ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister Imran Khan said on Saturday democracy was “hanging by a thread” in Pakistan while paying tribute to the country’s judiciary for upholding the rule of law in his first address after being released from the custody of the country’s anti-graft body on court orders.
Khan was taken away by paramilitary Rangers from the Islamabad High Court (IHC) earlier this week on the instruction of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) while he was getting ready to make court appearance in two pending cases against him.
The ex-PM’s arrest on the allegations of receiving land worth millions of dollars as a bribe from a real estate tycoon through a charitable trust led to protests in different parts of the country, with some of his loyalists storming government buildings and setting public property on fire.
Khan distanced himself from the violence and vandalism later, telling the country’s top court that it happened while he was in NAB custody. His arrest from the high court compound was declared illegal before he secured a two-week bail on Friday and left for his residence in the eastern Lahore city.
“Our democracy is hanging by a tiny thread, and the only one to save it is our judiciary,” he said. “I ask the nation to stand with the judiciary and the constitution.”
Khan said the country’s courts were targeted by a “mafia,” as he referred to his political rivals currently running the coalition administration who suggested judicial reforms by limiting the power of Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial.
Tensions have been mounting between the government and the top court since the superior judiciary took up a case of election delay in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa after their provincial assemblies were dissolved by Khan and his allies in January.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s coalition administration blamed the Supreme Court for going beyond its constitutional mandate and undermining parliamentary supremacy after it asked it issued a date for the Punjab polls and ordered the central bank to release the required funds for the purpose.
The government also blamed the top court for showing unprecedented “leniency” toward Khan by offering him relief while he was in NAB custody on corruption allegations.
The former premier also thanked the “peaceful public” that turned out in his support after his arrest, saying his party had always waged non-violent struggle since its inception.
He maintained that he wanted an “independent inquiry” into the violence following his arrest, asking the country’s top judge to form a commission under his supervision for the probe.
