Lahore, Pakistan – Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Imran Khan has gained a significant political victory after the nation’s Supreme Court docket ordered the federal government to carry snap polls within the politically essential Punjab province on Could 14.
Khan, who was faraway from energy in April final 12 months after dropping a confidence vote in parliament, says he’s assured of victory for his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) social gathering in forthcoming provincial in addition to nationwide elections, due by October this 12 months.
In an interview with Al Jazeera at his Zaman Park house in Punjab’s capital, Lahore, Khan discusses his plans in an election 12 months as he additionally appears again on the tumultuous 12 months passed by.
Al Jazeera: In January, your social gathering dissolved the provincial assemblies of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which it managed. What’s your plan of motion in case the federal government continues to delay elections within the provinces?
Imran Khan: After I dissolved my two assemblies, we received the highest legal professionals. We regarded on the structure. Each lawyer in Pakistan mentioned the second you dissolve your assemblies, elections need to be held inside 90 days. That is unambiguous, there may be simply little question about this factor. So the second you get out of 90 days, you’re in violation of the structure. And when you get out of 90 days, who decides when will elections occur? So if the federal government says elections in October, why not in December, why not subsequent 12 months?
When Common Zia ul-Haq [former military ruler of Pakistan from 1977-1988] got here into energy, he mentioned, “I’ll maintain elections in 90 days.” However the second he received away, we misplaced 11 years. So, if the federal government doesn’t settle for the Supreme Court docket verdict, it means they’re now violating the structure. In that case, the Supreme Court docket might slap contempt [charges] on them. And let me guarantee everybody that every one the individuals of Pakistan could be standing with the Supreme Court docket. I feel it gained’t be simply the PTI. You’ll have the legal professionals’ group, all of the authorized group, they are going to be standing on one aspect.
The structure leaves little question that elections need to be held in 90 days. Due to this fact, will probably be very tough to defend anybody who then thinks that the elections may be delayed. The federal government is afraid of dropping the elections as a result of all opinion polls present they will be decimated. Due to this fact, they’re simply working fearful of the election and they’re prepared to even violate the structure.
Al Jazeera: You’ve been demanding early elections and all indicators level in direction of your social gathering’s ascendancy. Will you settle for the election outcomes in the event that they don’t offer you an outright majority? Do you anticipate free and honest elections?
Khan: I’ve not mentioned that I can’t settle for the election end result if we don’t get a two-thirds majority. All I’ve mentioned is that in case you have a look at the opinion polls, you have a look at the by-election outcomes, regardless of complete assist by the “institution” [a euphemism for Pakistan’s military] and the Election Fee of Pakistan, the [ruling] 12-party coalition has gained solely seven out of 37 bypolls. This displays that the PTI goes to brush the elections and therefore, the federal government is fearful of elections and working away.
The election fee is completely managed by the federal government … The election commissioner had no constitutional proper to delay the elections. They might not have introduced elections in October. This can be a violation of the structure. In reality, the Election Fee must be held in contempt as a result of the structure is evident. Their job was to carry the elections as required within the structure. They couldn’t have given a date in October. So, my level is that we are going to see what occurs within the elections. I can’t say whether or not we’ll settle for the end result or not, as a result of I don’t know what is going to occur within the elections and the way the Election Fee and the institution will behave.
Al Jazeera: Are you prepared to speak to your political opponents and the so-called “institution” to resolve the political disaster within the nation?
Khan: We’ve got all the time mentioned that one factor we’re prepared to speak about is elections. We’re prepared to speak in regards to the modalities, the day, all the things about [the] election, in fact. However then what else is there to speak about? I imply, proper now, the one problem in Pakistan is that of elections. As for the institution, I’ve had two conferences with Common [Qamar Javed] Bajwa after I used to be out of presidency; each occasions, I needed to work out maintain elections. What I didn’t realise was that he needed an election offered he will get an extension [in his tenure]. In order that was the one dialog with him. Since then, there was nothing – we’ve had no dialog with this institution.
[General Qamar Javed Bajwa was the army chief from November 2016 till November 2022. He was granted an extension in August 2019 by Khan during his premiership. After his retirement, Bajwa was replaced by General Asim Munir in November 2022]
Al Jazeera: It’ll quickly be a 12 months since your authorities was eliminated. What’s crucial lesson you may have realized up to now 12 months?
Khan: There’s a lesson which I’ve realized and there’s a lesson which the individuals of Pakistan have learnt. My lesson is that I trusted the military chief and I all the time thought we had been on one web page besides on the accountability problem. However he [Bajwa] was on a very completely different tangent. He didn’t imagine in accountability. He didn’t imagine corruption was a nasty factor, versus me, who believed within the rule of regulation and that since you don’t have rule of regulation, you may have corruption.
Later, on overseas coverage, he fully modified for some purpose. The overseas workplace and we had, via consensus, developed a overseas coverage, an impartial overseas coverage, [compared with] what we had earlier than, the place we had been sacrificing our personal individuals for different nation’s overseas coverage targets. However he got here up along with his personal overseas coverage. He condemned Russia [over the war in Ukraine] once we shouldn’t have and may have stayed impartial.
The individuals of Pakistan have fully modified since my authorities was deposed as a result of you understand, for the primary time, individuals have stood with a authorities that has been eliminated. Usually when governments are eliminated, individuals have fun and sweets are distributed.
Al Jazeera: You’ve talked in regards to the army’s outsized position in Pakistan’s politics. Do you propose on restructuring the civil-military relationship if elected again to energy?
Khan: Pakistan has to vary. Proper now, Pakistan is caught within the worst financial disaster in our historical past. If we’re to get out of this disaster, Pakistan has to fully restructure, our governance system has to vary fully. We’ve got to have rule of regulation on this nation, to create an enabling surroundings to draw funding as a result of we hardly have any funding coming in.
The present civil and army imbalance has to vary if you would like Pakistan to get out of this mess. And by that, I imply a system primarily based on the rule of regulation. You can not have a system the place the prime minister has the accountability however he doesn’t have the authority to implement his insurance policies as a result of that authority is shared with the army.
There isn’t any doubt that there’s a position for the army. You can not want away the position of the army in Pakistan as a result of it’s entrenched for 70 years. However you want that steadiness. When you would not have that steadiness, you can not have that governance system [which] is required now for Pakistan’s survival. So, the purpose is we should fully reform our governance system and base it on the rule of regulation. You’ll be able to give you the most effective financial [policies] however on this surroundings, no financial coverage goes to work.
Al Jazeera: In a speech final month you spoke about reforms for the nation. Are you able to be extra particular and share what you’d have executed otherwise in case you had been nonetheless in energy?
Khan: The one factor completely different would have been to impose the rule of regulation. Look, I’ve seen international locations. I’ve spent a whole lot of time in England as knowledgeable cricketer and I [also] went to a college there. The large distinction in international locations which can be affluent and those which have excessive ranges of poverty is just one: rule of regulation. The financial system is totally related with rule of regulation, which then provides the enabling surroundings for funding.
Pakistan could be very lucky that it has an enormous variety of abroad Pakistanis who’re incomes in {dollars}. For the time being, all we depend on are remittances. We can not appeal to funding. Why can’t we appeal to funding? As a result of they don’t have confidence in our judicial system and the rule of regulation. So, in the event that they don’t believe, they may go and spend money on Dubai, in Malaysia, anyplace else. However not right here.
And that is our greatest handicap as a result of what’s the downside of Pakistan? It’s our present account deficit. Our downside is that we’ve extra {dollars} going out than coming in now. The query is, how can we appeal to {dollars} in Pakistan? The primary means, in fact, is thru exports. But when we’ve energy from day one, it will take time earlier than we get the trade going.
In the long term, with out exports, you can not anticipate to boost your way of life. All of the international locations which have solid forward of us, these Asian tigers, China, even India, all of them have executed so on the again of exports. Now, exports will take time. What’s it within the quick run that you are able to do to draw {dollars} coming in? It’s to get abroad Pakistanis’ funding in Pakistan. That can solely occur if they’ve confidence in your justice system, rule of regulation, contract enforcement, so therefore it’s fully related.
Denmark is primary out of 140 international locations within the rule of regulation index. Pakistan is ranked 129. Denmark’s per capita earnings is $68,600 whereas Pakistan’s is $1,600. So the 2 are related. However individuals right here don’t realise this. This was my downside with Common Bajwa too, who simply didn’t assume corruption was that huge a deal. In China, which is the quickest rising financial system on this planet, they’ve held over 450 ministers accountable on corruption instances as a result of, clearly, they realise that if you don’t clamp down on high-level corruption, your financial system can’t transfer.
Al Jazeera: What are your views on Pakistan’s overseas coverage challenges contemplating the regional upheavals? What do you concentrate on balancing ties between China and the US, whereas Pakistan can be confronted with hostility on each its jap and western borders?
Khan: The primary factor about overseas coverage is that it must be for the good thing about your personal inhabitants. Each nation makes its overseas coverage within the curiosity of its individuals. So that’s the starting. Now, what’s within the curiosity of Pakistani individuals? To have a overseas coverage the place we get out of any battle, like an Afghan “jihad”, just like the so-called “conflict on terror”. I imply, these conflicts value us loads. We suffered particularly throughout the “conflict on terror” through which 80,000 Pakistanis died. We had a lack of over $100bn to our financial system as a result of, who desires to spend money on a rustic which is taken into account essentially the most harmful on this planet, the place terrorist assaults are occurring?
So, primary, we learnt that one factor that we don’t wish to get entangled in is different individuals’s battle. Secondly, why ought to we exclude ourselves like within the Chilly Struggle, once we grew to become a part of the US bloc however that meant that Russia and Central Asian international locations, which might be nice buying and selling companions for Pakistan, even Afghanistan, all of them grew to become out of attain for us.
So why not have a overseas coverage like India? India has a really mature overseas coverage. It’s buying and selling with the US, it’s buying and selling with China. It’s getting low cost oil from Russia. So India’s overseas coverage advantages its individuals. It has managed to maintain inflation down as a result of it received oil from Russia at a reduced worth. We, then again, negotiated a reduced worth however our authorities went and the brand new authorities got here and so they simply didn’t pay any consideration to it consequently. We needed to pay excessive oil costs which led to excessive inflation and which led to poverty.
My level is, we should always have a superb relationship with all of the international locations. We should always not grow to be a part of any blocs. As for relations with India, the one downside with India is Kashmir. Ever since India took away the statehood of Kashmir [in August 2019], how do you normalise a relationship with a rustic that has violated worldwide regulation? It’s a disputed territory between Pakistan and India. Then the large variety of sacrifices the individuals of Kashmir have given … when India takes away their statehood and also you then begin having a standard relationship with India, which means you may have deserted the wrestle of the individuals of Kashmir.
This interview has been flippantly edited for brevity and readability.
