Ousted Pakistani premier Khan fights claims he mistreated journalists
Pakistan's Imran Khan who was dismissed on April 10, 2022 as prime minister after losing a no-confidence vote in parliament.
Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan is fighting credibility fires related to his treatment of critical journalists, but which also expose the restrictions the media face in the country.
On Saturday July 17, Mr Khan, ousted in April in a non-confidence motion, blamed the military for ‘disappearing’ journalists, arguing it had been a covert counter-terrorism policy.
And according to the Dawn newspaper, that policy did not receive his personal endorsement and he argued he had routinely opposed it.
Journalists and activists critical to his regime, however, often disappeared after arrests.
“We came in the government and got to know that many times, people were picked up under [the guise of] national security. They (military leaders) said the problem was of the courts," the paper quoted Khan as saying at a media freedom event in Islamabad.
“Terrorism is such a thing that it became difficult to prove it in the courts and the army feared that if they (terrorists) are released they would again conduct [terrorist] activities.”
Khan argued he helped many of the detainees get freed although families of those who disappeared were never allowed to see them.
Under his regime, Pakistan’s media freedom worsened, according to the annual Press Freedom Index by the Reporters Without Borders (RSF). This year’s index showed the country had dropped 12 places to 157, out of 180 countries assessed, largely due to “constant reassertion of extensive control over the media,” according to a note in the Index.
While in power, however, Khan, a former cricketer, often blamed the opposition and some critical journalists of working for foreign entities including the U.S.
Ever since he was removed from power, he has blamed the military and anti-graft agencies of engineering his political woes.
Last month, he engaged a former anti-corruption chief Brig (rtd) Muzaffar Ali Ranjha, of curtailing his previous bids to be PM, to which he responded as “baseless allegations from a liar.”
The official told a media interview: “I consider it below me to respond to such allegations…But since he has publicly made these allegations, I’m compelled to respond.”
But perhaps Khan’s consistent allegations during and after ouster is that the United States of America backed regime change to have a favourable decision on Washington’s bid to establish military bases on Pakistani soil.
At an event earlier this month, the former premier said Washington wanted Pakistan to be the launchpad for any future wars against Russia, something he claimed he refused.
“Those who have powers; those who are our neutrals; those who now say that we have taken a step back and become neutral; isn’t this their Pakistan?” Imran claimed in a speech on ‘Regime Change’ at an event by the Islamabad Policy Institute (IPI), on July 1 in Islamabad, referring to his country’s refusal to take sides in the Russia-Ukraine war. He claimed Pakistan had been pressured out of importing oil from Russia.
Khan was ousted in April after an opposition mounted a no-confidence vote, after initially using the Supreme Court to overturn the Premier’s dissolution of parliament.
He became the first Premier in the country ousted in a no-confidence vote, but only added to the pile of all previous PMs in the country who had never finished their terms in office. His term was to expire next year but was replaced by Shehbaz Sharif who will hold the mantle until elections in October 2023.
The former Premier has been fighting for his political future since the ouster but was dealt another blow on Thursday when the country’s Supreme Court rejected claims of foreign interference.
The Court was issuing a decision on a case by a deputy speaker who rejected the motion on grounds there had been a foreign hand.
Instead, it ruled there had been “no observation” of interference when opposition parties filed the motion, and blamed Khan’s government under the PTI party for not launching an investigation into the matter then.
“…no inquiry/investigation was ordered into the matter to ascertain the nature or extent of involvement of any person in Pakistan to seek or receive the support of a foreign state…,” the Court ruled.
