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 Well let's return to the Pakistan story. Imran Khan, the opposition leader, arrested and
00:04 imprisoned on Saturday. We can bring in Zulfiqar Bukhari, who joins us now, a close aide to
00:09 Imran Khan. He's in London. First of all, Zulfiqar, are you getting any communication
00:15 from his team around him since his arrest on Saturday?
00:19 Well, after two and a half days of not allowing even his legal team to have access to him,
00:27 they finally allowed it for a very short period of time to get signatures done, which starts
00:33 the process of an appeal. In the morning, we had lodged a complaint in court that the
00:38 legal team, nor his family members, nor a doctor, is being allowed access to Imran Khan.
00:44 So eventually they gave about 20 minutes access to one single lawyer, not the entire team.
00:52 And one thing that Imran said was that he is being kept in very inhumane conditions.
00:59 He is a former prime minister of a country. He's entitled to Category A prison. Instead,
01:05 he's been put in a Category C prison, which is basically equivalent to death row and solitary
01:09 confinement. He's not receiving medical or proper food. And although his entitlement
01:16 is, like I said, for Category A, he unfortunately isn't being treated that way. So we're very
01:20 concerned and worried for him at the moment.
01:24 Given that a few months ago we saw protests every single day, it felt like on the streets,
01:30 clashes against the police and Imran Khan saying to people, "Don't just stay at home,
01:34 come out." No sign of that. What's your take on why it is so quiet right now?
01:40 Well, the take is that our internal core committee meetings, the chairman Imran Khan gave us
01:48 clear instructions that we cannot be arrested. And he doesn't want more workers in prison.
01:54 Don't forget, we have around 13,000 people that are in jail at the moment. So right now
02:00 what they've done is that the hundreds that did come out, they all got arrested. And so
02:06 what we're trying to do is flash protests. But certain areas have, the deputy commissioner
02:12 has imposed Section 144, which means that there's no gatherings of above four people
02:18 are allowed anywhere, it'll result to an immediate arrest. So with elections we're hoping to
02:24 be announced very soon, we don't want half of our party and our party structure behind
02:30 bars, which I'm sure is exactly what they want.
02:33 I know before being imprisoned on Saturday, Imran Khan spoke about how the party would
02:38 live on beyond him. But given what you're saying, Zulfiqar, this sense of arrest within
02:43 the party, your colleagues, I just wonder if you have fear that we are starting to see
02:47 a crumbling of the party. I mean, you're talking to us from London. Do you realistically think
02:51 you could be saying what you are now if you were in Pakistan?
02:55 Well, probably if I was in Pakistan, I'd be in hiding or definitely arrested. I had stepped
03:02 out much earlier due to some business requirements and on my way back the same day Imran got
03:08 arrested. So that stopped me from getting onto the Pakistan flight. But all our main
03:15 leadership is in hiding or they're behind bars at the moment. But what we don't want
03:20 is that to go on any further. Imran Khan's popularity is humongous, more than it ever
03:24 has been, and even more so after the arrest. We had a mayor election yesterday in the province
03:31 of KP and we swept it, even though there were massive stories and incidences of rigging,
03:38 but Imran Khan's party still swept it. So we have no worries when it comes to the actual
03:42 election. As far as people deviating, we have over 700, 800 seats. They haven't even, not
03:49 even 4% has deviated. The only difference is they've made big news of the 4%. But actually,
03:54 it's not even that that have deviated. So our party is completely intact and stronger
03:58 than ever.
03:59 Zulfiqar, good to talk to you and for the update on the condition of Imran Khan as well.
04:05 Zulfiqar Baran, a close aide to Imran Khan in London.