‘Don’t have a problem with army chief,’ Imran Khan says
Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Imran Khan has told Al Jazeera he has no “problem” with the country’s army chief, but accuses the Chief of Staff of the Army (COAS), General Asim Munir, of trying to prevent he comes back to power.
“I don’t have a problem with him, but he seems to have a problem with me,” Khan said in an interview with Al Jazeera on Saturday after the civilian government said it would use a controversial army law to try followers of his Pakistani Tehreek-e . -Insaf (PTI) party involved in damaging military installations.
“I have done nothing to antagonize the army chief, but he has something against me that I do not know,” the former prime minister and head of the PTI party said a week after blaming General Munir for the orders from his army. to arrest.
Speaking from his hometown in the eastern city of Lahore, the 70-year-old leader accused police of arresting 7,500 protesters, believed to be from his party. Khan urged his supporters to remain peaceful in case he is arrested again, adding that the government led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will use violence to crack down on activists and opposition leaders.
“Totally top leadership [of the party] being arrested. You know, there’s about 150 cases against me, so I’m about to be arrested. But the thing is, you can’t arrest an idea whose time has come,” Khan told Al Jazeera from his residence in Zaman Park, where he has been detained since May 13 after being released on bail.
Protests against his arrest on May 9 caused widespread unrest, with a mob of his alleged supporters storming and burning the residence of a top military commander in Lahore.
Call to end ‘arbitrary arrests’
Last week, the country’s civilian and military leaders said rioters and their backers who attacked Pakistan’s state-owned properties and military installations during protests will be tried under army law.
The move has been condemned by rights groups and activists, who claim it could violate citizens’ right to a fair trial.
On Saturday, Human Rights Watch (HRW) condemned the so-called “arbitrary arrests” of more than 4,000 people in the wake of the protests.
“Pakistan authorities must end their arbitrary arrests of political opposition activists and peaceful protesters,” said HRW Associate Asia Director Patricia Gossman.
Pakistan: mass arrests targeting political opposition https://t.co/vWbET6aRwq
— Human Rights Watch (@hrw) May 20, 2023
She urged that the “fair trial rights” of detainees be respected and that the authorities exercise restraint and respect human rights and the rule of law.
HRW underlined that Pakistan law requires all detainees to be brought before a court within 24 hours, which is in line with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Pakistan is a party.
“Fundamental guarantees of peaceful protest and due process must not become casualties of Pakistan’s political conflict,” Gossman said.
‘Didn’t do anything to antagonize army chief’
Khan was ousted following a parliamentary vote of no confidence last April, but he has accused the military, which has staged several coups against civilian governments since the South Asian country’s independence in 1947, of being behind his ousting.
Its popularity has soared as the country slides into its worst financial crisis in decades, with millions of Pakistanis facing food shortages. Since his ouster, Khan has staged dozens of mass rallies drawing tens of thousands of people to demand an early general election.
He reiterated his accusation that he knew that former army chief of staff Qamar Javed Bajwa was trying to oust him, adding that he could have used his power as prime minister to remove Bajwa from his post but decided against it because he didn’t want to get involved. with the military.
“[The] army is an institution you don’t interfere with…’, he said.
‘Government and established order want to crush PTI’
The government has blamed Khan’s supporters for causing damage to military assets and has subpoenaed him for failing to condemn the violent protests that followed his arrest.
Khan quickly defended himself, saying he was unaware of the violent protest while he was detained, and accused police of killing 25 of his “unarmed supporters”.
“If I end up in prison again, I don’t want violence [as] it feeds the story of the PDM [Pakistan Democratic Movement]”, he said, referring to the alliance of 12 political parties that launched the vote of no confidence against him last year.
“These parties are terrified of us, so they want to use violence to suppress us,” the former prime minister said, adding that the dozens of criminal cases filed against him and the arrest of his party’s top are aimed at prevent him from contesting the upcoming general election.
“Each [opinion] research says we will win the election with a two-thirds majority, so the government and establishment want to crush PTI,” Khan said.