Pakistan's democracy at 'all-time low': Imran Khan

International Desk: Former Prime Minister and Chairman of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Imran Khan has claimed that democracy in Pakistan is at an 'all-time low'. The former star cricketer who won the World Cup made this claim in an exclusive interview with the UK media Sky News. In his first interview after being released on court-ordered bail, the former Prime Minister of Pakistan said that Shehbaz Sharif's government is 'terrified of elections' and that they (the government) are afraid of being 'defeated' by his party, the PTI, in the elections, according to the media. Imran Khan added: 'So the government has decided that they will go to the polls only if I am in jail or assassinated.' .

Imran Khan was originally shot in the leg during a rally in Punjab province in November last year. At that time, one person was also arrested along with the weapon from the 'assassination attempt'. Imran Khan was dramatically arrested from the Islamabad High Court premises last Tuesday in a corruption case. His arrest sparked severe unrest in the nuclear-armed country, and Pakistan's Supreme Court on Thursday ruled Imran's arrest illegal and illegal. Originally, the former Prime Minister of Pakistan, Imran Khan, was arrested outside the Islamabad High Court on Tuesday. He was arrested by Pakistan's paramilitary Rangers on a National Accountability Bureau (NAB) warrant in the Al-Qadir Trust case. This move by Pakistan's anti-corruption agency sparked violent protests across the country that day.

 

To control the situation, the government of Shehbaz Sharif was forced to call in the army to maintain order in several parts of the country, including Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab, Balochistan and Islamabad. Meanwhile, at least ten people were killed and many others injured after protests erupted across Pakistan against Imran Khan's arrest. In addition, law and order enforcement forces of Pakistan started mass arrests in response to the protests and so far around 3500 people have been arrested in the country. Besides, there were incidents of attacks on military installations and burning of other state buildings and assets during police clashes with supporters of Imran Khan during the protests. Even for the first time in Pakistan's history, there was an attack on the country's army headquarters in Rawalpindi and an attack and arson on the residence of the army corps commander in Lahore.

In an interview with Sky News, Imran Khan condemned 'all violence' when asked about the alleged violence by the protesters. He said, 'Pakistan's democracy is at an all-time low. Our only place of hope is the judiciary. Earlier last Friday, Imran said: "The first time they showed me the arrest warrant (I was) inside the jail. It is the law of the jungle, the military abducted me. Where was the police? Where is the law? It is the law of the jungle. It seems that martial law has been imposed here. Meanwhile, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif criticized Imran's release on Friday. That day, he said the case filed against Imran Khan was a 'genuine corruption case', 'but the judiciary has turned into a stone wall to protect him'.

The 70-year-old popular opposition leader from World Cup-winning cricket star-turned-politician was the prime minister from 2018 to 2022. On the other hand, Pakistan's Information Minister Maryam Aurangzeb spoke in favor of Imran Khan's arrest. He claimed to Sky News: 'A person who is in contempt of court, who does not obey the law, who avoids the court and who thinks that he is out of touch and cannot be questioned. Every citizen should be treated the way they are treated. Of course, Imran rejected the claim of Pakistan's information minister and said that there was a political motive behind his arrest. But Maryam Aurangzeb argued, 'If we wanted to arrest him or silence him because of his popularity, we would not have waited 14 months.

 

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