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| Former cricket star-turned politician Imran Khan makes a speech at the Lahore Bar Association where he supported the lawyers'
protests of emergency rule imposed by President General Pervez Musharraf. Greg Baker/AP/file |
Pakistan election to be 'total fraud': opposition leader Imran Khan
Reporter Suzanna Koster interviews the cricket star turned politician on why he thinks boycotting parliamentary elections will help restore democracy to Pakistan.
posted December 20, 2007 at 4:55 p.m. EST
Imran Khan, a former Pakistani cricket star and a leading opposition figure, has vowed to boycott parliamentary elections scheduled for Jan. 8, along with his Movement for Justice party.
Reporter Suzanna Koster spoke with Mr. Khan in Islamabad on Tuesday and asked him why he decided to boycott even though the other major political parties – Benazir Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party and Nawaz Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz – have already announced that they will participate despite their concerns about legitimizing President Pervez Musharraf's move to call elections.
When President Musharraf declared a state of emergency on Nov. 3, he sacked several justices, appointed new ones, and forced those remaining on the bench to swear allegiance to him – a move that Khan says undermined Pakistan's Constitution. Khan says that one of his party's primary aims is to restore Pakistan's independent Supreme Court.
Khan also said he would not continue Pakistan's support for the NATO-led military mission in Afghanistan.
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