'Very volatile situation' in Pakistan in wake of arrest of former PM Imran Khan
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00:00 A court in Pakistan has indicted former Prime Minister Imran Khan and remanded him in custody
00:04 for eight days.
00:06 It comes a day after he was arrested by paramilitary troops from Islamabad's High Court.
00:11 Khan is facing charges of illegally selling state gifts.
00:14 The government has approved sending troops to the region of Punjab to quell protests
00:18 there.
00:19 Angry demonstrations broke out on Tuesday following news of Imran Khan's arrest, with
00:24 his party calling on supporters to shut down Pakistan.
00:28 We can now bring in Farzana Shaikh, Associate Fellow at the Royal Institute of International
00:32 Affairs at Chatham House.
00:34 Good afternoon.
00:35 Thank you very much for joining us here on France 24.
00:38 Violent protests have broke out following the news of Imran Khan's arrest yesterday.
00:43 Do we expect those to continue now that this judge has remanded him into custody for eight
00:47 days?
00:48 The short answer is yes.
00:52 The question is, you know, how are the authorities going to react?
00:59 Are they going to let this play out for a bit before moving, you know, to crack down
01:05 on the protesters?
01:07 Or are they expecting the protesters themselves to get exhausted in due course of time?
01:14 Farzana, I want to jump in there because we do sort of see how the government has reacted.
01:19 Now, we do know that troops are being dispatched in the region of Punjab.
01:23 We do know that there have been curbs to social media platforms.
01:27 4G has been blocked, essentially, according to our correspondent.
01:32 They can only communicate using Wi-Fi at people's homes.
01:35 So we do know that the government is clearly scrambling here.
01:40 Well, yes, in a manner of speaking.
01:44 And troops, by the way, have also been, are being sent to KP province on, you know, the
01:51 province bordering Afghanistan.
01:54 So I think really, you know, the authorities are making sure that, you know, at this point,
02:02 you know, they will seek to exercise full control.
02:07 But of course, you know, it is a very volatile situation.
02:11 And just this morning, we saw terrible pictures of the state broadcasting house in Peshawar,
02:20 the offices of Radio Pakistan, up in flames.
02:23 So the situation can deteriorate any further.
02:27 There's no question of that.
02:30 It's really, to put it, not to find a point on it, you know, a waiting game.
02:37 I think both sides are simply waiting to see how this is going to pan out.
02:44 Farzana, yesterday we had the protesters storm the army headquarters in Rawalpindi.
02:51 Imran Khan has made no secret about what he feels about the country's army general.
02:59 Has he picked the wrong person to go up against?
03:04 Well, it's a bold move on his part, because as we know, many political leaders in the
03:14 past have also been in confrontation with the military, but not quite on this scale.
03:23 This is, by all accounts, unprecedented.
03:28 But I think there is another more serious point to be made here.
03:33 And that is, of course, you know, credible reports that the military institution itself
03:40 is under pressure from divisions within it, divisions between the military high command
03:48 that is seen widely to be hostile to Khan and the rank and file who are believed to
03:56 support him.
03:57 And I think this must be a very great concern to the current army chief.
04:03 What in your opinion explains Imran Khan's popularity in Pakistan?
04:08 Because if elections were to be held, by all accounts, he would be in the country's top
04:14 job.
04:15 Yes, I think there are two.
04:18 But what explains it?
04:19 Because he was prime minister up until April of last year when he was ousted in that no
04:25 confidence vote, but all the things we're seeing going wrong in Pakistan now in terms
04:30 of the state of the economy, etc.
04:32 He was in power for a long time.
04:34 Absolutely, absolutely.
04:37 And in fact, you know, in the months leading up to the no confidence vote against him,
04:43 his popularity was falling.
04:45 But I think what accounts very largely for his soaring popularity really is the abject
04:55 failure of the incumbent government to address some of the core issues that confronts the
05:03 country, particularly the economic crisis.
05:06 And of course, you know, there is great public disillusionment with this government.
05:14 But also, I think generally with politicians and their failure to come around the table
05:20 and to resume dialogue, dialogue that is desperately needed if this country is to be able to move
05:29 ahead.
05:31 So what happens now?
05:32 Because on one hand, if these cases against Imran Khan result in him being barred from
05:39 public office, his protesters are going to take to the streets.
05:43 And who knows, we've already seen how much violence has been caused over the past 24
05:47 hours.
05:48 But what risks happening if that does in fact happen?
05:51 Well, absolutely.
05:53 I mean, you know, as you said, it's a very uncertain situation.
05:59 But I think what can be said with some degree of certainty is that this move, that is to
06:05 say to have arrested Imran Khan, only strengthens his position.
06:12 And you know, if there is to be an election, which at the moment I think a lot of people
06:18 doubt if there is to be an election this year, there is no doubt that these attempts, you
06:25 know, to curb him, to control him, to arrest him, have done wonders or will do wonders
06:32 for his election campaign and, you know, boost his popularity even further.
06:37 This was this was a wrong-footed move, in my opinion.
06:42 And it seems that Imran Khan knew what would happen to him because he did pre-record a
06:47 video message yesterday on the way to the courthouse.
06:50 Yes, yes.
06:52 I think I think he had been anticipating this, though I think it needs to be said that, of
06:57 course, in March there were a couple of attempts to to arrest him.
07:03 And, you know, he evaded those attempts and was protected by his supporters.
07:09 But yes, I think it's fair to say that he was probably anticipating this, this, this,
07:16 this arrest.
07:17 And, you know, it is clear that as far as the military is concerned, he was seen to
07:23 have crossed a red line by naming a very senior serving major general as being as being one
07:32 of those who is said to have conspired to assassinate him at at at a public rally last
07:42 year.
07:43 In November, exactly.
07:44 Farzana Shaikh, we're going to have to leave it there.
07:45 Thank you very much for joining us on the program today.
07:46 program today.