RAWALPINDI: Jailed former premier and PTI founder Imran Khan has claimed that the country has been turned into a “police state” while prevailing conditions are even harsher than what was witnessed during the martial law.
“This is a martial law which is far stricter than [former military rulers] Zia-ul-Haq and Pervez Musharraf’s martial law,” Khan said while taking a jibe at the incumbent government led by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) during an informal conversation with journalists at Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail.
Last week, the deposed premier, who has been behind bars for over a year now, had termed the former military rulers Pervez Musharraf and Zia-ul-Haq’s martial law regimes “better” than the current democratic setup.
The deposed prime minister said that the Supreme Court’s verdict on the reserved seats had made everything clear.
He added that the bid to keep the former ruling party out of the election and remove his party from the country’s political landscape was “fully exposed”.
He has time and time again criticised the Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif-led administration for not being a “legitimate” while citing alleged interference and manipulation in the February 8 polls.
Throwing shade at the coalition government, Khan said that the subordinate judiciary was in complete control of the current rulers. He further alleged that any judge, who is not in control of the rulers, got transferred.
The former premier also claimed that a judge was also replaced who was going to give a verdict in the May 9 mayhem cases.
Expressing displeasure over the judiciary’s lack of response, Khan claimed that the PTI’s request for hearing its petitions against the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) amendments’ case was also turned down.
He also alleged that the amended Supreme Court Practice and Procedure Ordinance was promulgated to “violate the democratic procedure to fix hearing of cases”.
He was referring to the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Amendment Ordinance 2024 approved by President Asif Ali Zardari last week which granted additional powers to the chief justice to nominate a judge as a member of a committee and assign cases.
The cricketer-turned-politician also unveiled a schedule of his party’s upcoming protests and a power show.
He said that the PTI would register a protest for the independence of the judiciary on Thursday followed by another demonstration on Friday.
He added that a power show would be organised in Rawalpindi on September 28 and warned that his party would strongly react if permission is not granted for the public gathering.
Cases and possible military trial
Being in prison for more than a year, Khan was booked in a plethora of cases, including the Toshakhana case, cipher case, and the un-Islamic marriage case. His wife, Bushra Bibi, has also been behind bars for months.
However, a court suspended the PTI supremo’s sentence in the Toshakhana case, while other courts overturned his convictions in the cipher and iddat cases.
While there were hopes for Khan and Bushra’s release in July, they were dashed when the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) arrested them on fresh charges related to the sale of state gifts — also known as new Toshakhana case.
The chances of Khan’s release from jail further dimmed after the Lahore Police declared his arrest in several cases related to the May 9, 2023, riots, that erupted after his detainment from the Islamabad High Court’s (IHC) premises in 2023.
Additionally, the ex-premier had also filed a petition in the IHC against his possible military trial in the May 9 cases amid rumours fuelled after Defence Minister Khawaja Asif and Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar’s statements.
