LAHORE, Nov 8 : Pakistan’s jailed former prime minister Imran Khan has reiterated that he will “never flee” the country like ex-premier Nawaz Sharif, rejecting claims that he is seeking refuge outside the country.
In the face of speculations triggered after Defence Minister Khawaja Asif recently said that Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party is urging “foreign powers” to get their supreme leader released and send him abroad, Khan issued a statement on X, asserting that he will not leave the country at any cost.
“I will never flee the country. Put my name on (the) no-fly list permanently — I am not going anywhere. First, (former prime minister) Nawaz Sharif left the country; now, his daughter (Punjab chief minister Maryam Sharif) has also gone,” said a post on his X account on Thursday.
Maryam left on Thursday for Switzerland on a “medical and recreational” trip, while her father Nawaz left for London last month for medical treatments, according to his party.
Nawaz returned to Pakistan in October 2023 after a four-year self-imposed exile in the UK.
“Treatment abroad is extremely expensive, and their entire family is living abroad. Their properties and money are all outside the country. If I had committed corruption like Nawaz Sharif and President Asif Ali Zardari, I would have struck a deal (with military establishment) and fled the country as well,” Khan said on his X account on Thursday.
“I believe that death is better than slavery. If they (establishment) wish to try me in military courts, then so be it, I am ready for that too, but I will never accept their servitude. Even my two sisters have been imprisoned, and one of my sister’s sons has been in military jail for a year and a half. I am prepared to make any sacrifice,” he said.
Khan, who has been in jail in multiple cases since August 2023, also congratulated Donald Trump on winning the 47th US presidential election. (PTI)
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