Last Updated: May 31, 2023, 10:08 AM IST
Imran Khan said efforts to break his morale by forcing PTI senior leaders to quit will fail. (Image: Reuters)
The former prime minister said his party is being carved out to form a ‘king’s party’.
Former Pakistan prime minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman said that a “king’s party” is being carved out of his party. He claimed that the seats for the next election will be divided between the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) (PML-N) and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP).
“The effective governance that Pakistan now desperately needs comes from popular support, not from the establishment’s backing,” Imran Khan said. He then went on to say that the judiciary is under pressure and top judges are receiving threatening phone calls from unknown numbers.
“I know that there is a lot of pressure on the judiciary. Judges are also receiving threatening phone calls from unknown numbers. Colonel Asim, the head of my security, has been abducted. My security vehicles have been seized. I am facing the biggest threat, but do you think I am backing down? I tell the nation that I will never accept slavery,” Khan said.
Khan alleged that the second tier of senior leaders were the first to buckle under pressure and now the pressure is being applied on the top leadership roles.
He said that those who have been given tickets for the Punjab assembly elections are now being pressured to leave the party.
“Police have a one-point agenda: arrest those associated with the PTI, even at the lowest levels,” Khan said.
Khan also said that those drawing parallels between the political situation when he was the prime minister to what is happening now are wrong. He said during his leadership the law enforcement agencies did not detain women, raid homes of leaders and tortured dissidents.
He claimed that PTI leaders Ejaz Chaudhry, Omar Sarfraz Cheema and Mahmoodur Rashid were being tortured claiming he saw the ‘videos’.
Khan appeared defiant despite defections and said the positions which are currently empty are being filled.
“(They) have younger blood, newer people coming in. They’ll probably get arrested, too,” Khan said in a separate interview with the BBCrefuting that the exit of the several senior leaders has caused a crisis.