The Hindu : National : Defining moment in Pakistan history: Imran

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Friday, Mar 16, 2007
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National

National

Defining moment in Pakistan history: Imran

Staff Reporter

Struggle might lead to ``genuine democracy''

Imran Khan

Bangalore: ``This has become a defining moment in Pakistan's history,'' said cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan on the protests following the suspension of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhary.

In an exclusive interaction with The Hindu , Mr. Khan termed the events as ``one of the most exciting things happening in Pakistan.''

He was here to announce collaboration between Cisco and his Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre to help him take specialised healthcare to Pakistan.

``What he [President Musharraf] did not expect was that the entire country — the civil society, all the bar associations and all the political parties — would mobilise behind the Chief Justice. This is a defining moment where the civil society is actually trying to shed off the dominance or shackles put on by a military establishment,'' he said, while adding that the struggle might lead to the birth of a ``genuine democracy'' in Pakistan.

Mr. Khan said his party, Tehrik-e-Insaaf, had always campaigned for an ``independent judiciary'' and now its stand had been ``thoroughly vindicated.''

``We are the only one in the country's history to practise anti-establishment politics and we have never enjoyed the patronage of the military. The whole country now realises that what we were fighting for was an independent judicial system.''

He recalled that in 2006 he protested against the visit of U.S. President George W. Bush who he said endorsed the Musharraf model of democracy. ``Now it's obvious what vision of democracy he was supporting. The sham has been exposed."

Mr. Khan warned that the ``suppression of opinion'' led society to swing to the right. And that the policies of the U.S., the war on terror, did not help as they were ``perceived as a war on Islam by the Muslim world."

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