Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan on Friday threatened to go on hunger strike if he does not receive justice in jail, with members of his party vowing to join him if he does so.
“I am consulting with my party and lawyers about going on a hunger strike,” he told journalists at Adiala Jail on the sidelines of the ongoing £190 million corruption trial. “If I don’t get justice, I will go on a hunger strike,” he added, claiming the powers-that-be had prevented him from meeting his party leaders a day earlier in violation of court orders.
Conveying Khan’s message to the public in a subsequent press conference, PTI leader Firdous Shamim Naqvi said if Khan went on hunger strike, he would be joined by party workers across Pakistan.
In his media interaction, the PTI founder reiterated that he did fear jail and was willing to die while imprisoned rather than give up his “fight” for the rule of law and democracy. He claimed “powerful” people wanted guarantees that he would not take any action against them if he were to come to power once more. “I will never surrender or be a slave,” he added.
To a question, Khan said the PTI would attend a potential all-parties conference if it were convened by Prime Minister Shehbaz to address the opposition’s reservations over Vision Azm-e-Istehkam. “This operation will increase the instability in the country,” claimed Khan, adding that the party would nonetheless attend the moot to hear what the government has to say. He claimed that peace was not possible without securing the support of the Afghan government and questioned why the foreign minister had not undertaken a visit of the neighboring state to secure Kabul’s cooperation.
The PTI founder also expressed no-confidence in Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa’s ability to render justice in cases related to the PTI and reiterated allegations of electoral rigging during the Feb. 8 general elections. “The whole country is saying that the biggest fraudulent election was conducted, but Chief Justice Qazi Faiz Isa is praising the Election Commission,” he said, questioning why the CJP was on almost all benches hearing cases pertaining to the PTI. “This is a joke,” he said, claiming if the election were investigated, it could lead to Article 6 proceedings being initiated against the chief election commissioner.
“[Then-CJP] Gulzar’s 5-member bench also said that Qazi Faiz Isa cannot hear our cases, our lawyers think that we will not get justice, so our cases should be heard by someone else,” he said. “The chief justice is biased against PTI,” he alleged.
On the government’s standing offer for talks to resolve the PTI’s concerns, Khan reiterated that there would be no point in doing so. “If we negotiate with Shehbaz Sharif, his government will fall,” he claimed, adding the PPP and PMLN had lost all political space with the new budget. “The whole world knows what is happening in Pakistan … then they say we will attack Afghanistan while their colonels and majors are sitting here in prison,” he claimed, reiterating allegations that intelligence agencies were “managing” the affairs of Adiala Jail. “Superintendent Jail is doing their job like a slave, whenever they say he cancels my meeting … they think my party will be weakened, they don’t know that a party with vote bank is not weak,” he said.
Claiming Pakistan had shifted from a hybrid regime to an authoritarian state, he maintained that the Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC) could not sole the country’s problems. “The only solution is transparent elections,” he claimed, adding only a party with the public’s mandate could steer the country out of crises.
To a question, Khan claimed he would direct the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government to register cases against Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz, PMLN President Nawaz Sharif and Defense Minister Khawaja Asif over their “statements” against the state. He also defended his party’s leadership and urged them to avoid making their internal differences public.