File photo of PTI Chairman Imran Khan
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan on Wednesday warned that Pakistan was moving toward “suicide” if the establishment does not take the “right decisions.”
Responding to a question on his party’s future strategy if he is unable to return to power during an interview with Bol News anchor Sami Abraham, he said this was a problem for Pakistan and for the establishment. “If the [security] establishment doesn’t make the right decisions right now, then I can assure you in writing that they [establishment] and the Army will be destroyed [first] because the country will go bankrupt and where can it go then?” he said.
Reiterating his claims of the incumbent government accelerating the country’s economic malaise, he added: “Pakistan is moving toward default. If that happens, then the institution that will be hit the worst will be the Army. After it is hit, what concession will be taken from us? Denuclearization.” According to the ousted prime minister, if Pakistan were to lose its nuclear deterrence capability, then Pakistan would be divided into three pieces. “If the right decisions aren’t taken at this time, then the country is moving toward suicide,” he warned, adding this was why he was seeking the government’s ouster.
To a question on his opinion of the events that led to his ouster through a vote of no-confidence, the PTI leader said he did not wish to go into details, but “history never forgives anyone.” He claimed that the night of his ouster would be remembered as one during which Pakistan and its institutions were damaged. “Pakistan was weakened by the same institutions that give its foundation and strengthen it,” he claimed.
The PTI chairman also reiterated his claims that he had told “neutrals”—a reference to the Army—that the economy would worsen if he were removed from office and had also gotten former finance minister Shaukat Tarin to brief then on the situation. This moment, he claimed, was a “trial for the establishment,” as “everyone knows they’re the powerbrokers … This is [also] a trial of the judiciary and the Supreme Court.”
Civil war
To another question, Khan claimed that if the country did not proceed toward elections through “legal and constitutional means,” it would witness a “civil war.” He stressed that his party would “never” return to the National Assembly, as it would “mean accepting the conspiracy” that ousted him from power. He said he would announce the date for his next march after the Supreme Court had ruled on his party’s plea to ensure its protesters were protected from the government.
The former prime minister also alleged that he had not enjoyed “absolute power” as the prime minister, adding that the actual center of power laid elsewhere and “everyone knows where that is.” He regretted that his government had been “weak” because it could not be formed without coalition partners, and reiterated that in future he would prefer fresh elections to forming a coalition government.
“Our hands were tied. We were blackmailed from everywhere,” he said. “We relied on them all the time,” he said without specifying who “them” was, though it is likely a reference to the armed forces. “They did a lot of good things too but they didn’t do many things that should’ve been done. They have the power because they control institutions such as NAB, which wasn’t in our control,” he said, adding that his government had held the responsibility, but not the power and authority. Stressing that it was essential for a country to have a “strong Army” to counter threats from enemies, he said there was also a need to strike a “balance” between having a strong Army and a strong government.