Almost two months since the slaying of Pakistan's Opposition Leader Benazir Bhutto, former cricketer and government hopeful Imran Khan talks about the political unrest in Pakistan.

"I don't fear but you have to think of it as a possibility because in this country there is Musharraf law, there is no rule of law", Khan tells Dateline.

"So I have been opposing this throughout and the government cannot get away with doing it. If anything happens to me, the finger will point at Musharraf".

• Have Your Say: Should Pakistanis boycott the upcoming election, as Imran Khan is urging them to do?

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Transcript:

Profiling him a few years back now, George Negus asked former Pakistani cricketing legend Imran Khan whether he would ever consider going into politics. He didn't say yes, nor did he say no. These days, post-cricket, Imran leads his own political party, has been an MP and is one of Pervez Musharraf's most strident critics. Now he's calling on Pakistanis to boycott next week's election. Dateline talked with him from his home in the capital, Islamabad, about the chaotic state of his country.

GEORGE NEGUS: Imran, I am talking to you after you were refused entry into Karachi and it would seem that any effective protest against a military dictator like Musharraf is impossible.

IMRAN KHAN, ALL PARTIES DEMOCRATIC MOVEMENT: Well, George, in Pakistan, we call it not martial law, we call it Musharraf law. The Supreme Court Chief Justice, the Constitutional Chief Justice still under house arrest. He has picked his own judges and they have virtually given him the right to amend the constitution and he has made 47 constitutional changes and all this is to stay in power.

GEORGE NEGUS: If you're right about him, I mean you are suffering from Musharraf law not military law, he's not going to allow any serious opposition to him is he, let alone the boycott you are calling for.

IMRAN KHAN: The thing George is that Musharraf wants to stay in power any which way. He has made people believe this fantasy, that he is their main man to fight terrorism. Similarly in Pakistan he has made alliances with all sorts of criminals and the only one criterion is they should support him to stay in power.

GEORGE NEGUS: But Musharraf repeatedly claims that the elections will be free and fair and he's the only one capable of fighting the Islamic extremism.

IMRAN KHAN: George he is such a shameless liar, I mean he lies so blatantly, so shamelessly that it shocks people like us. The entire state machinery today in Pakistan is moving to make his pro-government candidates win the elections. It is so blatant that in the local news papers you saw policeman putting up posters of the pro-government candidates, it's that blatant. Every opposition party that is fighting the elections is saying that there is massive rigging going on. So this charade that we are seeing, the so-called free and fair elections, every Pakistani is under no illusion that this will be the most rigged elections in our history. We call it the mother of all rigging .

GEORGE NEGUS: What you think will happen next week?

IMRAN KHAN: Things are coming to a head on 18 February when their should be an election. There are three possibilities. One, Musharraf’s party wins, I think there will be massive protests in Pakistan which will dwarf the protests in Kenya right now. If on the other hand the opposition wins then there's a deadlock because General Musharraf has given himself powers which have changed the constitutional structure of Pakistan. What he has done is that he has given himself the powers of the prime minister who in a parliamentary democracy like in Australia, is the chief executive so once the opposition Prime Minister comes to power there is going to be a deadlock because he will have the responsibility and Musharraf will hold all the authority. It cannot work. The third possibility is he is going to get out of the elections and we fear that there is a 50% chance he is going to create violence and say the country is not ready for elections.

GEORGE NEGUS: Imran I have noticed that you have suggested that the army itself might try to get rid of Musharraf.

IMRAN KHAN: Every dictator in Pakistan. This is the 4th military dictator, the three previous ones were all removed by the army. One was killed and the other two were just told by the army to go because they had become a liability.

GEORGE NEGUS: Doesn’t that mean that if General Musharraf goes, the rest of you are still beholden to the military?

IMRAN KHAN: Except that things have changed. In Pakistan there is a consensus amongst a civil society, the media, opinion-makers and the lawyers movement, this has been a revolution in Pakistan, the lawyers mivement. And all the genuine political parties that we cannot go on as we have been going with the army controlling the shots and a pseudo democracy so there's a genuine movement for democracy going and I think it's irreversible.

GEORGE NEGUS: Can I ask you this, do you aspire to the leadership of your country?

IMRAN KHAN: George, I have no doubt that my party will succeed in coming to power and not that long. We are not participating in this election simply because we think that if we are going to these elections which are constitutionally illegal, the judges are illegal, the election commission is illegal. General Musharraf right now is an illegal unconstitutional President. We're standing with the constitutional judges of Pakistan, because we believe the future of Pakistan can only be democratic if the judges are reinstated and then they appoint an impartial election commission with free and fair elections. That's the only way to go.

GEORGE NEGUS: Imran, on a personal note, what might happen to you now? It must have been a terrible shock when Benazir Bhutto was assassinated and now the authorities are continually harassing you. Do you fear for your own safety?

IMRAN KHAN: Yes, I don't fear but you have to think of it as a possibility because in this country, as I said, there is Musharraf law. There is no rule of law. One of the terrorist organisation that was controlling Karachi when I was sent back, I mean it is controlled by his ally which is a terrorist organisation, so yes there is always a possibility but in the case of Benazir Bhutto, her risk was doubled, because not only was she threatening Musharraf and the power structure but also she had made such statements to appease the Americans which meant that the whole lot, the extremist element which is not one group, she had threatened them and openly said that she would take everyone on so she was also threatened by them and therefore she ran the risk of the establishment bumping her off and then blaming on the extremist. In my case they can't do that because I for one have opposed this American war on terror from day one. I believe you can only beat terrorism by winning the hearts and minds of the people and marginalising the terrorist. So if anything happens to me the finger will point to Musharraf.

GEORGE NEGUS: Always good to talk to you, just wish we could talk under more positive circumstances. Stay safe.

IMRAN KHAN: Thank you George.

CREDITS

Researcher / Producer

Jane Worthington

Fixer

Bronwyn Curran

Editor

Stephen Harrop

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