KARACHI: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf chief Imran Khan for the first time on Tuesday shared his “understanding” of the much-publicised and discussed “Bajwa doctrine” as he said that the armed forces would be on the back of the Supreme Court when it came to a direct confrontation between political parties and the judiciary.

In the same breath, he said former prime minister Nawaz Sharif would be responsible if such a situation emerged due to his aggressive policy and deliberate attacks on the judiciary and the armed forces.

“You see that Nawaz Sharif is deliberately attacking the judiciary openly,” Mr Khan said in an interview to Aaj News. “He also attacks the armed forces cautiously and at the same time he has two sidekicks — Fazlur Rehman [Maulana Fazlur Rehman of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-F] and Achakzai [Mehmood Khan Achakzai of the Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party] — who attack the judiciary and the armed forces. In fact Achakzai attacks the armed forces openly.

“In this situation, I understand that the Bajwa doctrine vows to stand behind the judiciary for the supremacy of law.”

Read: Is it the chief’s ‘doctrine’?

Mr Khan said that if such a situation emerged, it would benefit Nawaz Sharif, as he had launched a campaign to “invite the role of the army” so that he could prove himself pro-democracy and defame the armed forces and the judiciary.

“One should analyse the situation that Nawaz Sharif is doing all this to invite the role of the armed forces. What would be the result if anything happens? He would have the point to prove that he was doing all this to protect democracy and not for his corruption,” said Mr Khan.

During the interview, the PTI chief once again ruled out the possibility of any alliance with the Pakistan Peoples Party for the coming general elections, calling its co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari “a corrupt man” who could never be trusted for partnership for any political gains.

“If I ally with the PPP and that alliance wins the mandate to form government, what would be the first demand of Zardari?” he replied to a query about the possibility of his party’s electoral alliance with the PPP. “He would definitely ask me to form government only to save his corruption. He would demand an NRO-like deal like the one he had made with Nawaz Sharif. What’s the use of such a government for the party which stands against corruption and across-the-board account­­­ability? So answer to your question is that there can be no alliance with Zardari’s PPP,” Mr Khan said.

Published in Dawn, March 28th, 2018