Pakistan’s incarcerated former prime minister Imran Khan has said that economic progress can never happen as long as the current “fascist system” is in place and warned that there is a plan to impose a “10-year dictatorship” in Pakistan.
Khan, 72, has been lodged at the Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi since mid-2023 in multiple cases and his party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has been at loggerheads with the federal government since the general elections in February 2024.
Several leaders of the PTI are currently in talks with the government and Khan on Wednesday said his party will participate in the third round of talks to help ease the political tension in the country.
“There is a plan to impose a ten-year dictatorship in Pakistan, of which two years have already passed. Judges or police officers who become a party to oppression are rewarded with promotions here,” Khan said in a tweet on X on Thursday.’
“Judge Humayun Dilawar, who gave an illegal verdict against me was promoted, while judges from Rawalpindi and Sargodha, who gave fair decisions, were dismissed,” he pointed out and added, “Such actions have obliterated merit and rule of law in the country.”
Khan, who often interacts with journalists and also seen posting several times on his social media handle, further said that economic progress in the country can never happen as long as the current “fascist system” is in place.
“Economic prosperity requires investment, which is impossible without institutions adhering to their boundaries and responsibilities as defined by the Constitution. Surging terrorism in the country is causing irreparable damage to the confidence of the investors.
In an apparent reference to the military, Khan further said, “Tragically, those responsible for countering terrorism are using all their resources and energy to corner our party.”
He suggested rising above personal egos and temporary gains and focus on the decency and prosperity of the country.
The PTI supremo reminded that many of his party men who took part in the November 26 protest in Islamabad are still missing. “These individuals disappeared from D-Chowk in Islamabad, not from some remote tribal area. The government has neither produced them in court nor taken any serious measures to recover them,” he said.
This clearly reflects the government’s lack of seriousness regarding his party’s demands and the negotiation process, he added.
He also reiterated his demand to the government to form a judicial commission to probe May 9, 2023 and November 26, 2024 incidents till the next meeting between the government but said the PTI will discontinue the negotiation process.
Two rounds of talks between the PML-N-led (Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz) government and PTI have been held so far.
The PTI has placed two demands — constitution of a judicial commission to investigate May 9, 2023 attacks on military installations allegedly by its workers which it claims was a false flag operation to crush Khan’s party and the direct firing on November 26, 2024 by law enforcers on protesting PTI workers in Islamabad that killed 14 protesters and injured 64.
