美国国家公共电台 NPR--Recovering from bullet wounds, Pakistan's Imran Khan talks of new waves of protest

Recovering from bullet wounds, Pakistan's Imran Khan talks of new waves of protest

Transcript¹

Imran Khan, the populist prime minister voted out of power in Pakistan this spring, says he is intensifying² protests against his removal.

Khan and his followers³ have staged protests ever since Pakistan's parliament removed him in a vote of no confidence in April. Refusing to accept his defeat, he asked his followers to stage demonstrations⁴ while converging⁵ on the capital city, Islamabad. During one such protest on November 3, Khan was shot in the leg.

Khan spoke⁶ with NPR from his home in Lahore while recovering from his wounds. He said his rejection⁷ of his defeat was a fight for the "rule of law" and a bid to prevent Pakistan from becoming "a banana republic." He is demanding that the government call early elections, instead of waiting until their scheduled time late next year.

Leaders of the current government describe Khan himself as a threat to democracy, who degraded democratic norms while in office and is now seeking to overturn the majority vote of the parliament. The current foreign minister, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, has accused Khan of "post-fact, alternate reality politics."

The truth, as both sides know, is complicated. Pakistan holds democratic elections and has had a somewhat free media – but also suffers from corruption⁸ and has cracked down on free expression. Civilian⁹ governments are powerfully influenced by the army, which is thought to track journalists and shape elections. Days from now, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is due to name a new army chief – a fraught¹⁰ decision, closely watched in Islamabad, because the army chief is presumed to have more power than the prime minister.

Khan ranks among the most famous living Pakistanis, a former cricket star-turned-politician who once risked himself to oppose a military dictatorship. But when his party won elections in 2018, he was widely understood to have reached an accommodation with the army. "Without the military leaning on the election process itself... there's no way Imran Khan would have been prime minister," says Mosharraf Zaidi, an Islamabad-based analyst¹¹. He adds that Khan was removed this spring because he "ran afoul of those bosses."

Khan has accused both the civilian prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, and a Pakistani general of being involved in his shooting. The government condemned¹² the shooting and has taken at least one suspect into custody¹³.

The political conflict has added to the instability of a country already facing calamity¹⁴. Massive floods this summer put much of Pakistan underwater, and its economy is near collapse¹⁵.

On Tuesday, he spoke with NPR's Steve Inskeep. What follows is one portion of their conversation, edited for length.

Steve Inskeep: Why are you demanding immediate¹⁶ elections instead of waiting until late next year?

Imran Khan: The economy is sinking. The dollar earnings¹⁷ through remittances¹⁸ and exports, they're all going down. So basically, Pakistan is staring at default... And the sooner we get elections, [the sooner] a stable government comes in that will lead to political stability, which will then have a chance for Pakistan to get out of this mess.

But a majority of the parliament... who were elected to those positions, and some of whom were your allies, voted no confidence. Why not accept that as the constitutional result? It is the system you have.

Imran Khan: The problem, Steve, is that in Pakistan, unfortunately, parliamentary democracy is still evolving. So when you have a situation which is unheard of in maybe the Anglo-Saxon parliamentary democracies where you can actually buy the loyalties¹⁹ of people, and I'm talking about 24 members of Parliament who sold themselves... So that in itself it means that the whole idea of democracy gets flawed.

Were these not people who were your allies, who were alleged²⁰ to have been nudged in your direction once upon a time?

Two different things. One, they were allies. But they also sold themselves.

You mentioned the need for stability. Is it in the best interest of the country at this time to turn the focus on your cause and your protest, rather than focusing on the more immediate problems of the country and running in next year's election?

Imran Khan: Well, Steve, if we wait till next year's election, our party is only getting stronger as the government weakens. We are gaining from lack of economic performance but the country is sinking. My only worry is that the one year which is left, the country might just be pushed to the point where it might go out of all control. That may be impossible to pull it back.

Do you believe you would be able to work with the military if you returned to power, given that you have accused at least one member of the military of plotting to kill you?

Well, you know, the military has its own good and bad... I think the military recognizes that. I think that the members in the military do make mistakes.

You have said in recent months that you felt a foreign conspiracy²¹ was responsible for your ouster. You also said in recent days that you no longer blame the United States. People said that you had changed your story, although in looking carefully at the quotes, I'm not sure that you really did. Did you mean to say the United States is not responsible or merely to say that you will let it pass?

Is it because my government has gone that I should harbor a grudge²² with the U.S. forever? No, because it's not about me. It's about my country... We have to move forward, and and we have to have a new type of relationship with the U.S., which I've always said. Unfortunately, our relationships in the past have been very lopsided. There really been a sort of master-slave type of relationship which has been very demeaning, humiliating for people of Pakistan.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 intensifying   

v.（使）增强， （使）加剧( intensify的现在分词 )；增辉

参考例句：

• The allies are intensifying their air campaign. 联军部队正加大他们的空战强度。 来自辞典例句
• The rest of the European powers were in a state of intensifying congestion. 其余的欧洲强国则处于越来越拥挤的状态。 来自英汉非文学 - 历史

3 followers   

追随者( follower的名词复数 )； 用户； 契据的附面； 从动件

参考例句：

• the followers of Mahatma Gandhi 圣雄甘地的拥护者
• The reformer soon gathered a band of followers round him. 改革者很快就获得一群追随者支持他。

4 demonstrations   

证明( demonstration的名词复数 )； 表明； 表达； 游行示威

参考例句：

• Lectures will be interspersed with practical demonstrations. 讲课中将不时插入实际示范。
• The new military government has banned strikes and demonstrations. 新的军人政府禁止罢工和示威活动。

5 converging   

adj.收敛[缩]的，会聚的，趋同的v.（线条、运动的物体等）会于一点( converge的现在分词 )；（趋于）相似或相同；人或车辆汇集；聚集

参考例句：

• Plants had gradually evolved along diverging and converging pathways. 植物是沿着趋异和趋同两种途径逐渐演化的。 来自辞典例句
• This very slowly converging series was known to Leibniz in 1674. 这个收敛很慢的级数是莱布尼茨在1674年得到的。 来自辞典例句

6 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

7 rejection   

n.拒绝，被拒，抛弃，被弃

参考例句：

• He decided not to approach her for fear of rejection.他因怕遭拒绝决定不再去找她。
• The rejection plunged her into the dark depths of despair.遭到拒绝使她陷入了绝望的深渊。

8 corruption   

n.腐败，堕落，贪污

参考例句：

• The people asked the government to hit out against corruption and theft.人民要求政府严惩贪污盗窃。
• The old man reviled against corruption.那老人痛斥了贪污舞弊。

9 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
• He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。

10 fraught   

adj.充满…的，伴有(危险等)的；忧虑的

参考例句：

• The coming months will be fraught with fateful decisions.未来数月将充满重大的决定。
• There's no need to look so fraught!用不着那么愁眉苦脸的！

11 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

12 condemned   

adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He condemned the hypocrisy of those politicians who do one thing and say another. 他谴责了那些说一套做一套的政客的虚伪。
• The policy has been condemned as a regressive step. 这项政策被认为是一种倒退而受到谴责。

13 custody   

n.监护，照看，羁押，拘留

参考例句：

• He spent a week in custody on remand awaiting sentence.等候判决期间他被还押候审一个星期。
• He was taken into custody immediately after the robbery.抢劫案发生后，他立即被押了起来。

14 calamity   

n.灾害，祸患，不幸事件

参考例句：

• Even a greater natural calamity cannot daunt us. 再大的自然灾害也压不垮我们。
• The attack on Pearl Harbor was a crushing calamity.偷袭珍珠港(对美军来说)是一场毁灭性的灾难。

15 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

16 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

17 earnings   

n.工资收人；利润，利益，所得

参考例句：

• That old man lives on the earnings of his daughter.那个老人靠他女儿的收入维持生活。
• Last year there was a 20% decrease in his earnings.去年他的收入减少了20%。

18 remittances   

n.汇寄( remittance的名词复数 )；汇款，汇款额

参考例句：

• He sends regular remittances to his parents. 他定期汇款给他父母。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Remittances sometimes account for as much as 20% of GDP. 在这些国家中，此类汇款有时会占到GDP的20%之多。 来自互联网

19 loyalties   

n.忠诚( loyalty的名词复数 )；忠心；忠于…感情；要忠于…的强烈感情

参考例句：

• an intricate network of loyalties and relationships 忠诚与义气构成的盘根错节的网络
• Rows with one's in-laws often create divided loyalties. 与姻亲之间的矛盾常常让人两面为难。 来自《简明英汉词典》

20 alleged   

a.被指控的，嫌疑的

参考例句：

• It was alleged that he had taken bribes while in office. 他被指称在任时收受贿赂。
• alleged irregularities in the election campaign 被指称竞选运动中的不正当行为

21 conspiracy   

n.阴谋，密谋，共谋

参考例句：

• The men were found guilty of conspiracy to murder.这些人被裁决犯有阴谋杀人罪。
• He claimed that it was all a conspiracy against him.他声称这一切都是一场针对他的阴谋。

22 grudge   

n.不满，怨恨，妒嫉；vt.勉强给，不情愿做

参考例句：

• I grudge paying so much for such inferior goods.我不愿花这么多钱买次品。
• I do not grudge him his success.我不嫉妒他的成功。