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Pakistan’s Government Weighs Case Against Imran Khan Over Speech
(Bloomberg) -- Pakistan’s government is holding legal consultations on whether to open a case against former leader Imran Khan over remarks he made about state institutions in a speech over the weekend, a senior minister said.
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During a press briefing on Sunday, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah said the speech continued a trend by Khan of targeting the army, judiciary and police and “was meant to threaten officials and prevent them from their lawful duty.” The government was “taking advice from law ministry on the necessary, lawful action,” he added.
Khan’s speech to supporters Saturday focused on the arrest, earlier this month, of his top aide Shahbaz Gill, who’s been charged with sedition for comments he made urging army troops not to accept any illegal order from the top military leadership.
“Be shameful Inspector General Islamabad Police. Your deputy and you won’t be spared,” the former cricket star had said. He also used similar language to warn the judge who sent Gill to police custody. Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party has said that Gill has been tortured in prison. The government has denied the claim.
Pakistan’s politics is heating up ahead of an election that must be held by next year. Khan has agitated for early polls since his ouster earlier this year, betting that voters support his contention that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and the Pakistani military conspired with the US to remove him from power -- an allegation all three have denied.
The political drama threatens to undermine Pakistan’s quest to convince the International Monetary Fund to release $1.2 billion in financing at a board meeting later this month. The country has also secured $4 billion pledges from friendly nations like Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates to fill its financing gap as it deals with faltering foreign-currency reserves and one of Asia’s fastest-inflation rates.
The developments follow a series of blows to Khan and his party. Sharif’s administration has also said it will start legal proceedings looking to ban Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf from politics after the election commission ruled the political party received illegal funding from overseas.
However, the former prime minister has been drawing huge crowds to his rallies across the country.
The defiant posture increases his popularity and since the government fails to address any economic problem, this also enables Khan to mobilize support,” said Hasan Askari Rizvi, professor emeritus at the political science department of the Punjab University in Lahore. “As people are under more economic pressure they’re reverting to Imran Khan.”
Khan’s supporters gathered in Islamabad on Sunday night following a separate report that he would be arrested after a complaint over the speech was formally filed with police in Pakistan’s capital, local media said. The first information report, which was registered under Pakistan’s anti-terrorism act, said that Khan “terrorized and threatened top police officials” and a female judge during the speech, according to a copy of the complaint seen by Bloomberg News.
In Pakistan’s legal system, a first information report can be filed by anyone and triggers a police investigation, after which authorities can decide whether to file charges and make an arrest. Islamabad police haven’t decided yet whether to arrest Khan, Dawn reported, citing media director Taqi Jawad.
On Saturday, the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority barred all television channels from broadcasting Khan’s speeches live. Recorded speeches can be aired only after “effective delay mechanism is put in place in order to ensure effective monitoring and editorial control in conformity with PEMRA laws,” a statement from the regulator said.
Khan called the order a “gross violation of freedom of speech.”
“What they need to understand is that no matter what they do, they cannot suppress the will of the people,” he said on Twitter, referring to his protests to spur new elections following his ouster in a parliamentary no-confidence vote in April.
(Updates attribution and adds details throughout)
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