Govt sends mixed signals on arresting Imran Khan

The ruling coalition flashed on Monday mixed signals on its decision regarding the arrest of PTI chief Imran Khan and appeared to be maintaining a 'smoke and screens' line on whether it wanted the former prime behind the bars or not.

While asserting that they wouldn’t 'deign' to invest energies into political vendetta, the leading lights of the constituent parties of the coalition, however, seemed to agree to give their blessings to anything that took place with the "due legal course".

Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Marriyum Aurangzeb said that the coalition government doesn’t waste time in the meetings by discussing if PTI chief Imran Khan should be arrested or not in connection with threatening a sitting judge and the top cop of the capital.

The government’s spokesperson said that the PML-N-led government was not similar to the PTI-led government, saying the incumbent government won’t resort to the tactics that PTI did in its four years, especially, arresting its opponents.

Read more: Punjab promises foolproof security to Imran

Currently, the federal minister said that the government’s major focus was on the floods and the damage it was causing; the economy; foreign relations; and how the government could provide maximum relief to the masses, saying “we don’t have time for other things”.

The minister refuted the speculations that former president Asif Ali Zardari has opposed the move to arrest Imran Khan, saying the government was working for the betterment of the country and its people and its priority is to make things easier for people instead of politically targeting the opponents.

Marriyum said that “accountability is a major feature of the government’s agenda but it believes that everything should move ahead as per the law and not by the politically vested interests”. She said that “it doesn’t matter what government wants because everything will happen as per the law,” adding, “if we wanted to arrest Imran, we would have arrested him months ago but that’s not our focus.”

The minister said that ECP gave a decision against Imran Khan and FIA was seeking record from him but, in return, Imran was “bullying” them. Recalling that FIA had arrested PM Shehbaz Sharif twice, she said, FIA could move ahead against Imran as well, especially, when he was refusing to appear before it or give relevant records.

Commenting on the matter of Imran’s aide Dr Shahbaz Gill, Marriyum said that Gill’s case was a legal matter and is dealt with by the courts but Imran was making it a political matter. She said that Imran has been criticizing his opponents for a long time and he can continue doing so but attacking judges and police officials pushed the authorities concerned to take legal action against him.

In his public rallies, Imran has been criticizing the coalition government and campaigning for fresh elections since he was removed through a vote of no-confidence back in April.

Recently, the police booked him under the anti-terror law for threatening a judge and top police officials in a speech in which he spoke about police torture of his aide Shahbaz Gill, who faces charges of inciting mutiny in the military. Imran has alleged that Gill was subjected to torture, including sexual abuse, during police custody.

“Imran khan’s position that he can hold talks with Taliban but not with other mainstream political parties is only making matters worse,” PPP’s Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar said, “He has to realize that political dialogue is the only way forward.”

Commenting on the possible arrest of the PTI chief, Khokhar said that “after his speech and the subsequent registration of an FIR, his arrest could potentially take us to a political dead end.”

Khokhar said that the country was gripped by political crisis for the last several months and they were getting deeper with every passing day. “The most unfortunate part is that the political discourse is dominating the headlines rather than the natural calamity which has hit the people of Pakistan,” he regretted.

Also read: Imran Khan booked under terrorism charges

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s Focal Person on Digital Media and Technologies Ahmad Jawad said that “arresting anybody should be a legal consequent, not political victimisation”, saying “Imran Khan has committed serious crimes and he should be dealt with according to the law as a common citizen and not as Imran Khan.”

The PM’s aide said that the “law for powerful and weak should be the same,” saying “he [Imran] should be ready to face the law.” A key member of an allied party said that the case should be solid otherwise there was no point in arresting Imran. “Arrest will be counterproductive,” the member said, “[there] should be a court order if he is to be arrested”.

Because of his status of being a celebrity and head of one of the largest political parties, many political observers think that arresting Imran would be difficult, especially, after Sunday night’s episode when people gathered outside his Bani Gala residence to prevent authorities from arresting him.