Visit our website:
http://www.france24.com
Like us on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/FRANCE24.English
Follow us on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/France24_en
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00 We can bring in Zulfiqar Bukhari who joins us now, a close aide to Imran Khan. He's in London.
00:05 First of all, Zulfiqar, are you getting any communication from his team around him since his
00:12 arrest on Saturday? Well, after two and a half days of not allowing even his legal team to
00:19 have access to him, they finally allowed it for a very short period of time to get signatures done,
00:26 which starts the process of an appeal. In the morning, we had lodged a complaint in court that
00:31 the legal team, nor his family members, nor a doctor, is being allowed access to Imran Khan.
00:38 So eventually, they gave about 20 minutes access to one single lawyer, not the entire team.
00:44 And one thing that Imran said was that he is being kept in very inhumane
00:52 conditions. He is a former prime minister of a country. He's entitled to Category A prison.
00:57 Instead, he's been put in a Category C prison, which is basically equivalent to death row
01:02 and solitary confinement. He's not receiving medical or proper food. And although his
01:09 entitlement is, like I said, for Category A, he unfortunately isn't being treated that way. So
01:13 we're very concerned and worried for him at the moment. Given that a few months ago, we saw
01:21 protests every single day, it felt like on the streets, clashes against the police,
01:26 and Imran Khan saying to people, don't just stay at home, come out.
01:28 No sign of that. What's your take on why it is so quiet right now?
01:33 Well, the take is that we are internal court committee meetings. We've, you know,
01:39 the chairman Imran Khan gave us clear instructions that we cannot be arrested. And he doesn't want
01:46 more workers in prison. Don't forget, we have around 13,000 people that are in jail at the
01:52 moment. So right now, what they've done is that the hundreds that did come out, they all got
01:58 arrested. And so what we're trying to do is flash protests. But certain areas have,
02:05 the deputy commissioner has imposed Section 144, which means that there's no gatherings of above
02:11 four people are allowed anywhere, it'll result to an immediate arrest. So with elections, we're
02:17 hoping to be announced very soon. We don't want half of our party and our party structure behind
02:23 bars, which I'm sure is exactly what they want. I know before being imprisoned on Saturday,
02:30 Imran Khan spoke about how the party would live on beyond him. But given what you're saying,
02:34 Zulfiqar, this sense of arrest within the party, your colleagues, I just wonder if you have fear
02:40 that we are starting to see a crumbling of the party. I mean, you're talking to us from London,
02:43 do you realistically think you could be saying what you are now if you were in Pakistan?
02:48 Well, probably if I was in Pakistan, I'd be in hiding or definitely arrested. I had stepped out
02:57 much earlier due to some business requirements. And on my way back, the same day Imran got
03:02 arrested. So so that stopped me from getting onto the Pakistan flight. But all our main leadership
03:10 is in hiding or they're behind bars at the moment. But what we don't want is that to go on any
03:15 further. Imran Khan's popularity is humongous, more than it ever has been, and even more so
03:20 after the arrest. We had a mere election yesterday in the province of KP, and we swept it, even
03:27 though there were massive stories and incidences of rigging, but Imran Khan's party still swept it.
03:34 So we have no worries when it comes to the actual election. As far as people deviating,
03:38 we have over 700, 800 seats. They haven't even not even 4% has deviated. The only difference is
03:45 they've made big news of the 4%. But actually, it's not even that that have deviated. So our party is
03:50 completely intact and stronger than ever. So good to talk to you and for the the update on
03:56 the condition of Imran Khan as well. Zulfiqar Baran, a close aide to Imran Khan in London.