Pakistan has to choose whether to become Turkiye or another Myanmar

LAHORE: In a fresh attack on Pakistan’s powerful military, ousted prime minister Imran Khan on Monday said the country is left with two choices — either follow Turkiye or become another Myanmar.

In Myanmar, the military ousted the democratically elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in 2021 while in Turkiye, a bloody military coup to topple the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in 2016 was foiled after people came out on the streets and resisted a regime change.

“Today, we stand at a turning point in our Constitutional history where we can be like Turkiye or become another Myanmar.

Everyone must choose whether they stand, as PTI does, with Constitution, rule of law and democracy; or with a corrupt mafia, law of the jungle, and fascism,” the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief tweeted on Monday.

The Pakistan Army has ruled the coup-prone country for more than half of its 75 plus years of existence and has hitherto wielded considerable power in the matters of security and foreign policy.

Khan has been at loggerheads with the military establishment ever since his ouster from power in April last year by a no-confidence motion.

He has asked the establishment to refrain from “political engineering” in the general elections later this year.

After political and economic crises, Pakistan has plunged into a constitutional crisis, following the PMLN-led federal coalition government’s refusal to accept the impending Supreme Court’s decision in holding elections to the Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces assemblies within 90 days of their dissolution in January last.

Khan said seeing its defeat, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and its allied parties don’t want elections in the country either now or in October.

The cricketer-turned-politician said court absconder Nawaz Sharif sitting in London was openly hurling threats at the Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) and other apex court judges.