By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: The caretaker government said on Friday it would write to The Economist, a British magazine, to question its editorial decision to publish an article purportedly written by former prime minister Imran Khan, who has been behind bars since his conviction in a graft case last August.
The article, which appeared in the magazine’s online edition on Thursday, slammed the upcoming elections as “a farce” and said Khan’s party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), had been unfairly targeted and silenced by the military establishment and its allies.
Caretaker Information Minister Murtaza Solangi said in a social media post that it was “puzzling and disconcerting” that such an esteemed media outlet published an article in the name of an individual who is in jail and has been convicted.
“Today, we are writing to the Editor of @TheEconomist about an article purportedly written by Mr. Imran Khan,” Solangi wrote in a social media post. “It is puzzling and disconcerting that such an esteemed media outlet published an article in the name of an individual who is in jail and has been convicted.”
He said it was vital to uphold ethical standards and promote responsible journalism.
“We would like to know how the editorial decision was made, and what considerations were taken into account regarding the legitimacy and credibility of the content by the @TheEconomist,” the minister said.
“We would also be interested to know if @TheEconomist has ever published such ghost articles by jailed politicians ever from any other part of the world.”
Solangi maintained if “jailed convicts” were free to publish articles, they would only “air their one-sided grievances.”
Khan, a former cricket star who became prime minister in 2018, was ousted from power in a no-confidence vote in April 2022 and has since faced a slew of legal cases that he says are meant to keep him out of the country’s political scene before the next general elections.
In the article, Khan accused the military establishment, the security agencies and the civil bureaucracy of not providing any playing field for his party and of engineering his removal from power under pressure from the United States, which he said was unhappy with his independent foreign policy.
The former primer said he had evidence of a meeting between a U.S. State Department official and Pakistan’s then ambassador in Washington in March 2022, after which the ambassador sent a cipher message to his government that he believed was an ultimatum to oust him.
He also alleged that the country’s election commission had been tainted by its bizarre actions, such as defying the Supreme Court, rejecting his party’s nominations and launching contempt cases against him and his party leaders.
Khan said the public was sceptical about whether the national vote, scheduled for February 8th, would take place, as elections had not been held in two provinces, Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, for over a year despite a court order.
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