Lahore: Pakistan’s jailed former prime minister Imran Khan has demanded fresh elections under a “new and impartial” election commission, saying the whole country knows the 2024 election was the biggest fraud in Pakistan’s history.
“As a believer in ‘Laa Ilaaha Illallah’ (there is no god but Allah), I will remain undeterred in the struggle for true freedom. Despite being confined for almost a year and enduring extreme heat, I will never submit to the tyrants of our time.
“I am ready to die in jail, but as long as I live, I will fight this battle,” Khan said in a message from jail, which was posted on his X account on Friday.
Khan, who faces over 200 cases and has been convicted in a few of them, has been in jail since August last year. He is currently lodged at the high-security Adiala Jail at Rawalpindi.
The 71-year-old founder of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party has already claimed the February 8 general elections to have witnessed the ‘Mother of All Rigging’ and called his rival parties, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), as “mandate thieves”.
In the election, both PML-N and PPP individually won fewer seats than 92 won by independent candidates backed by Khan’s PTI. The two parties entered into a post-poll alliance under which the PML-N got the prime minister’s post and the chief ministership of Punjab province while the PPP got the presidential post and the chief ministership in Sindh province.
Khan has also said that the poll rigging and the PML-N-PPP alliance were possible because of the blessings of the powerful military establishment.
Khan said if this fraudulent election is investigated, the Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja will be tried under Article 6.
“The whole country knows the 2024 election was the biggest fraud in Pakistan’s history, yet Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa continues to heap praise on the Election Commission that conducted this fraudulent election. We are being sent to seek justice from this commission. I demand fresh elections under a new, impartial Election Commission,” Khan demanded.
Khan already has announced that he will go on a hunger strike if CJP Isa does not provide justice in his cases and the military establishment does not back off from the affairs of Adiala Jail and his cases.
“The country is currently under the control of the king (referring to Army Chief Gen Syed Asim Munir) of the jungle. Institutional interference has wreaked havoc. Previously, Pakistan had a hybrid system, now it faces dictatorship, and prejudice and vengeance drive their action,” he said.
“Like the rest of Pakistan, Adiala Jail is also under their control, and the superintendent of the jail works for the intelligence agencies,” he alleged.
“While terrorism has returned, army colonels and majors are here in jail, more concerned about jail administration. They think that such petty actions will weaken my party, but they’re mistaken. Nothing can weaken a party supported by the public,” he added.
On the government’s offer for talks, Khan said: “Negotiations happen when a solution is found. If we negotiate with (prime minister) Shehbaz Sharif, their government, built on fake Form 47, will collapse like a house of cards.”
“The predators of this country wanted me to guarantee that I would not take action against them if I come to power. Of course, I refused,” Khan claimed.
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