Pakistan’s democracy was at ‘an all-time low’, PTI Chairman Imran Khan claimed and pinned his hope on the judiciary amid the political crisis.

“Democracy in Pakistan is at an all-time low. The only hope we have is the judiciary,” he said in an interview with Cordelia Lynch of Sky News.

He was responding to a query about whether he had faith in the judiciary and where the democracy in Pakistan was right now.

“Democracy has never taken such a battering as it has right now,” he said and alleged that all their fundamental rights have been violated. “No political figure has ever had almost 150 cases and then his house raided. When I was away, they through an armoured car, broke through my door and raided my house. My wife was all alone by herself. It’s never happened before.”

Khan’s concern comes after he was arrested earlier this week in an alleged land corruption case (Al Qadir Trust), then released on bail on Friday. But his arrest triggered widespread protests where state buildings were attacked, many died, and clashes were reported between protesters and the police.

The PTI chairman, in his address to supporters, said that the inquiry must be supervised by the chief justice of Pakistan into the violence that followed his arrest.

The government has criticised Khan’s release, with a few leaders of the ruling coalition using terms like “blanket relief”, “special treatment”, and “nexus between the PTI and judiciary” to express their concerns. “There is a genuine corruption case against Khan, but the judiciary has become a stone wall protecting him,” said Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.

In his first interview since being bailed, the former prime minister claimed that the government was petrified of elections and they fear being wiped out by his party at the elections that are expected to be held this year.

“So they have decided that the only way they will allow elections is if I am inside jail or killed,” Khan said. The PTI chief has many times claimed that two attempts on his life have been made in the past, for which he accuses the government.

“There have been two attempts on my life,” he said and spoke about the authorities’ raid at his house while he was detained on May 9.

One of the “assassination attempts” was in November last year, he recalled while speaking about the Wazirabad rally where he was shot in the leg.

He condemned “all violence” when asked about alleged violence by protesters, which the government claim was carried out by PTI supporters. Violent protests erupted when Khan was taken into custody by the paramilitary forces and police earlier this week in a graft case.

Khan added that he was mentally prepared for re-arrest as Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah had hinted at the former prime minister’s arrest after the bail term ends.

Meanwhile, Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb like other ministers defended Khan’s arrest.

“A person who has defied court, who does not abide by the law, who avoids courts, and who thinks he’s untouchable and cannot be questioned, has to be treated the way every citizen is treated,” she told Sky News.

“If we wanted to arrest him or silence him because of his popularity, we would not have waited 14 months,” she said.