Daily Times

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman and former prime minister Imran Khan has claimed that his party workers are being illegally detained in jails, while alleging that they are being kept in abysmal living conditions, a private TV channel reported. He made these remarks while addressing PTI supporters virtually.

Furthermore, he once again questioned what the future of the country would be like if he were to be put in jail and crackdown on PTI is completed. He noted that the country was progressing economically with inflow of dollars during PTI’s tenure.

The PTI chairman once again reiterated that the judiciary has been intimidated and claimed that judges are being blackmailed with audio and video tapes. He also criticised the media for not speaking up for its freedom, similar to how it used to do during PTI’s tenure.

Imran Khan said that his party has been barred from carrying out political activities. The ex-PM expressed his concern that Pakistan is regressing into what he described as the ‘dark ages’, where the principles of rule of law are overshadowed by the notion that might determines what is right.

Separately, Imran Khan accused the military and its intelligence agency of openly trying to destroy his political party, saying he had “no doubt” he would be tried in a military court and thrown in jail.

Khan termed the violent protests, which erupted after he was briefly arrested, a “false flag operation” meant to target him. “That’s the only way they are going to get me into prison,” Khan said.

He said about 150 criminal cases filed against him were frivolous and would get thrown out in any civilian court. “So their only hope, and because they are determined to get me out of the way, I think they will, their whole charade of military courts is to imprison me,” he said.

“I have absolutely no doubt that the military courts are meant for me,” said Khan, who is out on bail. Khan said he has tried to contact the military for talks to find a way out of the current crisis but had got no response.

Khan said he was puzzled by the campaign against him. “(I am) someone who’s been known in this country for 50 years, who’s probably won all the awards in this country and probably the most well-known Pakistani, and suddenly being treated as a sort of alien, as an enemy of the state.”