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By
Jatin Gandhi (Hindustan Times)
New Delhi: The Pakistan
Supreme Court would have been discredited in the strife-torn country
had it not stayed relief to Pakistan Peoples Party leader Benazir
Bhutto under the government’s ordinance, Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman
Imran Khan said on Saturday.
In an exclusive interview on the sidelines of the HT Leadership
Summit, the cricketer-turned-politician said that with Friday’s
court order, Bhutto is likely to delay her arrival in Pakistan,
which was slated for October 18.
After a much-criticised deal with Bhutto, Pakistan President Pervez
Musharraf had passed an ordinance granting indemnity to her from
the corruption charges pending against her. Khan termed the ordinance
“ridiculous”, asking: “How can a law grant pardon
to just one class just to keep a dictator in power?”
Khan said he expected India, a successful democracy, to back the
struggle for democracy in Pakistan. “Don’t back the people.
Just back the process,” he said.
He said Pakistan was not a level playing field for the pro-democracy
movement but things were fast changing. “Inshallah, the coming
winter will see a change and you will see my party emerge in this
election.”
He said the whole country was rallying behind the pro-democracy
movement, which had received a major impetus with the Supreme Court
standing up to the General and reinstating Chief Justice Iftikhar
Mohammed Chaudhry on July 20. Musharraf had suspended Chaudhry on
charges of misconduct that the court later quashed.
Khan agreed that Bhutto’s deal with Musharraf and exiled leader
Nawaz Sharif’s ill-timed bid to return to Pakistan had weakened
the opposition to Musharraf’s dictatorship.
“Yes, these things affected us. The whole opposition slumped
after the government kidnapped Sharif. But, no one had expected
the government to violate the court’s ruling (that Sharif could
return to Pakistan) so blatantly,” he said.
Khan described Musharraf’s Pakistan as a “banana republic”,
saying “there is no rule of law, only the rule of the jungle
in Pakistan right now”.
Email: jatin.gandhi@hindustantimes.com
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