Imran says entire political status quo against him

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman and former prime minister Imran Khan said on Thursday that the entire political status quo was against him.

“Right now I’m afraid, I have powerful enemies,” Imran Khan said in an interview with Bloomberg.

He also suspected that the next general elections could be rigged to keep him out of power. “We know exactly who was responsible for the regime change [that dislodged the PTI from power last year].”

He said that he’s confident of returning to power this year, and would back a continued role for the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to prop up the economy and stave off a growing risk of a debt default.

The PTI chairman said that he expected to win a majority when elections were held.

He said he’s preparing a “radical” plan to shore up an economy that he predicts will be in even worse shape by then.

“If we get into power, we won’t have much time,” the 70-year-old politician said at his residence in Lahore, where he’s recovering from a leg injury sustained when he was shot at a protest in November.

Asked if his plan would involve sticking with the IMF — whose accord for about $6.5 billion of lending to Pakistan has seen multiple delays — he said: “We have no choice now.”

“We will have to make policies like never before in our country,” Imran said. “We fear a Sri Lanka-type situation,” he said, referring to the default in Pakistan’s regional neighbour.

He said he would reappoint Shaukat Tarin as finance minister, after he held the post in the previous administration.