Former prime minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan said on Sunday that efforts were being made to stop him from returning to power, Aaj News reported.

In a televised address, Imran said the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) was afraid of him and wanted to block his way at any cost.

“Unfortunately, former army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa (retired) gave them another NRO. Now, they know that the NRO-2 will be reversed if I return to power,” Imran said.

Imran said the government wanted him out of electoral politics, and they were ready to go to any extent.

“They don’t want me to contest the upcoming elections, because they know that I will win the next election, and their politics will be over. This is why they want me out,” he said.

He said that the court’s job is to treat the weak and the powerful equally. However, in Pakistan, the powerful always consider themselves above the law.

“The ruling coalition does not want the rule of law, as this will expose their corruption. They have bought judges in the past to take favourable verdicts. They want to pressurise the judiciary again to save their ill-gotten money,” he noted.

In his address, Imran Khan said Pakistan had come to a very critical point, if correct decisions are not taken, the country will suffer a great loss.

The PTI chief said one of the options for them to compete against the “tyrant government” was street agitation. But they started the “Jail Bharo Movement” instead, as the country’s economy could not survive instability.

The former premier reiterated his stance that elections were the only option to come out of this economic and political quagmire but feared that the government would try to delay elections.

He appreciated the role of the judiciary in upholding the rule of law and insisted that only the judiciary could ensure the supremacy of the Constitution thus pinning his hope on the superior courts for early elections.

“I salute our judiciary on behalf of the nation. All our hopes are pinned on the judiciary,” he remarked.

Imran said during the PTI era, these people used to raise slogans of “respect the vote”, but are now scared of elections. They will only announce elections once they know the grounds have been prepared.

He claimed that the PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif wanted him arrested and disqualified before agreeing to early elections.