{"id":44373,"date":"2024-01-06T01:54:05","date_gmt":"2024-01-06T01:54:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/imran-doubtful-elections-will-be-held-at-all\/"},"modified":"2024-01-06T01:54:05","modified_gmt":"2024-01-06T01:54:05","slug":"imran-doubtful-elections-will-be-held-at-all","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/imran-doubtful-elections-will-be-held-at-all\/","title":{"rendered":"Imran doubtful elections will be held at all"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div dir=\"auto\">\n<p>LONDON: A guest essay attributed to incarcerated PTI founder Imran Khan in <em>The Economist<\/em> indicates that the former prime minister has serious doubts about whether the upcoming elections will be held or not.<\/p>\n<p>The <a rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"link--external\" href=\"https:\/\/www.economist.com\/by-invitation\/2024\/01\/04\/imran-khan-warns-that-pakistans-election-could-be-a-farce\">piece<\/a>, published on Thursday, repeats Mr Khan\u2019s allegations about how a regime change brought about after US government pressure led to a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1684168\">vote of no-confidence against him<\/a>, and describes the May 9 riots as a \u201cfalse-flag operation\u201d which was \u201cpre-planned\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>But an editor\u2019s note at the end of the essay noted that the Pakistan government and US State Department <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1700280\">denied<\/a> the allegations of American interference, saying that the government is prosecuting him under the Official Secrets Act.<\/p>\n<p>While sources within the party were hesitant to comment on how the writing may have been relayed to the publication from inside prison, they insisted that the words were indeed those of Mr Khan.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"blockquote-level-1\">\n<p><em>The Economist<\/em> article attributed to former PM repeats allegations of US conspiracy to oust him from office<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Some observers expressed doubts over whether the article was indeed by Mr Khan, but many noted that the tone and content of the article was consistent with his views.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u2018Disaster and a farce\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>While expressing fears that the election scheduled for February 8 may not take place at all, the article stated that even if they do, such polls would be a \u201cdisaster and a farce since PTI is being denied its basic right to campaign\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhether elections happen or not, the manner in which I and my party have been targeted\u2026 has made one thing clear: the establishment \u2014 the army, security agencies and the civil bureaucracy \u2014 is not prepared to provide any playing field at all, let alone a level one, for PTI,\u201d the article said.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"media  sm:w-1\/2  w-full  media--right  media--embed  media--uneven\">\n<p>    <iframe class=\"nk-iframe\" onload=\"setInterval(()=&gt;{try{this.style.height=this.contentWindow.document.body.scrollHeight+'px';}catch{}}, 100)\" width=\"100%\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" style=\"height:400px;position:relative\" src=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/card\/1803345\" sandbox=\"allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-popups allow-modals allow-forms\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>In the article, Mr Khan also criticised the PDM government\u2019s performance, saying it \u201cdestroyed the economy, bringing about unprecedented inflation and a currency devaluation within 18 months\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUnfortunately, the establishment had decided I could not be allowed to return to power, so all means of removing me from the political landscape were used,\u201d he writes, recalling \u201ctwo assassination attempts\u201d and the abduction, incarceration or torture of party leaders, workers and social-media activists.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSome were compelled to join other, newly created political parties. Others were made to give false testimony against me under duress,\u201d he writes, yet claiming that despite all this, his party remains popular.<\/p>\n<p>Mr Khan also hit out at the courts, who in his words \u201cseem to be losing credibility daily\u201d, referring to the easy exoneration of Nawaz Sharif.<\/p>\n<p>He alleged that it is his belief that \u201cMr Sharif has struck a deal with the establishment whereby it will support his acquittal and throw its weight behind him in the upcoming elections\u201d.<\/p>\n<h2><a id=\"essay-from-jail\" href=\"#essay-from-jail\" class=\"heading-permalink\" aria-hidden=\"true\" title=\"Permalink\"\/>Essay from jail<\/h2>\n<p><em>The Economist<\/em> essay by Mr Khan went viral on social media on Thursday, with many PTI supporters lauding the piece. Some shared a translated Urdu version, while screenshots were posted to circumvent the publication\u2019s requirement for a paid subscription.<\/p>\n<p>It is worth noting that after his removal from office, Mr Khan went on an international media blitz and appeared on several major global media outlets, but this stopped after his incarceration, as access to the PTI chairman became limited to his lawyers and family members.<\/p>\n<p>But in recent months, the party has found unconventional ways to deliver his message: at a recent virtual jalsa, an AI-generated address was delivered in Mr Khan\u2019s voice.<\/p>\n<p>Mr Khan\u2019s words have also made it out of prison in other ways, over recent months. He recently wrote to Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Esa, requesting the top judge to protect the party\u2019s fundamental rights.<\/p>\n<p>Other incarcerated members of his party, such as fashion designer Khadija Shah, have also written open letters from jail in the recent past.<\/p>\n<p><em>Published in Dawn, January 5th, 2024<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>LONDON: A guest essay attributed to incarcerated PTI founder Imran Khan in The Economist indicates that the former prime minister has serious doubts about whether the upcoming elections will be held or not. The piece, published on Thursday, repeats Mr Khan\u2019s allegations about how a regime change brought about after US government pressure led to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":44374,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/i.dawn.com\/large\/2024\/01\/05075302d5ae411.png?r=075820","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44373","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-top-news"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44373","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44373"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44373\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44374"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44373"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44373"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44373"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}