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Imran Khan
Opposition to Musharraf and Bush
Khan supported General Pervez Musharraf's military coup in 1999, but denounced his presidency a few months before the 2002 general elections. Many political commentators and his opponents termed Khan's change in opinion an opportunistic, rather than principled, move. "I regret supporting the referendum. I was made to understand that when he won, the general would begin a clean-up of the corrupt in the system. But really it wasn't the case," Khan later explained.[19] During the 2002 election season, he also voiced his opposition towards Pakistan's logistical support to US troops for the war in Afghanistan. Campaigning in Kamar Mushani, he told the crowd that their country had become a "servant of America."[19] Khan subsequently voted in favor of the pro-Taliban Islamist candidate for prime minister in 2002, bypassing Musharraf's choice.[18]
On May 6, 2005, Khan became one of the first Muslim leaders to criticize a 300-word Newsweek story about the alleged desecration of the Qur'an in a U.S. military prison at the Guantánamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba. Khan held a press conference to denounce the article and demanded that Gen. Pervez Musharraf secure an apology from American president George W. Bush for the incident.[18] Khan has been a vocal critic of Pakistan's alliance with the United States, especially in fighting the so-called War on Terror. In 2006, he exclaimed, "Musharraf is sitting here, and he licks George Bush’s shoes!" Criticizing other Muslim leaders supportive of the Bush administration, he added, "They are the puppets sitting on the Muslim world. We want a sovereign Pakistan. We do not want a president to be a poodle of George Bush."[29] During George W. Bush's visit to Pakistan in March 2006, Khan was placed under house arrest after having threatened to organise a protest against the American president's implicit support for dictatorship in Pakistan. In Islamabad, Khan was picked up in a restaurant and locked in his home.[4]
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