Raising serious doubts over whether the scheduled February 8 polls in Pakistan will be held, jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan reiterated his “engineered” removal from power in 2022 by the establishment “under pressure from America” and the lack of “level playing field” in the elections.
The charge in the article attributed to him in The Economist published on Thursday with the headline, Imran Khan warns that Pakistan elections could be a farce, has already been denied both by the Pakistan government and the US department of state.
The article paints a scathing criticism of Pakistan’s current political scenario even as it reiterates Khan’s oft-repeated allegations and ends with the demand for“free and fair” elections for political stability and the need for reforms. He also claims that “with democracy under siege”, Pakistan is “headed in the opposite direction”.
Founder of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) party, 71-year-old Khan is imprisoned at the Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi after being convicted in the Toshakhana corruption case and being tried under multiple other cases, including one under the Official Secrets Act in connection with the May 9 violent protests across Pakistan.
Khan’s nomination has been rejected by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) as is the case with that of many other leaders of his party ahead of the February 8 general elections for both national and provincial assemblies.
While expressing fears that the February 8 election may not take place at all, the article said that even if they do, such polls would be a “disaster and a farce” since PTI is being denied its basic right to campaign.
“Whether elections happen or not, the manner in which I and my party have been targeted… has made one thing clear: the establishment — the army, security agencies, and the civil bureaucracy — is not prepared to provide any playing field at all, let alone a level one, for PTI,” Khan wrote.
The PTI founder went on to describe in detail how his ouster in March-April 2022 was “engineered” under pressure from America, which he alleged, “was becoming agitated with my push for an independent foreign policy and my refusal to provide bases for its armed forces”.
Khan also said he wanted to be a friend and not anyone’s war proxy, an opinion shaped by the huge losses suffered by Pakistan while collaborating with US’s “war on terror”.
