Imran Khan says he ‘was not dangerous’ when in government, but he ‘will be now’

Former cricket star was removed by a vote of no-confidence on 9 April

Former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan has hit out at the country’s judiciary and demanded to know why it felt the need to open its doors at midnight on 9 April, hours before he was removed from office.

Mr Khan was ousted last Saturday after a week of political drama. He had initially tried to sidestep the vote by dissolving parliament and calling for early elections, but the Supreme Court ruled the process unconstitutional and ordered the vote to go ahead.

Opposition parties were able to secure 174 votes in the 342-member house in support of the no confidence motion against Mr Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaaf (PTI).

Mr Khan has called the vote a “foreign conspiracy against Pakistan”. He becomes the first prime minister of Pakistan to be ousted by a no-confidence vote.

“I was not dangerous when I was part of the government, but I will be more dangerous now,” he said in his first public address in Peshawar on Wednesday after his ouster.

“We will not accept an imported government and people have shown what they want by holding demonstrations against the move,” he said.

He also took on the country’s judiciary for opening its doors at midnight to ensure that the no-confidence vote is held within the Supreme Court’s deadline.

“My dear judges, my judiciary, I have spent time in jail because of your freedom because I dream that one day the judiciary would stand with the weak people of the society, and not the powerful,” he was quoted as saying by the Dawn newspaper in Peshawar.

“I ask the judiciary that when you opened the court in the dead of night ... this nation has known me for 45 years. Have I ever broken the law? When I played cricket, did anyone every accuse me of match fixing?

“During my 25 years of politics, I have never provoked the public against state institutions or the judiciary because my life and death is in Pakistan. I ask you, what crime had I exactly committed that you opened up the courts at midnight?”

He also took on his successor, Shehbaz Sharif, the leader of the opposition who was elected on Monday and asked him to stop harassing PTI workers.

“This crackdown that you’re doing against our youth over social media ... listen to this clearly ... the day we give the call, you would not find a place to hide.”

He also reiterated his call for early elections.

“My youth, get ready, I will be out on the streets with you in every city until we do not force them to hold elections,” he said.