Sindh government barred opposition leader Imran Khan from entering Karachi on Thursday because he has called for a boycott of upcoming elections, officials said. Imran Khan was sent back on a plane to Islamabad after officials prevented him from entering Karachi, Home Minister Akhtar Zamin said.
"We do not want anything to disrupt the elections that is why we have sent him back," Zamin told AFP. "If he does not want to contest elections, it is fine, but he should not incite other people to do so. He will be welcome to visit Sindh after elections."
Khan, a former member of parliament and the chief of the small Movement for Justice party, has called for the boycott of general elections on February 18, saying fair and free polls were not possible under President Pervez Musharraf. "It is for the third time that Imran Khan had been externed from Karachi and it is highly condemnable," Khan's party secretary general Arif Alvi told AFP.
"It is a violation of constitutional rights of a citizen to move freely in the country and government is doing this because it is afraid the charismatic personality of Imran Khan could create problems for Musharraf." Imran was held under anti-terror legislation for several days in November.