WASHINGTON: Former prime minister Imran Khan has law enforcement people on his doors because he thinks he is above the law, says Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari while urging Mr Khan to go to a court and end the dispute.

In a wide-ranging interview with Kal Penn of The Daily Show, a popular TV programme, the foreign minister also urged the nation to focus on more important issues, like the economy, environment, and terrorism.

“And unfortunately, in all this chaos — while we’re facing these simultaneous crises, we have the question of Mr. Khan, who believes that the Pakistani Constitution doesn’t apply to him, the Pakistani law doesn’t apply to him, that he can get up and leave,” said Mr Bhutto-Zardari when asked why police and paramilitary forces stormed the former prime minister’s home this week.

“He has s resigned from parliament and has run away from the system. In this particular instance, it’s not a question of me wanting to arrest Mr Khan. In Mr Khan’s case, he’s under the threat of arrest because of his ego,” he said.

“The courts are saying that he has to come to court and fight his cases, whatever cases are against him. And he says, I’m Imran Khan, and I’m too important, and I’m not going to turn up to court.”

The foreign minister pointed out that he too was from a political family whose members were arrested by military dictatorships.

“My mother, when she was younger than I am now, battled an Islamist dictator, who threw her in prison. My father spent 11 and 1/2 years in prison and was tortured without a conviction. I would never want any politician in my country or any country to go to jail for political reasons,” he said.

Commenting on the situation outside Mr. Khan’s home in Zaman Park, Lahore, Mr Bhutto-Zardari said: “What we’ve seen over the last couple of weeks has been a complete mockery of the judicial system in Pakistan, of rule of law, of the Constitution in Pakistan, where, had he gone to court, there’s probably no reason he had to fear imminent arrest.”

Mr. Khan, he said, was in trouble because he violated court orders time and time again, and finally, the courts instructed the police to produce him. “But Mr. Khan called on his citizens, on his workers, and his supporters to come and confront the police. The police went to him with no intention of violence.”

The foreign minister said that by refusing to present himself before a court, Mr. Khan was also refusing to defend himself. I’m sure if he’s innocent, he’d be able to clear his name through the judicial system.

Mr Bhutto-Zardari regretted that Pakistan was caught in a situation where there’s this political chaos playing out on the streets, distracting the nation from the real issues that were affecting all Pakistanis.

Asked how he felt being the youngest foreign minister in Pakistan’s history, Mr Bhutto-Zardari said, “Given that I am so young, I bring a unique perspective … everybody who is in power right now or in positions of influence and making decisions for our country-- they’ll live for 10, 20 years.”

Being young, he said, gave him the advantage of focusing on long-term issues, like income inequality, climate, and terrorism.

Mr Bhutto-Zardari agreed with the suggestion that democracy in Pakistan was fragile because it has been under direct military dictatorship for a long time.

During a brief period of democratic transition, political parties came together and reached a consensus on how to retain democracy, he said, adding: “Those people or those forces that benefit from undemocratic rule in Pakistan didn’t like that. So, they supported Mr. Khan and brought him into power.”

This experiment, he said, “has now blown up not only in those individuals’ faces but has had severe consequences for our country.”

Published in Dawn, March 16th, 2023