LAHORE: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan has said democracy in Pakistan is at an ‘all-time low’, terming the judiciary as the only hope for the country in the prevailing situation.
He said some individuals resembling commandos suddenly appeared at the time of his arrest. “I thought they came for my security. However, I soon realized that they were after me,” he said while talking to a foreign private news channel on Sunday.
He claimed that they first time they showed me an arrest warrant, when I was inside the jail. “It happens in the law of the jungle.”
PTI chief Imran Khan returns home after arrest, riots
He said he has displayed unwavering determination and readiness to face imprisonment once again. “I am ready to go to jail again.”
He said that the coalition government, led by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) was petrified of elections, adding that they feared being “wiped out” by his party at the polls.
He said that the government had decided that the only way they would allow elections was if “I am inside the jail or killed”.
He expressed concern over what he called rights violations in Pakistan following his arrest earlier this week, lamenting that democracy in the country is at “an all-time low”.
He also narrated how his residence had been raided by the police on two occasions. During one of these raids, he said, the authorities forcefully broke down the doors of his house in his wife’s presence terming it an unprecedented and unsettling situation for him.
Stressing the deteriorating condition of democracy in Pakistan, the former premier said that approximately 150 cases had been lodged against him, a huge number of cases that had not been filed against any other politicians in the country.
He reprised his faith in the judiciary and deemed it the “only hope” in restoring the rights and freedoms of the people.
Khan said that it was due to the threats to his life that a judge previously issued orders for his protection. The PTI chairman also spoke about the violation of fundamental rights in the country, which he claimed had reached unprecedented levels.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023