Former prime minister Imran Khan has written an opinion piece in one of the top British magazines, The Economist, “by invitation” where he spoke about the February 8 general elections and the economic situation.

“Whether elections happen or not, the manner in which I and my party have been targeted since a farcical vote of no confidence in April 2022 has made one thing clear: the establishment—the army, security agencies and the civil bureaucracy—is not prepared to provide any playing field at all, let alone a level one, for PTI,” he wrote for the UK’s magazine. The piece was uploaded to the website on January 4.

Elections are scheduled to be held next month in Pakistan, with human rights watchdog in the country expressing concerns about the lack of a level playing field granted to certain political parties in the run-up to the polls.

It would be held under a transitional government led by interim Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar. Many analysts have frowned on the “kind” of environment, as described by some political parties, provided to the PML-N in Punjab. But the caretaker setup has rebuffed such impressions.

On Thursday, the party founded by Khan and others lost another battle for its iconic electoral symbol—bat—when the Lahore High Court dismissed a party’s petition against the polls overseer’s decision to nullify PTI’s intra-party elections and consequently take away its electoral symbol.

In his piece, Khan claimed that the country’s top electoral authority has been tainted by its bizarre actions against the backdrop of not holding snap polls in Punjab on May 14, 2023, despite a Supreme Court order last March.

According to Khan, the people are right to be “skeptical” about whether the national vote would take place.

Khan alleged that contempt cases were launched against him and other PTI leaders for criticising the Election Commission of Pakistan.

The former chairman of PTI described the May 9 events as a “false-flag operation” when his party was blamed for arson at military installations.

“Despite all this, PTI remains popular,” he said and alleged that the ECP was desperate to deny the party the right to contest elections. “The courts seem to be losing credibility daily.”

Khan spoke about the charges, including treason, against him and denial of permission for his party to hold worker conventions. In his piece, he spoke about the cipher controversy and his ouster from office in 2021 via a no-confidence motion.

It merits here to mention that the editor’s note mentioned that the government and the US State Department have denied Khan’s allegations of American interference in Pakistani politics. The government is prosecuting the ex-PM under the Official Secrets Act.

“In this scenario, even if elections were held they would be a disaster and a farce, since PTI is being denied its basic right to campaign. Such a joke of an election would only lead to further political instability. This, in turn, would further aggravate an already volatile economy,” he said.

As the former PM called for fair elections, Khan said: “Unfortunately, with democracy under siege, we are heading in the opposite direction on all these fronts.”