'Pakistan has fallen to levels of Myanmar, Sudan': Imran Khan shares rule of law index amid crackdown on PTI

Former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Wednesday slammed the government for targeting his party leaders and said the country had fallen to the levels of Myanmar and Sudan. Ever since the violent protests on May 9, the Pakistan authorities have made hundreds of arrests including that of senior opposition leaders holding them accountable for the arson and destruction of military installations.  

Imran Khan has been making claims that his party leaders are being targeted by midnight raids, custodial torture, and through other illegal means. He said Pakistan was 129 out of 140 countries in the rule of law index "before the crackdown on PTI was unleashed with an assault on our fundamental rights never experienced before by the nation". "Today, we have fallen to the levels of Myanmar and Sudan where might is right is the law. Without the rule of law we will neither have democracy (freedom) or prosperity nor a future," he said.

Just today, Awami Muslim League chief Sheikh Rashid claimed that some 80-90 people, including Rangers, Islamabad police, and others raided his home forcefully during the early hours of Wednesday. In a tweet, he said that he was not present at his home but the people conducting the raid broke the arms of the workers and took away his licensed weapons, CCTV footage of his house, and "both of his cars".

Before this, the authorities targeted several senior leaders of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI). Former minister Shireen Mazari was arrested five times before she decided to quit PTI. Fawad Chaudhry, who was also minister in the Imran Khan cabinet, resigned from the party fearing action against him.

The army has begun the process to charge people involved in the attack on military installations following the arrest of Imran Khan. The former prime minister has called these exits "forced divorce". In a tweet last week, Khan said: "On the pretext of arson on 9th May (condemned by the entire PTI leadership) the state is trying to dismantle the party including “forced divorces” and trying PTI members in military courts."

Pakistan's Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah on Tuesday said that Imran Khan will be tried in a military court. The minister claimed that Khan was the "architect" of the May 9 incidents in which military and state installations were attacked by his party workers following his arrest.

Imran Khan on Monday said the current government was far worse than General Musharraf's martial law. "With complete disregard for the rule of law, this fascist govt - far worse than General Musharraf's martial law, has a one-point agenda which is to crush PTI," he said.

In a separate development, the police lodged FIRs against former PTI lawmakers and about 250 other workers of the party in Swat. The agencies have so far arrested over 10,000 workers of Imran Khan's party across the country, 4,000 of them from Punjab.