Imran Khan reacts sharply to 'minus-Imran formula', says only voters can decide

Imran Khan, the former prime minister of Pakistan and the chief of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) reacted sharply to the campaign on 'minus Imran' as he spoke with WION on Monday. Khan also weighed in on a range of issues.

On being asked by WION's bureau chief about the 'minus Imran formula' and upcoming elections, he said that there is "no such thing as minus Imran, unless voters choose to do so".

Khan said, "In a democracy, the only minus that can be done is by the public, by the voters. There is no concept of minus unless the voters decide to minus you."

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In a tweet, Khan appealed to every citizen, especially the youth who will exercise their right to vote for the first time, to confirm their vote and vote slip before July 13.

While talking about the election, he said, "It means that democracy will be wound up, that's what it means. In fact, there is hardly any democracy left in Pakistan. It is just that the judges are holding the fort, otherwise, even the judiciary has been subdued."

The former prime minister also mentioneddefence minister Khwaja Asaf's comments on Pakistani ex-pats. He said, "Overseas Pakistanis are Pakistan's biggest assets. We haven't been able to catch that asset because we haven't had a rule of law in Pakistan. If there was a rule of law, the overseas Pakistanis will bring in billions of dollars of investment."

"When China and India opened up, the investment came from overseas China and overseas Indians first of all, then others came. So this is the biggest asset... and unfortunately, we were 149th and 150th country in the rule of law index," he added.

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Al-Qadir Trust case

Khan got his bail extended again for the corruption charges on Monday (June 19). Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi's interim bail was extended till July 4 in an alleged illegal transfer of millions of dollars in the Al-Qadir Trust case.

Khan was arrested last month for a brief period of time, but his detention led to deadly violence as thousands of his followers rampaged through cities, setting fire to buildings and clashing with police.

He was freed from custody after the Supreme Court declared the arrest illegal, but he says the government still plans to detain him to quash his momentum ahead of elections due by October.

Gohar Khan, a member of his legal team, said that Khan also received bailin 15 other cases before three courts.

(With inputs from agencies)

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