Cases against Imran Khan & continued detention a 'mockery of judiciary, the law & the constitution'
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00:00 An appeals court in Pakistan has suspended the corruption conviction and three-year prison
00:04 term of Imran Khan. However, for the moment, the former Prime Minister remains behind bars
00:10 because of charges in a separate case where he's accused of leaking state secrets. Since
00:16 Khan's removal from power in a parliamentary no-confidence vote in 2022, he's been slapped
00:22 with over 150 legal cases. He denies all the charges.
00:43 Do you consider this news to be a victory for Imran Khan because his conviction has
00:49 been suspended, not overturned, and he of course still remains in prison?
00:54 Well, look, we knew that once it goes to a higher court after his conviction in a session
01:01 court, we knew that he would get relief. And by the time it gets to the Supreme Court,
01:05 we're very certain that the entire case, this liverless case, would be thrown out. However,
01:11 the sad bit is, and again, another indication of the lawlessness in the country, is that
01:17 he's kept in prison regardless of the judgment of the court that he should be granted bail
01:24 and a suspension of that case. He's now kept into prison for another case, which is, funny
01:32 enough, on an official secret act. But the act has never been passed. I mean, if everyone
01:36 Googles President of Pakistan's tweet last week, he said he never signed this bill for
01:43 this act to be passed. So now he's arrested for an act that actually isn't even legal
01:48 and binding or approved by the president. So it's just becoming a mockery of judiciary
01:55 and the law and the constitution.
01:58 Well, given your views on that, then, am I right in assuming that you don't believe that
02:03 Imran Khan will be able to walk out of jail anytime soon, given that he's facing dozens
02:09 of other charges as well?
02:11 Well, all his charges will be dismissed and squashed once they're in the Supreme Court.
02:19 It's just a question of how long they will all take to get to the Supreme Court and what
02:23 other charges are going to be added on. When you go into complete lawlessness and pluck
02:29 things out of the air, like this official secret act, which is a draconian act on civilians
02:34 that they can arrest and throw into prison anyone that they want at any time, then anything
02:41 is possible. But, you know, we have full faith in the Supreme Court of Pakistan. And as long
02:46 as things go towards the Supreme Court of Pakistan and not towards military courts,
02:51 you know, we are very hopeful. All these cases, like the ones that he was disqualified in
02:56 and put in prison in, you will see he'll get full acquittal once it goes into the Supreme
03:02 Court any day now. And then from there, we'll have to fight each case as it comes along.
03:07 And you said you have faith in the Supreme Court, but not necessarily in the military
03:12 courts. And I think that's interesting because we know that Imran Khan has sort of publicly
03:17 taken on the army in Pakistan, one of the most powerful institutions in the country.
03:23 He said, actually, that's the organisation that's been orchestrating the string of charges
03:28 against him. I wonder, though, do you think it's rather risky for Imran Khan to criticise
03:34 the army so directly, given how much power it still wields in Pakistan?
03:39 Look, I mean, just to correct you, he hasn't taken on the army. The army is part of our
03:46 country and we're part of that country. And so is the army institution. You know, one
03:52 can have disagreements with the top tier of the army and Imran Khan. But, you know, those
04:00 misconceptions and those disagreements need to be somehow settled on a table. To do it
04:06 this way by throwing someone in prison and trying to dismantle the party is not going
04:11 to get the country anywhere democratically. So we are still in hope that some sense will
04:16 prevail and there will be some dialogue with the higher ups of the military and our party
04:23 before elections. Imran Khan's popularity isn't lessening by all these, you know, imprisonments
04:31 and 10,000 people in jail and not allowed to go on TV. None of us are allowed to be
04:36 appear on television. Imran Khan's name is not allowed to be mentioned on television.
04:39 This is not obviously making the situation any better. We need dialogue between the two.
04:45 One is the most powerful institution in the country and one is the largest political party
04:49 in the country. And they need to come to some form of an equilibrium.
04:54 And just finally, we don't know when those elections will be held in Pakistan, but based
05:00 on the current political environment, do you think it's likely Imran Khan will be able
05:04 to run?
05:05 Look, let me make it categorically clear. There's no political environment left in Pakistan.
05:13 Right now, it's, you know, it is a caretaker government, which is basically nurses taking
05:18 over a doctor's role until the doctors return. But unfortunately, in the constitution, it
05:23 says that you cannot be a caretaker government longer than 90 days, not even for 91 days.
05:30 And it seems that the caretaker is going to go on until next year. So the constitution
05:34 has been absolutely destroyed and ignored. And we don't see elections anywhere in sight.
05:41 So for the time being, Pakistan remains a non-democratic state as it stands for now.
05:47 So I can't even talk on the elections because I just don't see them happening this time,
05:52 any time in the 90 days.
05:55 Saeed Zulfi Bukhari is talking to us there from London. He's a former advisor to Imran
06:00 Khan. Thank you very much indeed, sir.