Ousted PM Khan vows to ‘fill up’ prisons across Pakistan, asks workers to wait for his signal

Pakistan's ex-prime minister Imran Khan address his supporters through video link on February 4, 2023. (Photo courtesy: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf)

• Khan announced his decision to begin the movement after several PTI leaders were recently detained in different cases
• The former premier says workers should voluntarily ask the police to arrest them to show everyone where the nation stands

ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister Imran Khan on Saturday announced a new course of action for his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, asking his workers to wait for his signal to launch a movement to fill up penitentiaries across the country by voluntarily offering the police to arrest them.
Khan’s decision to begin the movement came after several of his party leaders, including Chaudhry Fawad Hussain, Azam Swati and Shehbaz Gill, were arrested by the authorities in recent months. Many of these leaders were taken into custody on charges of sedition after they made critical statements against top military officials or other government leaders.
Angered by these developments against his party colleagues and allies, the ex-premier said in a televised address he was going to begin a “Jail Bharo” – fill up the prisons – movement to protest against the recent detentions which, he said, were deliberately carried out by the government to intimidate his party.
“We have two options,” he said. “We could have gone for a nationwide wheel jam strike which would have been a democratic move. But since the state of the economy is such that a wheel jam strike will worsen the situation, I ask PTI workers, the nation, and everyone else to prepare for the movement to fill up the jails.”
“The government wants to throw us in prison,” he continued. “They think they will threaten and weaken us by doing so. Let’s grant them their wish and go to jails so everyone knows where the nation truly stands.”
Khan did not announce a date for the commencement of the movement, telling his workers to “wait for a signal” from him.
The ex-premier was ousted from power in a parliamentary no-confidence vote last April and has remained at loggerheads with the country’s new coalition government, its military and the election commission.
Khan also blamed the downfall of his administration on an “international conspiracy” hatched in Washington, though US officials have repeatedly denied his allegation.