Imran Khan says won't 'flee' Pakistan like Nawaz Sharif

Lahore: Pakistan's jailed former prime minister Imran Khan has reiterated that he will "never flee" the country like ex-premier Nawaz Sharif, rejecting claims that he is seeking refuge outside the country.

In the face of speculations triggered after Defence Minister Khawaja Asif recently said that Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party is urging "foreign powers" to get their supreme leader released and send him abroad, Khan issued a statement on X, asserting that he will not leave the country at any cost.

"I will never flee the country. Put my name on (the) no-fly list permanently -- I am not going anywhere. First, (former prime minister) Nawaz Sharif left the country; now, his daughter (Punjab chief minister Maryam Sharif) has also gone," said a post on his X account on Thursday.

Maryam left on Thursday for Switzerland on a "medical and recreational" trip, while her father Nawaz left for London last month for medical treatments, according to his party.

Nawaz returned to Pakistan in October 2023 after a four-year self-imposed exile in the UK.

"Treatment abroad is extremely expensive, and their entire family is living abroad. Their properties and money are all outside the country. If I had committed corruption like Nawaz Sharif and President Asif Ali Zardari, I would have struck a deal (with military establishment) and fled the country as well," Khan said on his X account on Thursday.

"I believe that death is better than slavery. If they (establishment) wish to try me in military courts, then so be it, I am ready for that too, but I will never accept their servitude. Even my two sisters have been imprisoned, and one of my sister’s sons has been in military jail for a year and a half. I am prepared to make any sacrifice," he said.

Khan, who has been in jail in multiple cases since August 2023, also congratulated Donald Trump on winning the 47th US presidential election.