‘IPL is a spectacle...it could mean the death of Test cricket’

Lahore: If this was football, Imran Khan, chairman of Pakistan’s Tehreek-e-Insaaf party, could have been accused of scoring a self-goal when he decided to boycott the 18 February elections. A lot of people in Pakistan say he completely marginalized himself with this one decision. But, Khan, one of cricket’s great all-rounders who is now a full-time politician, insists he will surely play another big innings. Khan is very critical of both President Pervez Musharraf as well as Asif Ali Zardari of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and says they have both betrayed the people’s verdict.

To those who think he is a spent force, his answer is that he’s not giving up. Khan continues to rail against problems that ail Pakistan and doesn’t mince words in saying that the Bush administration is treating Pakistan like toilet paper; Zardari is a small-time conman and Musharraf is one of the most shameless people in the world.

Jyoti Malhotra met Khan in his house by the canal in Lahore. Edited excerpts:

The coalition that has come to power was so totally unprepared for the result that three months down the line there is total confusion. The main issue, of the judiciary, which should have been sorted out before the elections, is still not sorted out. The country is almost in a state of economic meltdown. You have a prime minister who has the responsibility, but the authority lies with Asif Zardari (Benazir Bhutto’s widower and PPP co-chairman). You have a chief minister in Punjab (Pakistan), but the authority lies with Shahbaz Sharif (former chief minister and brother of Nawaz Sharif). It just shows that the whole system isn’t equipped to either manage these crises, either to deal with the judiciary crisis, or to deal with Musharraf’s conspiracies, which are going on behind the scenes.

Well…if 60% of your judiciary is kicked out and your chief justice is under house arrest, and if you fight elections under an illegal and unconstitutional emergency, it means you are legitimizing the illegal and unconstitutional act of a military dictator. It would also mean that we are stabbing the judiciary in the back, which for the first time has taken a stand. My party, which has stood with the judiciary for 12 years, decided we were going to continue to stand with the judges.