New Delhi: The road that leads to former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan’s Lahore residence has been a battleground since Tuesday afternoon. The former cricketer’s supporters have been violently pushing back an armed contingent of police and rangers who arrived to arrest him in the Toshakhana case.
The Lahore High Court somewhat alleviated the tension by asking troops to postpone the arrest till Thursday morning. Further, an Islamabad district court said the police would not arrest the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chairman if he surrendered voluntarily.
It is not clear what the politician will ultimately do, but sitting at his dining table — from where he shot two addresses to the nation — Khan has switched on his charm for the international media. He’s now playing on the offensive.
‘I feel like a terrorist’
He is “mentally prepared” to spend a night or more in jail, he told CNN, adding he hopes he would be allowed to read in jail as he does not get much time to read otherwise.
To BBC Urdu, he showed a pile of gas shells on his dining table — allegedly fired at his supporters and into his house by law enforcement agencies.
“I don’t know what happens in jail, but I am prepared for everything,” he said when asked if he was afraid of custodial torture.
He lamented to Al Jazeera that there are 80 cases against him including of murder, sedition, blasphemy, and even terrorism. “In the last month, every day there’s a fresh case.”
He claimed to the Qatari channel that there is a threat to his life, highlighting the recent murder attempt on him. “We are going to go to the Supreme Court and ask them to club all the cases together… just like the ex-Prime Minister of India Narasimha Rao… he was given the option… because his life was also under threat, which mine is… there has already been an assassination attempt on me,” he said.
The PTI chief said there was no security at all in his two previous court appearances, adding that all he wanted was a secure place to be tried in. “The government itself says my life is under threat… The man who shot me is in jail,” Khan said.
“I feel like a terrorist” was his constant complaint to the international media.
He told Sky News that this “huge operation” to arrest him made him feel like a “lethal terrorist”. “They are doing everything to get out of the elections or get me out of the way. One way is to put me in jail, the other is to have me killed… I believe life and death is in the Almighty’s hands. In that way I am a bit fatalistic. I am ready to go to jail, I have my reading material ready,” he said.
Also Read: Pakistani celebrities bat for ‘Kaptaan’ Imran Khan, warn the ‘sham’ arrest will unite country
Threat of violence
Khan’s charm, however, carried a sinister subtext — his supporters could turn more unruly if he was arrested.
“My only worry is that I am telling my workers that they must remain peaceful, the protest should be peaceful. My worry is that if this gets violent, then they (the establishment) would use that pretext of violence to get out of elections (later this year),” he told CNN.
When asked by the Sky News reporter if he fears whether violence will erupt on the streets, he said that if he’s arrested there is every chance that somewhere along the line there will be violence. “I have told the workers that any violence doesn’t suit us because we want elections. It suits those who don’t want elections.”
But to Al Jazeera he was defensive of his supporters and their right to protest for “their freedom”.“To fight for their freedom means their fight for fundamental rights. Which means peacefully protesting what you believe in… the Constitution, the law of the land… In France, people are protesting for pensions. In England, people are protesting inflation, pay rises. Protest is a part of the democratic process. Never in my 26 years of politics have I ever asked my workers to be violent.”
He also told the Doha-based publication that the “biggest criminals are right now sitting in government”. “Sixty per cent of the Cabinet is out on bail on corruption charges. They are petrified of the popularity of my party. Out of 37 by-elections, it swept 30 elections. Opinion polls say I will sweep the upcoming elections. The attempted murder was because of that. And now, putting me in jail is following the same script.”
(Edited by Theres Sudeep)