Committee to lead party if I'm arrested: Imran Khan

I have made a committee which will obviously take decisions once - if - I'm inside, says Imran

LAHORE:

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan has formed a committee to lead his party if he is arrested, he told Reuters on Saturday, hours before his appearance before a court that had issued arrest warrants for him.

The former prime minister has led country-wide protests after his ouster from power last year and has had a spate of cases registered against him. The police unsuccessfully tried to arrest him on Tuesday, leading to intense clashes with his party workers.

"I have made a committee which will obviously take decisions once - if - I'm inside" jail, the 70-year-old said in an interview in his Lahore home before heading to Islamabad early on Saturday. He said there were 94 cases against him.

Imran, who was shot and wounded while campaigning in November, says the threat to his life is greater than before and asserted - without providing evidence - that his political opponents and the establishment want to block him from standing in elections later this year.

The establishment and government did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comments.

Imran said there is no reason he should be arrested now, because he had bail on all his cases. If convicted in a case, the PTI chief could face disqualification from contesting the elections scheduled for November.

"The establishment right now somehow feels threatened by me. And that is the issue," he said.

Read PTI urges SC to take suo motu to 'save and protect' Imran

The police attempt to arrest Imran led to clashes in which dozens of people were injured.

"My life is even more at threat than it was then," he said, adding that he was worried about the reaction to his arrest or any attempt to assassinate him. "I feel that there would be a very strong reaction, and it would be a reaction all over Pakistan."

The former prime minister has generated popular support among Pakistanis amid decades-high inflation and a crippling economic slowdown as the country implements painful fiscal reforms to avert default. Thousands have rallied behind him every time he has called for demonstrations.

"I just think that those who are trying to do this just cannot comprehend the situation. Unfortunately, the mind that is thinking of either killing me or putting me in jail, I don't think they comprehend where Pakistan is situated right now."

Imran said the military had a role in pushing him out of power after relations soured with the previous army chief, General Qamar Javed Bajwa, who retired in November. He said the new chief was following the same policy.