weeks, with many claiming they were jailed or blackmailed into submitting their resignations.
“We hear condemnation from Washington and even Britain about what is going on in Hong Kong, what is happening to the Uyghurs in China and human rights in Russia,” Mr Khan told the Telegraph. “But, how come they aren’t talking about Pakistan, where a total dismantling of democratic structures is happening as we speak and fundamental rights are being violated every day?”
Mr Khan, 70, who studied PPE at Oxford University and was a fixture in London high society after leading Pakistan to the country’s sole Cricket World Cup victory in 1992, was ousted as Pakistan’s prime minister in April 2022 in a no-confidence motion.
His removal from power was widely seen to have been engineered by Pakistan’s establishment – the term given to its all-powerful military and intelligence services – and came months after a spectacular public falling out with the army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa.
Supporters took to the streets
He was arrested on May 9 by paramilitary forces after he repeatedly alleged that a general in the inter-services intelligence spy agency was behind an attempt on his life last year. Thousands of Mr Khan’s supporters took to the streets across Pakistan, breaking into the army’s headquarters in Rawalpindi and burning a commander’s home in Lahore.
About 10,000 of his supporters have since been jailed including his senior leadership, many of whom have then handed in their resignations from the PTI upon release in near-identical press conferences.
“Surely the embassies know what is going on here so it is a bit surprising that the media is now talking about it but not the countries who profess to have these values, what are called Western values,” said Mr Khan, who clutched Islamic prayer beads while speaking via video-call.
“What I fear the most is the workers crammed into jails. Where there is a capacity for a maximum of 20 people then 60 or 70 people are crammed in and they don’t get food – sometimes they are going two days without food,” he said, describing his arrest as a “pre-planned” scheme from the establishment to rile up his supporters.
“In some cases, we are seeing custodial torture. Two of our senior members were taken from their cell and to a special room where they were tortured. There are horrific stories coming out, particularly from women.”
Mr Khan added that the only way for his supporters to obtain their release was to say the “magic words” that they supported Pakistan’s army and would be leaving the PTI.
“About democracy, about human rights, about fundamental rights and against custodial torture, about constitutionalism. All that has gone out the window in Pakistan.”
Protections being removed
Those who have resigned since May 9 include Mr Khan’s former defence minister, finance minister, human rights minister, information minister and shipping minister, as well as dozens of other federal and state ministers.
“I want to understand why the establishment has decided that whatever happens, I should not come to power,” said Mr Khan. he said the establishment was attempting to remove any protection around him, from his political allies to the country’s judiciary, even impounding two bullet-proof vehicles that he uses to travel in.
Before the crackdown, Mr Khan’s party was favourite to win the planned general election in August and had triumphed in 28 out of the 37 by-elections held in Pakistan since April 2022. Polling by Republic Policy, an Islamabad-based think-tank, during May 10 to 15 showed that Mr Khan still enjoyed a 70 per cent approval rate. Shahbaz Sharif, the current prime minister, was behind with a mere 18 per cent.
Mr Khan expects that soon he will face re-arrest and will be tried in the country’s feared military courts, where he will receive a sentence that removes him from the country’s political landscape.
“The whole idea is that my party should be crippled, that I should be jailed and only then elections will be announced,” said Mr Khan.
“We are so far ahead in the opinion polls now that they won’t risk it by only rigging the elections as they still wouldn’t be able to get the desired result, so they want to crush the party and jail me. Then they will give an election date.”