Ex-prime minister softens demand for snap election
PAKISTAN
Pakistan’s embattled former prime minister Imran Khan on Wednesday softened his yearlong demand for early elections and said he is forming a committee for talks with the government to end the country’s lingering political turmoil.
The offer, if accepted by the government of Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif, may help ease political tensions amid stalled talks between the International Monetary Fund and cash-strapped Pakistan, which is currently trying to avoid a default.
“If they tell the committee that they have a solution and the country can be governed better without me, or (if) they tell the committee the holding of elections in October benefits Pakistan, I will step back,” Khan said in a speech on his party’s YouTube channel.
Wednesday’s rare overture from the 70-year-old former cricket star turned Islamist politician comes amid an ongoing crackdown by Sharif’s government on Khan supporters charged with attacking public property and military installations in the country.
Although not a member of Parliament, Khan leads a broad opposition movement against the government.
Khan was ousted from office by an alliance of opposition parties headed by Sharif in a no-confidence vote
last year, and has since been calling for new elections.
He alleged, without providing evidence, that Sharif, the U.S. and the Pakistani military conspired to remove him from office — allegations they deny.
Khan later backtracked saying only the military and Sharif were behind his ouster.
Earlier this month, thousands of supporters from Khan’s party staged violent protests following Khan’s arrest by officials from the National Accountability Bureau, which saw him dragged out of a court in the capital, Islamabad.
Over three days of violence, Khan’s supporters responded by attacking the military’s headquarters in the garrison city of Rawalpindi and even burned down the residence of a top regional army commander in the eastern city of Lahore.
It drew nationwide condemnation, prompting several top leaders from Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-eInsaf party to resign.