Imran 80% sure of his arrest tomorrow

PTI chairman rebuts allegations of ‘sacking’ Gen Asim as DG ISI in 2019

LAHORE:

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan has said there are 80% chances that he will be arrested again when he appears for bails in various cases in Islamabad on Tuesday (tomorrow).

While giving an interview to CNN on Sunday, the former prime minister said: “On Tuesday, I am to appear in Islamabad for bails and there are 80 per cent chances I will be arrested. Right now, there is no rule of law in the country. We are heading towards the law of the jungle and might is right in the country.”

Imran pointed out that one of the judges even cried saying that he granted people bail and they were rearrested when they went out of court. Even the “the Supreme Court of Pakistan chief justice’s ruling regarding holding elections on May 14 has been discarded”.

To a question, Imran said: “How can you win by taking on your own army. I mean even if you win, it’s a firing victory; the country loses. Pakistan needs a powerful army […] all you have to do is to look around the Muslim world. Just look at the devastation that is going on there. I am a firm believer that the country needs a strong defence and it needs to be able to defend itself as it did in the war on terror.”

Former premier said: “I never had a problem with the army. I was working with them; I was working with Gen [(retd) Qamar Javed] Bajwa. What happened that [forced] he (Bajwa) decided to switch horses, abandoned me and toppled my government? Still, I am not sure of his motives. I never knew what happened. One could have thought that he might have struck a deal with the incumbent prime minister (Shehbaz Sharif) for his extension, but I never knew what happened. I only know that in the last six months, he just worked to remove my government and he openly, afterwards, in an interview claimed he decided that I was too dangerous for the country so my government was ousted. Since then, all I have said is the solution to Pakistan’s problems is free and fair elections.”

Imran underscored that free and fair elections were the only way to bring political stability in the country because without it, the economy would remain stagnant.

“We are now in the worst situation than Sri Lanka was. Pakistan has never had an economy in such a tailspin as it is in right now. The only way you can bring economic stability is through political stability which will come through elections,” he reiterated.

Read Imran agrees to cooperate with NAB

He said it was a fact of 75 years that the army had ruled thrice directly through martial laws. In the last 60 years, half the time, the country was ruled by the army and the rest by two families, Bhuttos and Sharifs.

“Now, the problem I am facing is that somehow the PDM parties have aligned themselves with the establishment and convinced them that if there are elections, they are going to lose, which is a fact. Now, in order to keep me out, the whole democratic system is being dismantled. The government does not listen to the Supreme Court and does not follow the Constitution. The way they had used the pretext of arson […] they blamed us for the arson when I was grabbed from the high court by the army and the way I was grabbed, there was a reaction. But they have used that reaction, unfortunately, to dismantle the party. Over 10,000 PTI workers have been jailed – a lot of women have been jailed, which has never happened before. They are now thinking to try us in the military courts,” Imran said.

To another question, the PTI chief said: “Ever since I came out of jail, my house is surrounded by the police. There are check points. Whoever comes to my house is checked and they have to walk a distance as the main roads connected to my house are blocked.”

He highlighted that one evening, he learned that the government announced that there were 40 terrorists hiding in his house and the police were coming to looking for them. So he opened his house for the media to see where the terrorists were, he added.

Imran said the two provincial assemblies Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab, which made 70% of Pakistan, had no legitimate government. “We dissolved our governments in both the provinces and the Constitution is clear that elections have to be held within 90 days.

“However, the government was reluctant to hold elections so we went to the Supreme Court. The top court ruled that the elections must be held within 90 days and gave the date of May 14 for the elections of Punjab.

“The government refused […] they violated the Constitution and the orders of the Supreme Court. Now, I worry that even the national elections, which are scheduled for October, would not be held unless and until the government is sure that the PTI won’t win.

“They are petrified of elections and because they are scared that the PTI and I will come back to power. My entire senior leadership is in jail and around 10,000 workers have been arrested.”

Imran said, “My life is in danger because the government feels that even if they put me in prison, the popularity of my party is at such a level right now, they won’t win [the elections].”

Meanwhile, the PTI chairman rebutted allegations of “sacking” General Asim Munir as the director general of the country’s top spy agency in 2019 for showing proofs of corruption against the then first lady.

Also read Former first lady, spiritual leader: Who is Bushra Bibi?

On an article published in a renowned British newspaper, The Telegraph, the former premier tweeted, “The article claims that I had made Gen Asim resign as the DG ISI because he had shown me my wife Bushra begum’s corruption cases.”

The article claims that I had made Gen Asim resign as DG ISI because he had shown me my wife Bushra begums corruption cases .

This is completely false. Neither did Gen Asim show me any proofs of my wife's corruption nor did I make him resign because of that.…

— Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) May 21, 2023

Imran rebutted, “This is completely false. Neither did Gen Asim show me any proof of my wife's corruption nor did I make him resign because of that.”

The article read, “Gen Munir was head of the military intelligence, looking after the army’s internal affairs, and then head of the ISI (Inter-Services Intelligence). It was as the ISI chief that he is reported to have first clashed with Mr Khan, who was the then prime minister. Gen Munir is reported to have informed Mr Khan he wanted to investigate allegations of corruption around his wife and her circle.

“Then, in June 2019, he was removed from his post only eight months into what was meant to be a three-year term. The army offered no explanation for the reshuffle, which saw Gen Munir shipped off to lead an army corps in Punjab and replaced with a hardliner.”

Quoting Farzana Shaikh of London’s Chatham House think tank, the newspaper states: “Munir has been described as a straight arrow by people who know him and he clearly ran into difficulty with Khan when he decided as head of the ISI to bring to his attention that there were corruption allegations against members of his family.

“It came pretty close to the bone because members of the family centre on Khan’s wife. So Khan is said to have dismissed Munir on those grounds, although Khan has never referred to the reasons, or explained why.

“It’s well known that the two men clashed and this clash is now playing itself out in this latest battle. Mr Khan now blames the army chief for scheming to keep him from power, suggesting he fears for his post if Mr Khan regains office. Neither the army nor Gen Munir have responded to Mr Khan’s claims.”

However, Minister for Information and Broadcasting Marriyum Aurangzeb called the PTI chairman a “liar” for trying to refute a news article on his wife Bushra Bibi’s alleged corruption and unceremonious removal of the former chief of an institution.

“If this wasn’t the reason, what was? Do tell! The only reason you can’t give another reason is because you know that this is the real reason. Liar,” the minister said while responding to Imran Khan’s rebuttal.

Further, expressing solidarity with PTI leader Firdous Shamim Naqvi over his arrest, Imran also tweeted: “Firdous joined me 27 years ago and shared my dream of Pakistan as a just and humane society. He faced all our ups and downs (most of the first 14 years were downs) and took a strong character rooted in a powerful belief system to not give up despite so many disappointments.

“He has been recovering from cancer and has handled the disease with remarkable dignity and strength. To jail a man like him on terrorism shows how low those in power have fallen.”