ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister Imran Khan, who has been jailed for over a year on multiple charges, expressed concerns over Pakistan’s democracy and called on the British prime minister to ensure “freedom and fairness” in an interview published by a London-based television channel on Tuesday.
Khan has been jailed since August last year after being ousted in a parliamentary no-confidence vote in April 2022. The new charges were filed last month after all four convictions against him were suspended or overturned by courts. Opposition leaders say the case is politically motivated and pushed by political rivals in Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s coalition government with the backing of the military. Both sides deny the charges.
The former prime minister’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, which won the most seats in the February 8 general election but failed to form a government, has alleged that the election was rigged and that a massive state crackdown on its leaders and supporters took place before and after the election. Many of Khan’s closest aides are in jail or have left the party, and critics of the government and military have widely alleged intimidation and harassment by state authorities, allegations that the authorities deny.
In a questionnaire sent to Khan from prison by British television network ITV last month, he was asked whether he wanted British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government to step up calls for his release.
“We have a collective obligation to uphold the values of peace and to work for freedom and fairness for all,” Khan replied, adding that Britain’s new government faces “great responsibilities and great expectations” on the international stage. “Where the UK stands in its commitment to these values will say a lot.”
Starmer became Britain’s 58th prime minister last month after leading the Labour Party to a landslide victory, becoming the first leader of a centre-left party to win a general election since Tony Blair, who won three consecutive terms from 1997.
Khan, who claims February’s general election was rigged to disempower the PTI, asked Starmer and his cabinet to imagine a situation in which “their landslide victory was stolen”.
“Imagine a scenario where a party that has won only 18 seats strips you of your confidence, your party symbol is stripped away and your party leaders are jailed or tortured until they either change parties or retire from politics altogether,” he said.
“The people of Pakistan were yearning for change, democracy and the rule of law. Their vote was a cry for justice, self-determination and freedom.”
Khan also described dire conditions in a “7-foot by 8-foot death row cell” in Rawalpindi prison, saying he was under constant surveillance and had no privacy – an allegation the government denied, telling the Supreme Court in June that Khan had an exercise bike, a separate kitchen, a special menu, an in-room cooler, a study desk and an LED TV.