Cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan on Saturday urged former premier Benazir Bhutto to join the boycott of Pakistan's general election.
LAHORE: Vowing that there would be no compromise in the campaign to reinstate deposed Supreme Court judges, cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan on Saturday urged former premier Benazir Bhutto to join the boycott of Pakistan's general election.
"The All Parties Democratic Movement (APDM) will not compromise till the (pre-emergency) judiciary and (deposed Supreme Court) chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry are restored," Khan told a protest organised here by lawyers.
He called on Bhutto and her Pakistan People's Party (PPP) to throw their weight behind the APDM's call to boycott the polls if the deposed judges are not reinstated by December 15. Bhutto has said her party intends to contest the polls "under protest".
Khan, who has been very critical of Bhutto for her decision, said he was even willing to convince other Opposition leaders to ensure that graft charges against the former prime minister are dropped if she joined the boycott.
The former cricket captain also praised his ex-wife Jemima for organising protests in Britain when he was jailed last month under emergency regulations and charged under an anti-terror law.
"I am deeply touched by Jemima's participation in protests during my imprisonment, I did not expect it," he said.
Khan, the chief of the small Tehreek-e-Insaf party,later joined a protest by journalists at the Lahore Press Club to express solidarity with their campaign against curbs on the media.
"The struggle for freedom of the media is in fact the struggle for freedom of the country," he said.
Khan also called for the "freedom of the judiciary as an independent judiciary is a prerequisite to ensure the protection of all sections of society".
He said political parties that take part in the general election would only "strengthen the hands of the president" and their action "would amount to weakening democratic forces".
The next few weeks would make it "fully clear which parties are struggling for democracy and which are out to achieve their self-interests," he said.
Though he did not name Bhutto's PPP, Khan has in recent days criticised her for saying, on the one hand, that the polls would be rigged and, on the other hand, "legitimising" the election process by participating in it.
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