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Wife of Shahbaz Gill’s assistant arrested in raid to recover PTI leader's mobile phone
Wife of Shahbaz Gill’s assistant arrested in raid to recover PTI leader’s mobile phone
PTI leader Shahbaz Gill with his driver Izhar.
ISLAMABAD: Police on Thursday raided the residence of Shahbaz Gill’s driver to recover the PTI leader’s mobile phone to probe the sedition case filed against him.
Islamabad Police said that by the time they raided Gill’s assistant Izhar’s home he had fled but they took his wife and a relative into custody on charges of rioting, assaulting a police…
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History Again Repeated
#pakistanhistory#pakistanday#pakistani#pakistan#pti leader#ptifamily#ptiofficial#imran khan pti#pti#imrankhanofficial#imran khan#imrankhanpti#urdu shayari#urdu poetry#urdu#urdu shairi#urdupoetry#urdu quote#urdu poem#urduadab#poetry#urdu adab#پاکستان تحریک انصاف#پاکستان#پاکستانی
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Khan’s nomination papers to contest from his hometown Mianwali, as well as Lahore were rejected, the Election Commission of Pakistan’s Secretary Omar Hamid Khan said in text message on Sunday. Khan has also sought to contest from capital Islamabad, according to his lawyer Naeem Haider Panjutha.[...]
Khan’s political party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, in a post on X, said that almost 90% of the nomination papers of key leaders, including Khan, were rejected while all of the nomination papers of other parties were accepted.
“We are going to stay in the election race, we are not going to step out, we are not going to back off,” said Raoof Hassan, PTI’s central information secretary. “We are going to use our constitutional, legal and political options.”
31 Dec 23
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“Pakistan’s Corrupt to their Cores Army Generals, Politicians, Election Commission and Judges” Can Keep Imran Khan Out of Power, but It Can’t Keep His Popularity Down
— By Charlie Campbell | January 17, 2024 | Time Magazine
Supporters of PTI, the Most Popular Political Party of Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, rally against the national election commission’s decision to ban the party’s cricket bat symbol, in Karachi on Jan. 14, 2024. Fareed Khan—AP
It’s not been a great couple of years for Pakistan’s Imran Khan. Since his ouster as Prime Minister in an April 2022 no-confidence vote, the cricketer-turned-politician has been shot, hit with over 180 charges ranging from rioting to terrorism, and jailed in a fetid nine-by-11-foot cell following an Aug. 5 corruption conviction for allegedly selling state gifts. As Pakistan approaches fresh elections on Feb. 8, the 71-year-old’s chances of a comeback appear gossamer thin, despite retaining broad public support.
Pakistan’s military kingmakers are using every trick at their disposal to sideline the nation’s most popular politician and his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party. Over recent months, thousands of PTI workers have been arrested, dozens of party leaders resigned following lengthy interrogations, Khan’s name was banned from mainstream media, and constituency boundary lines were redrawn to allegedly benefit his opponents. Khan’s own nomination papers have also been rejected.
“Elections are being held but I’ve got serious doubts whether real democracy or democratic principles are being followed,” says Samina Yasmeen, director of the Centre for Muslim States and Societies at the University of Western Australia.
And now Khan won’t even have his cricket bat.
On Monday, Khan’s PTI party was banned from using its iconic cricket bat logo on ballot papers, significantly hampering its chances amongst an electorate which is up to 40% illiterate. Most crucially, it effectively bans the PTI as a party and means its candidates will likely have to stand as independents, who will reportedly use a range of symbols ranging from a rollercoaster to a goat. “The election symbol is an integral component of fair elections,” Raoof Hasan, PTI’s principal spokesman and a former special assistant to Khan, tells TIME. “It’s rendering the party toothless.”
Pakistani lawmakers are constitutionally obliged to vote along party lines for certain key matters, including the leader of the house and financial legislation. But if PTI-backed candidates are officially independents, they are under no such constraints, making it much easier for the opposition to cobble together a coalition by targeting individuals with inducements. Additionally, PTI will be ineligible to receive its rightful proportion of the 200-odd parliamentary “reserved seats” for women and minorities that are allocated according to a party’s proportion of the overall vote, which would instead be divvied out to the other registered parties.
Imran Khan Waves a Cricket Bat, the Election Symbol of His Pakistan’s Most Popular PTI Party, during a rally in Faisalabad on May 5, 2013. Daniel Berehulak—Getty Images
Then again, even registering as independents has not been easy for the PTI. Each candidate must file their nomination in the constituency where they intend to stand, but PTI’s candidates frequently find their nomination papers snatched from their hands by shadowy security personnel. To avoid this, the PTI has taken to dispatching several candidates with nomination papers in the hope that one might break through the security cordon.
But even if one does manage to submit papers, each candidate requires a proposer and seconder to attend the nomination in person. On many occasions, a PTI candidate has presented his papers only to find either or both has abruptly been “kidnapped,” says Hasan, meaning that an alleged 90% of its candidates’ nomination papers have been rejected. “This is massive pre-poll rigging.”
The hurdles facing Khan and PTI stand in stark contrast to the lot dealt to Nawaz Sharif, three-time former Prime Minister, who was most recently ousted for corruption in 2017 and sentenced to 10 years imprisonment. In 2018, Sharif traveled to London on bail for medical treatment but absconded and remained a fugitive in exile. But on Oct. 21, an apparently healthy Sharif returned to Pakistan, where his corruption conviction was swiftly quashed and last week his lifetime ban from politics also overturned. On Monday, Sharif, 74, launched his campaign to return as Prime Minister for a fourth time—much to the chagrin of disenfranchised PTI supporters.
“The temperature is going to rise in the next few weeks when candidates step out to do rallies,” Khan’s sister, Aleema, tells TIME. “There’s going to be anger on the streets.”
It’s no secret that Pakistan’s military kingmakers have thrown their support behind Sharif, which ultimately means he’s a shoo-in to return to power. But Khan’s enduring popularity means more heavy-handed tactics will be required. Despite all PTI’s headwinds, and extremely patchy governance record while in power, a Gallup opinion poll from December shows the imprisoned Khan’s approval ratings stand at 57%, compared to 52% for Sharif. PTI remains confident that they will win if allowed to compete in a fair fight.
“People, especially at the grassroot level, are very pro-Imran Khan,” says Yasmeen. “Even if he tells them to vote for a piece of furniture, it will be elected.”
Corrupt to His Core, Thief, Looter, Traitor, Money Launderer, Morally Bankrupted Boak Bollocks and Pakistan Army’s Production Pakistan's Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif addresses his supporters in Lahore on Oct. 21, 2023. Aamir Qureshi—AFP/Getty Images
A big question is why the international community has been so muted in the face of such brazen irregularities—especially the U.S., which under the Joe Biden administration claims to have made democracy promotion a key foreign policy priority. The stakes are high; nuclear-armed Pakistan is drowning in $140 billion of external debt, while ordinary people are battling with Asia’s highest inflation, with food prices rising 38.5% year-on-year.
The truth is that Khan has few friends in the West after prioritizing relations with Russia and China. “From a Washington perspective, anyone would be better than Khan,” says Michael Kugelman, the director of the South Asia Institute at the Wilson Center in Washington, D.C.
Sharif, by contrast, is perceived as business-friendly and pro-America. Following the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, Washington’s foreign policy priorities have shifted to China, Ukraine, and now Gaza. Yet the importance of a trusted partner in Islamabad was made plain this week following an Iranian airstrike on alleged Sunni militants in Pakistan territory that killed at least two children and threatens a further escalation of the violence already roiling the Middle East.
American priorities in Pakistan are keeping a lid on terrorism and stabilizing relations with arch-nemesis India—and Sharif has a better record on both. However, these priorities aren’t necessarily shared by Pakistan’s military overlords, who may be backing Sharif today but have engineered his ouster thrice in the past—once via a coup d’état. There remains “a lot of bad blood between Nawaz and the military,” says Kugelman, “even if he were to become the next Prime Minister, civil-military relations could take the same turn for the worse.”
After all, no Pakistan Prime Minister has ever completed a full term—and if Sharif gets back in, few would bet on him becoming the first at the fourth time of asking. It may be part of the reason why Khan has adopted a stoic disposition despite the deprivations of his prison cell. “He is cold in jail but quite happy,” says Aleema Khan. “He’s read so many books, maybe two to three every day, and he’s very content to have this retreat time—spiritually, mentally, and physically, he says he feels better.”
Perhaps content in the knowledge that, while February’s election may be beyond hope, in Pakistan you may be down, but you’re never truly out. And that’s all the more reason to keep fighting. “We shall be in the election,” says Hasan. “We’re not going to back off, we’re not going to walk away, we’re not going to forfeit even a single seat throughout the country.”
#Pakistan 🇵🇰#Pakistan’s 🇵🇰 Sham Elections#Under the Guns of Corrupt Pakistan’s Army General#Imran Khan | PTI#Without Party’s Synbol Cricket Bat 🏏#Corrupt Election Commission | Politicians | Judges#Popular Imran Khan & PTI
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They arrested Imran Khan 💔 and no matter how critical I was of some of his decisions and PTI, it is sad 😪, they arrested the only resistance leader my generation had known :(
#Pakistan#i really want to get out of this country#or at the very least not bring more people into it#ya Allah plz#politics#news
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By: PTI
Published: Jun 18, 2023
LAHORE: Succumbing to the demands of a radical Islamist party, the Pakistan government has agreed to try blasphemy suspects under terrorism charges in addition to the other sections of the country's penal code.
The Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) ended its 25-day-long march protest at Sarai Alamgir, Gujrat district, some 200 km from Lahore, on Saturday after signing a pact with the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N)-led federal government.
Federal Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah said the government has accepted "all legitimate" demands of the TLP, especially on blasphemy laws.
In a 12-point agreement signed on Saturday with the TLP, the federal government agreed to book those accused of committing blasphemy and charged with Section 295-C (use of derogatory remarks, etc., in respect of the Holy Prophet) of Pakistan Penal Code under the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA), 1997, too.
"Besides, speedy trials of the blasphemy accused will be ensured. For the first time, a Counter Blasphemy Wing (CBW) will be established under the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA)," Sanaullah said, adding the government would ensure steps to block blasphemous content on social media.
The radical Islamic group gained political capital as the federal government agreed to issue a letter declaring that the TLP was not a terrorist organisation, the Dawn newspaper reported.
The government also conceded to lift the ban on the coverage of TLP on broadcast and social media while agreeing to withdraw all political cases filed against TLP workers and leaders.
Sanaullah said the TLP leaders whose names have been taken off the Fourth Schedule of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997, will have the freedom of movement, and the federal government will issue directives to provincial governments for it.
According to Amnesty International, Pakistan's blasphemy laws are often used against religious minorities and others who are the target of false accusations.
The addition of terrorism charges will make the blasphemy suspects more vulnerable.
==
https://theprint.in/opinion/security-code/pakistan-is-being-run-by-its-very-own-ayatollahs-but-this-time-jihadists-arent-to-blame/1635385/
Even if it doesn’t call them by their name, Pakistan is being quietly run by its own Ayatollahs, who negotiate with the State on behalf of a higher sovereign. They are laying the foundations for turning the country into a Shari’a-run Islamic State, more surely than jihadists who have escalated violent operations across Pakistan.
Pakistan is becoming the new Iran.
#Pakistan#blasphemy#blasphemy laws#islam#radical islam#prophet muhammad#muhammad#religion#theocracy#islamic regime#islamic republic of pakistan#sharia#shari'a#islamic state#religion is a mental illness
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The results of Pakistan’s general elections on Feb. 8 reflected widespread dissatisfaction with the country’s civil and military establishment, but they seem to have brought about the opposite of what many voters wanted. Independent candidates affiliated with former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party—barred from running under its banner—won more seats in parliament than any major party, but not enough for a majority. Parliamentary arithmetic necessitates a coalition, and Khan, who is in prison on corruption charges, refuses to negotiate with his rivals.
Pakistan’s next government will instead be formed by a coalition of legacy parties, including the center-right Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), led by former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, and the center-left Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), led by former President Asif Ali Zardari and his son, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari. On Feb. 8, Pakistan’s entrenched political order—in which parties vie for votes as well as the powerful military’s favor—was jolted but did not crumble. Although PTI’s surprising performance damaged the military’s reputation and mystique, the military’s ability to influence the course of events remains intact.
The latest episode in Pakistan’s game of thrones comes amid a serious economic crisis as well as security threats from the resurgent Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and other militant groups. Political polarization makes it difficult to address Pakistan’s swelling debt and deficit. With a GDP of $340 billion, Pakistan must repay nearly $78 billion in external debt before 2026. Imposing taxes on key sectors of the economy—agriculture, real estate, retail—is difficult without political consensus. And amid the uncertainty, various loss-making state-owned enterprises, from Pakistan International Airlines to the country’s power distribution companies, which collectively cost the government around $1.7 billion annually, cannot be privatized.
Pakistan also needs a comprehensive strategy to deal with jihadi groups, which are now responsible for terrorist attacks inside the country but were once encouraged or tolerated as part of unconventional warfare against India and a way to secure influence in Afghanistan. Populist narratives blaming India, Israel, and the United States for holding back Pakistan’s progress hinder action against extremists, who portray themselves as Islamist heroes. Meanwhile, peace with India, relations with the West, and ties to economic benefactors in the Arab world are now held hostage to Pakistan’s internal divisions: Those holding office at any given time are often accused by their opponents of selling out Pakistan’s interests.
If there was ever a time for Pakistan’s squabbling politicians to form a government of national unity, it would be now. Given the fragmented election results and allegations of vote-rigging, a stable cross-party government could pave the way for the military’s withdrawal from politics. It could also help Pakistan transition away from its long-standing tradition of one major politician or another being in jail—such as Khan—while their supporters are harassed. Parliamentary debates on alternative policy ideas could replace the current shouting matches between rival leaders’ supporters about who is more corrupt.
But rather than inspiring unity, the coalition government that is taking shape will immediately face opposition from Khan’s supporters. As things stand, it seems unlikely that Pakistan’s divisions will end anytime soon. The results of last week’s elections confirmed voters’ weariness with the political elite and dynastic politics, as well as with the meddling—both overt and covert—by the country’s generals. Widespread dissatisfaction with the economy and the absence of opportunities for Pakistan’s burgeoning young population have given rise to populist politics that will not lead to reconciliation.
Khan, the cricket star-turned-quintessential populist leader, dismisses the idea of a negotiated settlement with his political opponents. He has built a powerful narrative of victimhood that blames Pakistan’s political elites and foreign conspiracies for the country’s problems. His grandiloquence may not offer realistic solutions, but it does create an outlet for powerless people to vent their rage and frustration. Khan seems to believe that a revolution could give him greater power than embracing the idea of a new national pact. Instead of using PTI’s electoral success to talk to the other major parties, Khan has offered an alliance proposal to two minor religious parties, although one of them has already refused the partnership.
After his initial arrest in May 2023, the former leader encouraged attacks against military installations, according to an aide; he could now encourage violent protests against alleged election rigging in another attempt to ignite a street revolution. But the May 9 attacks paved the way for a harsher crackdown on PTI than if there had not been violent turmoil. Hundreds of party activists were arrested while thousands faced intimidation from security services. It would be irresponsible of Khan to put his supporters’ lives and freedom at risk.
Ironically, Khan came to power in 2018 with the help of Pakistan’s military and security services as a crusader against corrupt civilian politicians. The generals built up Khan as an alternative to these politicians, many of whom had quarreled with the military at some point in the past. But Khan also ran afoul of the military as prime minister because he defied the generals’ wishes and mismanaged the economy; his populism harmed Pakistan’s precarious external relations. To remove Khan from office, the military turned to the same politicians it had sought to discredit.
After his ouster in a parliamentary no-confidence vote, Khan saw an opportunity to continue his anti-elite bombast, adding the country’s top generals to the list of villains from whom he would save Pakistan. His supporters lapped it up. The military has influenced the country’s politics for decades, but it now faces a unique challenge. Khan has poisoned even traditionally pro-army constituencies by arguing that the generals were acting at the behest of the United States—allegations that Washington denies—and against Pakistan’s interests. Military leaders have now been trying to get an entire nation to change direction away from Khan for nearly two years with little success.
The generals and their new civilian allies may have assumed that jailing Khan, bringing back Sharif from exile, and implementing repressive measures—such as barring PTI-affiliated candidates’ access to the media—would ensure the election result that they wanted. Instead, young PTI activists used social media to mobilize voters and upended the establishment’s plans.
Still, the reaction of voters to the Pakistani military’s highhandedness is unlikely to unleash a revolution. In the short term, the country will continue to have a weak civilian government willing to work closely with the military while Khan will remain in prison and his party will remain out of power. Any widespread political violence will only result in a clamor for the military to take over and restore order.
For years, Pakistan’s military has repeated the cycle of “elect, dismiss, disqualify, and arrest” for civilian politicians. But in the long term, the country’s leaders must collectively address the widespread frustration and polarization that has contributed the success of Khan’s populism. Although unlikely, Khan changing tack and accepting political compromise could also help ease Pakistan’s pain. In any case, the hostility toward the military’s political role among its former supporters makes it difficult for generals to act as if nothing has changed.
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Multiple PTI leaders including Imran Khan, Asad Umar booked for riots in Islamabad
Multiple PTI leaders including Imran Khan, Asad Umar booked for riots in Islamabad
Ousted prime minister and PTI Chairman Imran Khan (top left), ex-federal minister for planning Asad Umar (bottom left), former governor Sindh Imran Ismail (top right), ex-minister for Kashmir and GB affairs (bottom right), and view of a tree burning that PTI workers set ablaze during their protest at Jinnah Avenue near D-Chowk in Islamabad. (centre). — AFP/NA/APP/Online
ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad…
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Two bomb explosions near candidates' offices in the Pakistani province of Balochistan killed at least 28 people and wounded dozens on the eve of general elections, officials said.
The first blast killed 16 people in Pishin district, north of Quetta city.
A second explosion left 12 people dead in Qila Saifullah to the east. There was no immediate claim for the attacks.
The vote has been marred by violence and claims of poll-rigging. Former PM Imran Khan is barred from contesting.
Police are still trying to determine the cause of the two blasts.
Resource-rich Balochistan - Pakistan's largest, and poorest, province - has a history of violence. It has seen a decades-long struggle for greater autonomy by various groups, some of them armed. Islamist militants, including the Pakistani Taliban (TTP), operate along the border with Afghanistan.
The bomb in Pishin, a town about 100km (62 miles) south-east of the Afghan border, went off in front of an independent candidate's party office. The provincial authorities said 25 people were also wounded.
Images on social media showed cars and motorbikes blown apart by the force of the explosion. Officials told the BBC the candidate was meeting his polling agent at the time.
The second blast targeted the election office of the JUI-F party. A senior police official told AFP news agency it took place in the main bazaar of Qila Saifullah, about 190km (120 miles) east of Quetta.
Twenty people were wounded in the incident and the number of casualties in the two attacks could rise, officials said.
There have been violent incidents in both Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces in the week before Thursday's vote, and the violence in Pishin and Qila Saifullah was not unexpected.
In mid-January, Baloch Liberation Army-Azad (BLA) insurgents released a pamphlet after claiming responsibility for bombing an election training office. The pamphlet urged people to boycott the elections. Soon after, reports of hand grenade attacks on political party offices were reported from various cities in the province.
Many voters in Balochistan feel neglected by the country's political parties, given the province has so few seats in parliament. They often feel candidates are foisted on them, with few if any links to Balochistan.
And many feel the vote is unfair. "It is a selection," numerous people told BBC Urdu in the city of Turbat last month.
Following Wednesday's attacks, the Balochistan government said Thursday's vote would proceed as planned.
"Rest assured, we will not allow terrorists to undermine or sabotage this crucial democratic process," provincial information minister Jan Achakzai posted on X, formerly Twitter.
More than 128 million voters are eligible to cast ballots in the election. In Pakistan's first-past-the-post system, 266 of 336 National Assembly seats are directly elected.
But many people are questioning the credibility of the vote as Khan and his party, the PTI, have been sidelined.
The PTI won the largest number of seats in the last general election but Khan was jailed on corruption charges last year and disqualified from running for public office. Last week he was convicted in three other cases and faces years in prison - he says all the charges are politically motivated.
The authorities deny carrying out a crackdown, but many PTI leaders are behind bars, in hiding or have defected. Thousands of the party's supporters were rounded up after protests - at times violent - when Khan was taken into custody last year.
PTI candidates are having to run as independents following the electoral commission's decision to strip the party of its cricket bat symbol. Electoral symbols are vital in helping voters mark their ballots in a country with high rates of illiteracy.
The man tipped to win Thursday's election is three-time former PM Nawaz Sharif, who himself was behind bars at the last election. Analysts say it appears he has done a deal with the military to facilitate his return to politics.
A high turnout will be key to the PTI's chances, many analysts say. How to tackle, and who to blame for, the country's economic crisis will be high in voters' minds. Results must be announced within 14 days of the election.
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One last thing. Not all indigenous people support Palestine.
https://www.indigenouscoalition.org/articles-blog/media-release-condemnation-of-te-pti-mori-co-leader-debbie-ngarewa-packers-reckless-statements
I really recommend to look around that page. And maybe watch interview with Yoseph Haddad as well. Really changed my perspective.
I literally never said that, I said that Indigenous people overwhelmingly support Palestine, but I don’t speak in absolutes. Again, please don’t make up my arguments for me and put words into my mouth. I will look at that though, as I am always interested in learning more and educating myself further.
Edit to add: I read the article. It was extremely one-sided and associated all Palestinians with Hamas, yet did not recognize that Israel is also ruled by a radical/alt-right group. There was no mention of the harm that Israel has caused Palestinians, which I think is sad and shameful given how many thousands of people have been killed in the past three months. The murders and kidnappings of Israeli civilians is abhorrent, but their lives don’t have more value than the lives of Palestinian civilians. The source, the Indigenous Collective for Israel, is part of an international Christian initiative, which seems strange given that Christianity has a deeply intertwined history with colonialism. They also clearly state on their “about” page that Indigenous people who support Palestine are the majority at this time. Moreover, it’s heavily made up of Māori people, which doesn’t seem like it is truly a collective of Indigenous people, but rather a small group of Indigenous people who are predominantly based in New Zealand.
Also, while I was doing more research on this, I found that Israel was absent from voting on the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which doesn’t show a strong solidarity with Indigenous peoples. Since it’s relevant to the conversation, New Zealand was one of the four states to reject it, with Māori people disagreeing with each other as they currently do with Israel-Palestine.
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Islamabad Police gets two-day physical remand of Shahbaz Gill
Islamabad Police gets two-day physical remand of Shahbaz Gill
PTI leader Shahbaz Gill, who was arrested on charges of sedition and inciting the public against the state institutions, was handed over to police on a two-day physical remand by an Islamabad court Wednesday morning.
He was produced before the court today where the Islamabad Police sought his 14-day physical remand to recover the mobile phone and the device which he used to make statements. The…
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Imran Khan Warns That Pakistan’s Election Could Be A Farce
His Party is Being Unfairly Muzzled, the Former Prime Minister Writes From Prison
— January 4th, 2024 | The Economist
Imran Khan, Former Prime Minister of Pakistan. Image: Dan Williams
Today pakistan is being ruled by caretaker governments at both the federal level and provincial level. These administrations are constitutionally illegal because elections were not held within 90 days of parliamentary assemblies being dissolved.
The public is hearing that elections will supposedly be held on February 8th. But having been denied the same in two provinces, Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, over the past year—despite a Supreme Court order last March that those votes should be held within three months—they are right to be sceptical about whether the national vote will take place.
The country’s election commission has been tainted by its bizarre actions. Not only has it defied the top court but it has also rejected my Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (pti) party’s nominations for first-choice candidates, hindered the party’s internal elections and launched contempt cases against me and other pti leaders for simply criticising the commission.
Whether elections happen or not, the manner in which I and my party have been targeted since a farcical vote of no confidence in April 2022 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.
It was, after all, the establishment that engineered our removal from government under pressure from America, which was becoming agitated with my push for an independent foreign policy and my refusal to provide bases for its armed forces. I was categorical that we would be a friend to all but would not be anyone’s proxy for wars. I did not come to this view lightly. It was shaped by the huge losses Pakistan had incurred collaborating with America’s “war on terror”, not least the 80,000 Pakistani lives lost.
In March 2022 an official from America’s State Department met Pakistan’s then ambassador in Washington, dc. After that meeting the ambassador sent a cipher message to my government. I later saw the message, via the then foreign minister, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, and it was subsequently read out in cabinet.
In view of what the cipher message said, I believe that the American official’s message was to the effect of: pull the plug on Imran Khan’s prime ministership through a vote of no confidence, or else. Within weeks our government was toppled and I discovered that Pakistan’s Chief of Army Staff, General Qamar Javed Bajwa, had, through the security agencies, been working on our allies and parliamentary backbenchers for several months to move against us.
People flocked onto the streets to protest against this regime change, and in the next few months pti won 28 out of 37 by-elections and held massive rallies across the country, sending a clear message as to where the public stood. These rallies attracted a level of female participation that we believe was unprecedented in Pakistan’s history. This unnerved the powers that had engineered our government’s removal.
To add to their panic, the administration that replaced us destroyed the economy, bringing about unprecedented inflation and a currency devaluation within 18 months. The contrast was clear for everyone to see: the pti government had not only saved Pakistan from bankruptcy but also won international praise for its handling of the covid-19 pandemic. In addition, despite a spike in commodity prices, we steered the economy to real gdp growth of 5.8% in 2021 and 6.1% in 2022.
Unfortunately, the establishment had decided I could not be allowed to return to power, so all means of removing me from the political landscape were used. There were two assassination attempts on my life. My party’s leaders, workers and social-media activists, along with supportive journalists, were abducted, incarcerated, tortured and pressured to leave pti. Many of them remain locked up, with new charges being thrown at them every time the courts give them bail or set them free. Worse, the current government has gone out of its way to terrorise and intimidate pti’s female leaders and workers in an effort to discourage women from participating in politics.
I face almost 200 legal cases and have been denied a normal trial in an open court. A false-flag operation on May 9th 2023—involving, among other things, arson at military installations falsely blamed on pti—led to several thousand arrests, abductions and criminal charges within 48 hours. The speed showed it was pre-planned.
This was followed by many of our leaders being tortured or their families threatened into giving press conferences and engineered television interviews to state that they were leaving the party. Some were compelled to join other, newly created political parties. Others were made to give false testimony against me under duress.
Despite all this, pti remains popular, with 66% support in a Pattan-Coalition 38 poll held in December; my personal approval rating is even higher. Now the election commission, desperate to deny the party the right to contest elections, is indulging in all manner of unlawful tricks. The courts seem to be losing credibility daily.
Meanwhile, a former prime minister with a conviction for corruption, Nawaz Sharif, has returned from Britain, where he was living as an absconder from Pakistani justice. In November a Pakistani court overturned the conviction (Under United States’ Scrotums Licker Corrupt Army Generals’ Directions).
It is my belief that Corrupt to his Core Mr Sharif has struck a deal with the establishment whereby it will support his acquittal and throw its weight behind him in the upcoming elections. But so far the public has been unrelenting in its support for pti and its rejection of the “selected”.
It is under these circumstances that elections may be held on February 8th. All parties are being allowed to campaign freely except for pti. I remain incarcerated, in solitary confinement, on absurd charges that include treason. Those few of our party’s leaders who remain free and not underground are not allowed to hold even local worker conventions. Where pti workers manage to gather together they face brutal police action.
In this scenario, even if elections were held they would be a disaster and a farce, since pti is being denied its basic right to campaign. Such a joke of an election would only lead to further political instability. This, in turn, would further aggravate an already volatile economy.
The only viable way forward for Pakistan is fair and free elections, which would bring back political stability and rule of law, as well as ushering in desperately needed reforms by a democratic government with a popular mandate. There is no other way for Pakistan to disentangle itself from the crises confronting it. Unfortunately, with democracy under siege, we are heading in the opposite direction on all these fronts. ■
— Imran Khan is the Founder and Former Chairman of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and was Prime Minister of Pakistan from 2018 to 2022.
— Editor’s Note: Pakistan’s government and America’s State Department deny Mr Khan’s allegations of American interference in Pakistani politics (Bullshit! Hegemonic War Criminal Conspirator United States and Corrupt Army Generals and Politicians of Pakistan Were Clearly Involved. It’s Social Media’s Modern Era, Not 1970). The government is prosecuting him under the Official Secrets Act.
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Amit Shah Fake Video Case: At Least Two Linked to AAP and Congress Arrested
Reported By: Anshul Singh
Last Updated: April 30, 2024, 14:48 IST
Mumbai police registered a case against the Maharashtra Youth Congress’ social media handle and 16 others for allegedly sharing the deepfake video of Amit Shah. (Image/PTI File)
Ahmedabad Cyber Crime department on Tuesday arrested Satish Vansola and RV Varia. Vansola is the personal assistant of Congress leader Jignesh…
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