Imran Khan rules out possibility of martial law in country

• Imran Khan says his opponents are waiting for him to be arrested or "murdered".
• Former prime minister says PDM covered up things and spoke lies.
• PTI chief expresses lack of trust in interim setup in Punjab and KP.

LAHORE: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan has ruled out the possibility of martial law in the country, saying that military rule is imposed after determining whether or not the masses would accept it.

“If the public is not with you, how can you impose martial law,” The News quoted the former prime minister as saying during an interview on Sunday.

Khan said that they will no longer be following any Constitution if the elections were not held within 90 days. “If there is no Constitution, there’s no country," he added.

The PTI chief said that his opponents were waiting for his party to be weakened or him to be arrested or "murdered".

"The situation is very bad and the mafia is jointly trying to divide the judiciary for their personal interests," Khan said.

The former prime minister further stated that the human rights situation was deteriorating, adding that police arrest political workers and treat them like terrorists. He said that people had got awareness and it was now impossible to manipulate the situation.

Moving on to the former governments of the parties in the ruling coalition during the last 30 years, Khan said that Pakistan went down economically while India and Bangladesh progressed.

Khan said the country’s economy was improving when his government was in the power but unfortunately it was ousted. “I kept giving the benefit of doubt to General Bajwa but later I realised that he was the only man behind the conspiracy against me and my government,” he added.

“I met with a head of the state in a Middle Eastern country and he asked me if Bajwa was with me,” he added, pointing out that it was quite surprising for him.

The former premier said that he would introduce reforms in the bureaucracy and judicial system, and would strengthen the governance if he came into power again.

“I will adopt the concept of truth and reconciliation as Nelson Mandela did.”

He said if the PTI came into power again, it would find out new ways to bring investment into the country and would facilitate the overseas Pakistanis. He said they would cut down the expenditures and would utilise their all efforts to reform the governance system.

To another question who would be the finance minister of the PTI government, Imran said the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) had failed but Shaukat Tarin would be the next finance minister.

When asked who would be the next Punjab chief minister, he said that he did not have any idea so far about the Punjab chief minister.

He lashed out at the PDM, saying that they covered up things and spoke lies.

“6% was the growth rate during our government. It means wealth creation. And right at that time, they removed our government,” he added.

Responding to another question that whether he would be again on the roads if elections were not held within 90 days, Imran Khan said the results were clear because the PDM had collapsed and it was the purpose of their struggle that the people should get justice.

He said the people had come to know about their rights and it was the right time that they should be ready for the protests. He also asked the lawyers about the rule of law.

“We were not mad that we dissolved our assemblies and now we just sit idle and see these people,” said Imran, adding that the Constitution guaranteed elections within 90 days but the PDM was running away. By delaying the elections, he said, the PDM had violated the Constitution.

Khan said the country would collapse and would become a banana republic if the rule of law was not ensured. He stated that they had decided to dissolve the assemblies, keeping in view that there would be elections under the law.

The country’s economy, he said, was going down and the PDM wanted to delay the elections and was looking for options to remove the PTI from its way. They were waiting for loans so that they could successfully execute their plans to knock out the PTI from the elections race.

The overseas Pakistanis, especially those who were in the UAE, invested $10.4 billion there, he said, adding that they wanted investment in the country but that was not possible without the rule of law.

“There were four groups in our party and we brought Usman Buzdar because he had no association with any bloc. Buzdar was media shy and was an upright person while his predecessor in Punjab Shehbaz Sharif was involved in many corruption cases,” he said.

He said that he never felt depressed though he was hit, saying that he spent four months at home and was restricted to a room.

“I was not brought up in any military nursery like Bhutto or Nawaz Sharif as I made my own party and interacted with the public,” said the PTI chief.

He said that he committed many mistakes in his life and he had miscalculated about these two families. Khan also expressed a lack of trust in the interim setup in Punjab and the KP, saying that he had no idea that the interim government would be behind attacks on his home and party workers.

“PDM is in the loss because they will lose as and when the elections are held,” said the PTI chief, adding that his party had massive support.