Allies desert former prime minister amid disappearances and torture as powerful military reasserts control
has cut an increasingly isolated figure. Since Pakistan’s former prime minister was released from jail, after a brief but explosive attempt to arrest him last month, his return has been marked by a mass exodus of the top leadership of his party, on a scale that has surprised even his critics.
Yet despite Khan’s claims that this is a “crackdown never seen before in Pakistan’s history”, Paliwal said this was instead a continuation of a pattern by the military that has marred the country’s pathway to democracy since 1958, when the first military coup took place. “For me they used multiple methods to pressure me to leave the party, but one of the worst was torture,” he said, requesting anonymity over fear of the military. “They tied my feet and hung me upside down and I was like a punching bag for them. They were beating with sticks and punches and kicking me.
The brother of a PTI youth wing leader said his whole family had been in hiding since 9 May, after experiencing raids on their homes and constant harassment by police. He said he had been separated from his wife and newborn baby for almost a month as a result. “We all know who is responsible,” said Mirza Shahzad Akbar, who is in the UK and no longer an office bearer in PTI but is named as an accused in one of the prominent corruption cases against Khan. “My brother has no involvement in politics. Going after my brother and abducting him is to pressurise me.”
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