By IANS
Mumbai : Pakistan’s cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan Friday demanded the immediate resignation of President Pervez Musharraf in the wake of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto’s assassination yesterday.
Addressing the media in Mumbai where he is on a brief visit, Khan said that given the present tragic circumstances in his country, there is a need for a change in the current political dispensation in Pakistan.
“The very existence of Pakistan is under threat. It needs a complete change in strategy, the judiciary must be restored and President Musharraf must step down,” he urged.
Responding to a query, Khan said that his party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf, would boycott the Jan 8 general elections in Pakistan.
“Elections are now irrelevant, the situation in Pakistan is out of control. We need a government with character,” he observed.
“This guy (President Musharraf) has failed on all fronts. He is not a solution, he is a problem. He says he will crush terrorism. It is terrorism, which is crushing us,” said Khan in a bitter tone.
He felt that this is the right time for Musharraf to resign and give the country a hope since only democracy can combat terror. Khan claimed a recent survey has found that 70 to 80 per cent of Pakistanis do not want Musharraf as president.”
Praising Bhutto, Khan said she was a courageous woman. He demanded an inquiry by an international commission into the security lapses that led to her killing.
Chiding the US for its continuing support to Musharraf, Khan said that in a country where top leaders and former prime ministers are unsafe should be enough for US President George Bush to realize that Musharraf’s time has run out.
Urging India to help the process of democratisation in Pakistan, he cautioned it against repeating the mistakes committed by Bush in supporting Musharraf.
On his own plans to return home, Khan said that he would return to Pakistan “very soon.”
Asked whether he apprehended danger to his life, he asserted: “Really speaking, I don’t feel threatened. Anyone (in Pakistan) can be bumped off and later it would be said that Al Qaeda did it.”
He added that former prime minister Nawaz Sharif is not part of the US plan to fight terror, but even his rally was targeted.
Khan is being hosted by well-known socialite Parmeshwar Godrej and is scheduled to fly back home early Saturday.