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ISLAMABAD —Despite accusing Pakistan's powerful army chief of being involved his political troubles, former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan now says he has no problem with the army chief but alleges that the head of the military has a problem with him.
Khan's dramatic arrest May 9 from a court complex in the capital Islamabad led to three days of violent nationwide protests.
From his family home in Lahore, Khan spoke via Skype on Thursday with VOA Pakistan Bureau Chief Sarah Zaman at the VOA bureau in Islamabad after the Supreme Court declared his arrest unlawful.
The following transcript has been edited for brevity and clarity.
VOA: What's the situation at your residence in Lahore right now? And what do you fear can happen in the next 24 hours?
IMRAN KHAN, FORMER PAKISTAN PRIME MINISTER: What will happen in the next 24 hours? I have no idea.
VOA: Before your arrest, you had said many, many times said that if something happens to you, there will be violence, that your supporters will not spare anyone. Do you and your party leaders take any responsibility for the violence that happened?
KHAN: Absolutely not, and the reason is very simple. Whenever we say there will be protests, there have always been peaceful protests. Now remember, this is my 27th year in politics. Name me one time I've given a statement where I've said that we will indulge in violence. We have always said that we will stay within the constitution, within the law of the land. But protest is a democratic and constitutional right. When they tried to kill me, surely, then there should have been arson and burning and burning down buildings. It didn't happen. The moment the army picked me up, there was always going to be a reaction. When they abducted me, proved by the Supreme Court that it was abduction, unlawful, there was always going to be a reaction.
VOA: You have used aggressive language many, many times. Don't you think that when these kinds of statements come from a leader, that they create a sense of not just anger, but also a sense that if we're angry, and we're upset, we are entitled to go out and do whatever we want?
KHAN: This is not true. Well, then why didn't they do it before? Why haven't they done it for 27 years?
VOA: When I spoke to you mid-March, when authorities had come to serve a warrant to you, and your supporters came out and clashed with the police. When your party repeatedly sends out this call on social media, asking your supporters to come out, what does the party expect?
KHAN: Well, firstly, there is a history background to this. You must know why the supporters have come. First of all, the supporters, they know that the government was behind my assassination attempt. No investigation was done, so.
VOA: But you didn't provide any proof, even to your supporters?
KHAN: How can I provide proof that there's no investigation? This is my democratic, my constitutional right, that if I suspect someone, they should have been investigated, then they can prove their innocence. I wasn't allowed my right to have a proper investigation.
So, you must remember the background behind it, there's a huge amount of suspicion, there's a lot of fear. So, I have time and again said, if you want to come and arrest me, just come up with a warrant and I will give myself up.
VOA: So, when they brought you a warrant in mid-March, why didn't you give yourself up at that time?
KHAN: Because it was illegal. All you're seeing right now, the crackdown on PTI, is to somehow make us so weak that we can't compete in the elections.
VOA: OK, so lately you have openly criticized the army chief. But when your predecessors, when you were in government, and your opponents would criticize the military's top leadership from meddling in politics, you said that they were committing treason. If their criticism of the army's top leadership was treason, how is your criticism of that leadership any different?
KHAN: You know, so you have to put this in context. Just remember in what context I was talking about, the context was very simple. Nawaz Sharif and his daughter were blaming the army chief, that he was responsible for, for him getting convicted. This was the gist. All ... everyone should know it was a two-year case in the Supreme Court and there was a joint investigation committee, which found him guilty. So, all I was saying is that, you know, just because he was convicted by the Supreme Court, he was blaming the judges, and the army chief. It was in that context, I was speaking. Right now, the reason why I named the army chief was because I was abducted inside the High Court precincts by the army. So, the army cannot act without permission from the number one, this is how the army works. So, that's why I named him.
VOA: But you don't see any difference between the fact that you called one person's criticism treason, but your criticism is not treason. I mean, they had their reasons, you have your reason.
KHAN: You can't compare the two. I mean, to have someone unlawfully abducted, confirmed by the Supreme Court ... the Supreme Court called my abduction unlawful. So, how can you compare that? The same Supreme Court finds the other person was guilty after two years? Remember, it was a two-year investigation that took place. This is what we call moral equivalence by actually equating two different things, you actually make them equal. They're not equal.
VOA: Your relationship with the military, and particularly the top leadership, how do you now expect to repair it?
KHAN: I have no problem. I never had a problem with the army chief. In fact, several times, you know, would hear that he was saying these things about me, which weren't true, I would, I would try to reach out to him to clear [up] the issues. But the problem is from his side, it's not from my side. I mean, why would I, who wants to take on the army of your own country? How can you do that? I mean, no political party. And even if you win, the country goes down. You don't want to weaken your own army. So, let me repeat, the issue is not from my side, it's from his side. And for, for the life of [me], I can't work out what, what is in his mind that he's decided that whatever happens Imran Khan should not come to power.
VOA: Former Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan, thank you very much for speaking with Voice of America.
KHAN: Thank you, thank you.