Army should have nothing to do with governance: Imran

PTI chief still sees 2023 as election year, warns that there will be a reaction if he is put in jail

KARACHI:

Former prime minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan says that the army should have nothing to do with the governance of the country, and that anyone who thinks otherwise lives in a fool’s paradise.

In an interview with the BBC on Monday, Imran said that he would make new appointments to the positions left vacant after the departure of several party leaders following the violence in the country on May 9.

Imran said that he was currently reviewing the political situation, adopting a wait-and-see policy.

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"First of all, I will make appointments to the vacant positions in order to bring young people forward," he said. However, the PTI chairman expressed his fear that the new office-bearers might also be detained, adding that it was even possible that he himself would be put in jail.

When asked whether his party was weakened by the exodus of several party leaders, he said political parties are only weakened when their vote bank starts shrinking.

"My position will be weakened when I lose my vote bank," he said. "You may think that this is a big crisis for me, but I don't think so. In fact, we are facing martial law. I wonder what they want to get out of all this. Our economic indicators are pointing to the worst-case scenario."

About his offer of talks with the government, Imran said that he was "curious to know" how the country would benefit from the exclusion of the PTI from the race. "I have told them [that if] you convince me what is best for Pakistan, I will agree," he said.

Responding to a question about the May 9 incidents – in which government buildings, including sensitive military installations were attacked – Imran claimed that he had never said anything to his supporters that would have resulted in incidents like those on May 9.

When asked specifically about the PTI’s slogan that "Imran Khan is our red line", the former prime minister replied that a term like ‘red line’ means a country where there was no rule of law, where people are picked up.

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"If in such a situation they put me in jail, there will be a reaction. If they say that Imran Khan is our red line, should I say that I am not a red line? What should I have said," the PTI chairman remarked.

Imran asked when "having a political opposition, holding public meetings, creating awareness among the people and mobilising them for the elections became obstacles in the way of democracy?"

"Democracy ends when there is no opposition," he added.

The embattled former prime minister still sees 2023 as the year of elections. “We will campaign for this election in any case. Our entire party, all the senior leadership has been put in jail. If there was rule of law, this wouldn’t have happened."