>> pakistan's opposition leader under rest. imran khan was the prime minister, now facing charges. opponents say they are politically motivated. could it turn pakistan into turmoil? this is "inside story". ♪ anchor: welcome to the show. pakistan is on the edge, former prime minister imran khan has

been indicted. this comes amid political tensions and thousands of protests in anger, much directed at the military. pakistan is already dealing with an economic crisis in the aftermath of catastrophic floods. now, the political power struggle threatens to distract the government from tackling these challenges. we now set the scene. correspondent: hundreds of arrests in pakistan and emergency orders in place, but that has not stopped supporters of former prime minister imran khan from staging demonstrations. the army has been deployed in two provinces, strongholds of his party. police fired tear gas to disperse crowds in one area. >> his arrest is illegal and unconstitutional. the protest started tuesday and

continued through the night and are still going on. they will not stop until imran khan is released. correspondent: seems like these have forced the prime minister to cut short a trip to london. after the arrest on tuesday, his supporters stormed the army headquarters. as the violence spread, the government suspended internet services and some schools were closed. there were calls for nationwide protests and a shutdown, but distance itself from the violence. >> the scenes on the media of loot and plunder are most deplorable. because he had been championing all through his career that he stands for rule of law. in today, he and his followers are showing examples of the worst fascist responses that one

can ever find in history. correspondent: after four years in power, imran khan was removed from office in a no-confidence vote last year. he faces dozens of charges related to terrorism, sedition, and corruption. he maintains the accusations are politically motivated. in november, he was wounded and what his party described as an assassination attempt. imran khan accuse the prime minister, interior minister, and a general in the pakistani intelligence agency of orchestrating the attack. on monday, and a rare rebuke, the army warned he stop fabricated and malicious allegations against state institutions. >> the main thing is that he has the imran khan and this could complicate the pakistani

political atmosphere and also the economic problems, so pakistan is in trouble now. correspondent: it comes as pakistan faces an economic crisis. the local currency fell to a record low against the dollar on wednesday. a loan from the international monetary fund has been delayed. political unrest and a renewed struggle for power are likely to worsen pakistan's troubles. ♪ anchor: well, now let's get the thoughts of our guests in islamabad. a senior member of imran khan's party, and a journalist and political commentator on channel 24, and a parliamentary correspondent at the nation, a leading daily newspaper in pakistan. a warm welcome to you.

the simple fact of the matter is there are several court cases against the former pakistani prime minister imran khan and he has not appeared in court for them and this was a legitimate arrest. >> that is nonsense. he has appeared in the times -- many times for all of them. every time he appears, there has to be millions of rupees spent on police and paramilitary in safeguarding public interest. he requested the use of technology. it is ironic that the use of technology was not allowed for imran khan but allowed for the attempted, the assassin who attempted the assassination upon imran khan, he was allowed these of technology, but imran khan never was. it is a risk to his life. he has had two assassination attempts on him to get the

courts cannot do anything, and today, they declared jail in court and held the hearing there, where as they could have been similar steps at the time to avoid clashes or any harm to public, the public at large, so you can see what is going on. it is a complete sham. it has become a kangaroo court. let's be clear, we are in partial lot with the facade of a public government. anchor: do you think the pakistani state has cases against imran khan and this is being handled legitimately? >> well, i think there are cases and cases. i think there are 800 cases where the overwhelming majority are just a way to put pressure on imran khan, but as far as the

national accountability bureau is concerned and the cases that are initiated and they certainly know about that, because during his government, i can start taking names and about half a dozen senior people were put behind bars for years, invoking the nab law invoke. i think unfortunately the nab law, none of the political parties have tried to do away with it. in fact the party in power now changed it and under that boat when you go from inquiry to investigation of anybody, you can arrest that person, so let me say that technically speaking, if imran khan like the multiple other leaders, whether

the former prime minister or others and you can name them. the weight they were taken into prison and put behind bars on the premise that it is investigation of a nab case. having said that, the way they picked up imran khan and went into the islamabad high court, that was not legal at all. in fact, there is a court order which says that nobody is going to be picked up or arrested from the premises of the court. on the report i got, they said they hit him on the head and dragged him. the way he was arrested is absolutely and also and also you know they had his lawyer was saying in court today that they had not sent him the documentation. they had not asked him for that.

there is obviously the whole history on the one hand you have had imran khan in the assassination attempt on imran khan there is no denying that, on the other hand imran khan therefore resisting arrest was police from islamabad with certain cases. it is a complex fact, but things are correct but that there was a case in which under the nab law, you could pick him up, but the way they arrested him was absolutely not correct, but the high court ended up saying it is fine and now they have gone to the supreme court. also, imran khan was not allowed to -- anchor: i'm going to stop you there because i want to bring in someone as well. this is someone we see in pakistan constantly, a politician rises to power and works with the army, then suddenly there's a falling out with the army or other political institutions, then there are

arrest warrants issued. it is a standard tactic in pakistan, but does it work and have the desired effect? >> thank you very much. actually, the present case against imran khan, i would like to mention here that the national accountability bureau has just amended its laws. the previous practice if i would like to mention here that politicians were arrested with 30 to 90 days remand they have face. and imran khan's party also has a petition in the supreme court about this amendment, and now at this moment he is enjoying, taking benefit of this amendment, and you know that he was granted a remand, physical remand of eight days so there

are many things, but now it has the change. anchor: i'm asking you about the tactic itself. i'm asking you about the tactic itself. this self-perpetuating idea that you can arrest politicians and throat them in jail. it's not -- throw them them in jail. you're just accepting it. >> well, now, the situation is very tense. there is need for a dialogue. now we cannot say that actually from last -- there was not a friendly atmosphere, but two were things were very important, the election will be held on the same day, and the election will be accepted also. now, other stakeholders should sit and go forward with the

dialogue because station at every moment is getting first from we can say that from karachi to islamabad, and there are violent protests without the leaders. only two main leaders were arrested, and without their leaders, many of the roads have become -- and now there is need of sanity. educational institutes remain closed and we have seen many ambulances were set on fire. so, there is a need to sit together, the stakeholders, and also in a cabinet meeting, they should discuss with his cabinet member about -- anchor: i'm going to stop you

there. i want to put that point to a senior member of imran khan's tehreek-e-insaf party. let's take it back one step. when imran khan was ousted from power, he was about to make deals with russia and china. he was wanting to be closer to them than the u.s. the u.s. did not like that, and therefore there was a soft coup. many people in his party say he was ousted for that reason. is that true? >> yes, of course that is true. imran khan, our party, we wanted to serve our foreign policy in such a way which serves the 230 million people of our country. we had a fantastic relationship with the trump regime and hope to have the same relationship

with the bided regime, biden regime, but that should not prevent us to source resources from any country that is better for the people of pakistan who are ultimately always suffering from inflation or hyperinflation and energy, be it gas or electric or does for my friend who said two senior leaders were arrested, i don't know how many he really wants to be arrested before this madness can really stop. i just want to make it very clear that there is close to if not 12 and within 10 people shot dead, civilians protesting. people are on the roads. there is mayhem. let's not forget that we have two to three settings with the rest of the parties about joint election date, but the problem is that they can't afford

elections because of imran khan 's popularity, so it is a simple situation, one person who is the most popular leader pakistan has seen, and on the others, all the parties combined extremely unpopular and everyone in the country knows they are being boosted by our establishment was that there is resentment from the people, so after that, like my colleague said, the way he was brutally manhandled and arrested, i would not say arrested, i would say abducted because nobody had any clue what was going on for a long time and the weight this kangaroo court was set up is night at 11:30 that the case will be held over there his representation was not allowed in for many hours before and not allowed to talk to their client. these are unprecedented scenes you're seeing right now with the former prime minister. it is unbelievable and unjustified and weakens our stance on an international level. we should call a spade a spade

and say what is happening right now is a man is being victimized because he is simply said that i do not want the establishment to step into the political space and make political decisions for our country. the political institutions -- anchor: i want to take the point you are making an i must get to this. there is a deep state in pakistan but by the army. the army control most of the shots and brought imran khan into power, and when he pursued something they did not like, they removed him from power. the army has also been within pakistan, whether a democracy or in direct rule they have been the power and pakistan but they have always been respected by the people, but here we are seeing unprecedented scenes of a general's house being attacked by the people, the court commander's office attacked by the people. is the government out of favor by the way it has acted? >> well, two or three quick

things. first, the fact that the army brings a politician a life than throwing them out and bring someone else in, i think it is a two-way partnership. the army does it, until they have a team b, a political party. you had in 2017, you had imran khan, who was very popular but was also helped by the army was a brought people in from other parties into the party and the falling out as you said in the falling out over russia. let me say this. pakistan's policy continues and i don't think under any government will move away from china. there is a structure of that relationship which is not going

to change and has not changed in the establishment has been in power for a year, and china, we have gotten closer if anything. in russia, with the last days of the government, they sent out a letter saying they are interested in buying oil, and this government has actually signed the deal and it is all done and we should have russian oil coming so i wanted to put that in perspective. it's not as if this government will change policy that is fundamental to business, china and russia. president biden had an issue with imran khan for several months. he never connected with him. there was a terrible defeat that they went through. imran khan made a comment and they took umbrage on that. so i think it is more complex. it is not like somebody is going towards china and russia and some budney throws -- somebody

throws them out. in terms of the army boosting a, b, c, the army, whoever is sitting on the sidelines waiting to come into power with the army offers them and gives them help when they come in. when they come in, then there is a follow-up with the party because it becomes too dependent come so it will be interesting to see what happens now. anchor: you say that so matter-of-factly. yes i'm the army will support a politician coming into power. >> no. no. no. anchor: that is not how it should be. >> no. no. not at all. i am stating how the facts are. somebody like me has been arguing it is about time that look, let us not forget that he was barely out when imran khan

was in power, he treated the opposition like that and did not want to engage with them. he would share those meetings instead of being there himself. he had zero time for the opposition. in fact, he was happy to see them -- which is not to justify anything. i'm just explaining the phenomenon to you. now you have instead of going to democracy chapter two were all these major party should sit together and that's why people like me have been arguing for whatever we've been arguing for years, and i accept this -- anchor: you major position very clear. major position very clear. i will come to you in just a second, but you have been shaking your head violently throughout that entire answer. why? >> the reason being is that first of all nothing is signed with russia.

they can't bring refined oil and. that is a myth. they thought they would sign a deal and that has been prolonged for 12 months and we have seen that can't be done due to their incompetence. and it left the country close to default compared to the 5.6, 5.8% gdp where we left it. she is saying look, the point is like you rightly said that she cannot, you cannot justify the army will pick whoever they want to and bring them one day and show their teeth to him one day. >> no. no. no. >> that is not justifiable. no one said to work with your army. it is our army and were supposed to work with it day and night for the protection of our country but the betterment of our country to where we feel that they overstepped the line and their mandate needs to be called out and that is what it wasn't that is what imran khan did. he wanted to run the government the way he wanted to run it,

because at the end of the day he's the one that will win or lose the election, so this is normal behavior. it's not the case. imran khan never set with the opposition because the opposition was criminals. they are felons who had run away from the country who were not in the country who have run away and have got billions of dollars stacked outside. there is not one brick he has claimed outside the country. anchor: but he is on corruption charges for selling state property. so you know that is quite serious. >> he is on corruption charges for selling something which he purchased from the government of what the percentage of the time was. once he has purchased that come with that becomes his own ownership that he declared in his capital gains tax and wealth statement, so both places they are declared. i cannot question that once you own something what would be

required to sell it. you should have a moral argument you should be selling watches are not selling watches, but there is no legal argument selling what he has purchased the cleat like every other prime minister has in the past. anchor: we are running out of time. we are running out of time and you have made your point clearly. i want to bring you in here. one of the things were witnessing that is unprecedented as the popular uprising and in anger against pakistan's army. do you think pakistan's army realizes that? >> yes. i think now the situation is clearly telling that army has understood the situation. now, if you see the latest stance, they are saying the peaceful protest will continue until releasing imran khan. who will control it?

miscreants take advantage of these kinds of situations, so i would say that all the stakeholders including army, politicians, opposition, all should sit together and go for dialogue and some will be better to control the situation, i think so. anchor: are we going to get any metal way or -- middle way or dialogue? i can't see it now. with imran khan's outspoken nature, he's not making friends with the opposition, is he? >> no, he isn't. it's unfortunate they did not end up with an agreement, because that of course in hindsight would have been better, and as far as the point about you know as if i am suggesting for a second that it

is normal for the army to intervene, people like me have been arguing the army has no room in politics, but people like him and his leaders and every political party in this country has matured the army gets its space in politics. that is the fundamental point. unless all of the political class does not sit together and come up with again another version of democracy we are in a mess. as far as the economic mess is concerned, the imf deal is worse. i was talking about the russian oil which is coming and there is nothing wrong with saying russian oil will come in the point is that there are some fundamental things in pakistan which every you know government will go by whether it is a policy on cashmere, israel, or india, russia, china, so on that front, there are too many political points and i just want to keep that on the side. anchor: sorry, we are actually

running out of time. one of the things imran khan is incredible at his being a street politician, understanding how the street works, and mobilizing the street. right now the street is rioting against the army. it will it take a state of emergency to be declared martial law to be declared in imran khan is in jail for a long time, is this the right tactic for him? >> look, right now the outburst you see from the people is completely natural. if anyone thinks we are controlling the people in the movement going on right now, that is not true, not at all. right now people are doing what they're feeding to do and they've had this anger. let's not beat around the bush about it. they have had this anger for about 12 months now. and imran khan despite enjoying complete popularity in the country has been very responsible with all his

protests the last 12 months and has turned away from doing that where he thought violence could break out so he has used his power responsibly. now when the leaders have arrested him, they have taken things into their own hand. we don't condone the destruction of public property, but people are angry because you've done something which takes pakistan 20 to 30 years back. this problem is the same problem 12 months ago and imran khan has been underestimated. they have underestimated his power and support. the army or let it be the establishment or let it be this puppet government there at the moment but they have never seen a populist movement like what is in pakistan at this moment and they have punches -- underestimated how much people will come out on the roads and streets for him and how the movement will continue. they have underestimated yet again because they have never seen such popularity before. anchor: i want to thank all our guests.

and i want to thank you as well for watching the program. you can see it any time by visiting our website al jazeera.com go to our facebook page. you can join the conversation on twitter. for me, imran khan and the whole team here, bye for now. ♪

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