Islamabad: Pakistani journalist Fatima Bhutto has denied reports that she was flirting with the idea of joining Imran Khan’s Tehreek-e-Insaf party, saying that this could never happen because the cricketer-turned-politician has an “incredible coziness with dictatorship”.
“He has an incredible coziness not with the military but with dictatorship,” The Wall Street Journal quoted Bhutto, as saying. Bhutto accused Khan of defending the legacy of former dictator General Zia-ul-Haq, who came to power in the late 1970s after overthrowing her grandfather and the then prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.
She also mentioned about Khan’s support for a 2002 referendum, allowing General Pervez Musharraf, who had come to power with a coup a few years earlier, to extend his term.
Bhutto further gave many other reasons why she was opposed to Khan and his party. Referring to his opposition to amending a 2006 woman’s bill in favour of victims of rape, Bhutto said: “As a woman I worry very much about Imran’s politics.”
She also questioned Khan’s commitment on secularism and about defending minorities.
“Is he a saviour? No, I don’t think so,” she insisted.
ANI