Pakistan Military Power Grab Triggers Global Rights Warning; Ex-PM Imran's Adviser Sounds Alarm

APT

The UN’s human rights chief has issued a stark warning over Pakistan’s sweeping constitutional changes that expand the powers of military chief Asim Munir—granting him lifelong rank and full immunity from prosecution. Critics say the amendment erodes judicial independence, undermines democracy, and further entrenches military dominance in Pakistan’s political system.  Former adviser to Imran Khan, Zulfi Bukhari, argues that the changes directly target the jailed ex-Prime Minister, enabling the government to hand-pick judges and influence cases against Khan. He warns the move mirrors authoritarian models and could permanently weaken civilian oversight. As political tensions rise, concerns grow over the future of Pakistan’s institutions, the autonomy of the courts, and the impact on upcoming elections.   #Pakistan #ImranKhan #AsimMunir #PakistanPolitics #HumanRights #UN #MilitaryPower

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00:00Now let's bring in Zulfi Bukhari. He's an advisor to Pakistan's former Prime Minister Imran Khan

00:05and a senior leader of his party. Now, during Imran Khan's government, your party came to power

00:12with direct military backing and laid the path for what's happening today. So why attack this

00:17amendment now? When you say direct military backing, let me just correct you. Pakistan

00:24Tariq Ansaf came into power with the mandate of the people. It was one of the most fair elections

00:32that took place. If anything, the military dampened our majority in parliament, didn't increase it.

00:39Pakistan Tariq Ansaf has been the most popular party in Pakistan since 2013 onwards. So, you know,

00:46when you look at military's involvement in or the establishment's involvement in elections or with

00:52the part, with the government to be, it's always siding with the party that's going to win the

00:58election anyways. It's never a case where they come and completely destroy the democratic process

01:04and bring in a hybrid or fraudulent illegal government. It always just sides with, let it

01:10have been Benazir Bhutto in the past or Nawaz Sharif. They were winning the elections anyways, but the

01:16establishment got on board also. The same thing was with PTI, is that they could have been on good

01:21terms with PTI, but they certainly didn't help us win the election. Now, if senior military commanders

01:29now get lifelong immunity, how can any future PTI government hold them accountable?

01:36Well, you know, there's only really Russia who has a similar sort of law to this about

01:42the leader of the country. The president and both the chief of army staff have been given

01:47immunity, which is totally unheard of because they're the highest of public servants. They hold

01:53the highest of ranks, meaning that they have, they should have the highest level of accountability to

01:59the people. Look, at the end of the day, the fact of the matter is that whenever this sort of

02:04dictatorship ends, all these things would eventually be, you know, rewound and overturned.

02:13But until then, all you're seeing is basically democracy and now the judiciary being completely

02:18crushed.

02:20Now, why does your party say that the constitutional amendment is mainly targeting Imran Khan?

02:29Well, look, you have three reasons for it. A, everything that has taken place

02:34now, you know, when it's now into the courts for Imran Khan's cases. Now, all of a sudden,

02:40you've created this constitutional court bench, which basically only has the judges, which are

02:46handpicked by the executive, by the government itself. And if you look at the judges that have

02:51been picked, they're all the people that have always shown favor to the current setup. And they're

02:57being rewarded for it now by being on this bench. So naturally, when you have about 200 cases on Imran Khan

03:05that are all bogus and none of them really will have any legs and wouldn't hold in the court of

03:10law, you've made a special sort of court to just to bring it to, to make sure they get the decision

03:16that you want. And Imran Khan will end up being the prime target of this or their illegal activities,

03:23such as changing the constitution and so on and so forth. So, you know, the main brunt of this is

03:29Imran Khan and Imran Khan's popularity. There is no other way to curb him. So all these, you know,

03:36illegal laws and amendments will be done through this court, which is by their favorite judges,

03:42out of which many senior judges have resigned on the back of this. So, and the high court,

03:49very senior high court judges have actually gone to court against the 27th amendment. So it just

03:56shows you even where the judiciary stands on this. Now, very briefly, if Imran Khan is sidelined due to

04:04his jail time and his isolation, is there nobody else, no other leader ready to step up?

04:10Well, we have an acting chairman in place at the moment. We have a secretary general in place at

04:20the moment, the party considering all its, the way that it's been clamped down upon, protesters arrested,

04:27people killed, main leadership, of course, Imran Khan and other main leadership, our former

04:34foreign minister, Shah Mahmood Qureshi and others are in prison. Apart from, apart from all of that

04:40happening, the party is still gelled very much together. It's still the largest political

04:45national level party. You've got to understand that Benazir Bhutto's party is limited, very limited,

04:50to Sindh only. And Noashri's party is pretty non-existent, unless when they do a fraudulent or a

04:57lyriced election in Pakistan, Tariq, and Saf is nationally the most popular party. So considering

05:03Imran Khan has been in jail for over two years, the party itself, despite all difficulties and brutality,

05:09has held together very firmly. Thank you very much. Sophie Bukhari there,

05:14advisor to Pakistan's former prime minister Imran Khan and a senior leader of his party. Thank you very much.

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