Raising serious doubts over whether the scheduled February 8 polls in Pakistan will be held, jailed former prime minister Imran Khan has 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 write-up attributed to him in The Economist published on Thursday with the title ‘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 write-up 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 incarcerated at the Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi, 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 by his supporters that damaged military installations across Pakistan.
His 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.
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While expressing fears that the election scheduled for February 8 may not take place at all, the article stated 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 to all and not anyone’s proxy for war, an opinion shaped by the huge losses suffered by Pakistan, including the loss of 80,000 lives while collaborating with America’s “war on terror.” He also described in detail the cipher case, how the caretaker governments are illegal as the elections were not held within 90 days, blamed the ECP for rejecting his nomination, hindering the party’s internal elections, and also lodging cases against him and his party colleagues “simply for criticising the Commission.” Meanwhile, Khan’s The Economist write-up went viral on social media and garnered a volley of reactions in Pakistan. Some PTI supporters also shared the Urdu translation, some shared screenshots – the original is behind a paywall – and some even went ahead with an audio-visual of Khan reading it out generated using AI.
Pakistan’s leading daily The Dawn said, “While sources within the party were hesitant to comment on how the writing may have been relayed to the publication (in London) from inside prison, they insisted that the words were indeed those of Mr Khan.” It also said that some observers expressed doubts over whether the article was indeed by Khan, but many noted that the tone and content of the article was consistent with his views.
Earlier, reacting to questions on Pakistan elections, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said, “we want to see free and fair elections that are conducted in accordance with Pakistan’s laws.” “It’s not for the United States to dictate to Pakistan how it conducts – the exact specifics of how it conducts its election, but to make clear that we want to see those elections conducted in a free, fair, and peaceful manner that includes freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association, and ultimately a full, open, reliable, vibrant democratic process,” Miller said on Thursday in Washington.
