Democracy in Pakistan is at “an all-time low”, Imran Khan claimed in an interview- a first since being bailed. The Shahbaz Sharif government is “petrified of elections” and they fear being “wiped out” by his party at the polls, the former prime minister told Sky News.
“So they have decided that the only way they will allow elections is if I am inside jail or killed. There have been two attempts on me,” Imran Khan said.
My house was raided when I was away, he added condemning “all violence” when asked about alleged violence by protesters.
“Democracy is at an all-time low. The only hope we have is the judiciary,” he asserted. This comes after the former premier was arrested earlier this week on corruption charges to be later released on bail following a ruling from Pakistan’s High Court.
Following his arrest, countrywide violence sparked which left at least 10 people dead and dozens injured.
“The first time they showed me an arrest warrant was inside the jail. It happens in the law of the jungle, the military abducted me. Where were the police? Where is the law? It’s the law of the jungle. It seems there is martial law declared here,” Imran Khan said.
Pakistan Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif criticised his release saying there was a “genuine corruption case” against Imran Khan, “but the judiciary has become a stone wall protecting him”.
Pakistan’s information minister, Marriyum Aurangzeb, defended his arrest, saying, “A person who has defied court, who does not abide by the law, who avoid courts and who thinks he’s untouchable and cannot be questioned, has to be treated the way every citizen is treated.”
“If we wanted to arrest him or silence him because of his popularity, we would not have waited 14 months,” she said.
