ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan on Saturday said that he would announce the date for his parties’ long march for a “real independence” either on October 27 or 28 as he was not expecting any “meaningful result from backchannel talks” of his party with government.
Speaking at a presser along with Senator Azam Swati who was granted bail a day ago in a case related to “defamatory” tweet against army chief, he admitted that “political parties always hold backdoor channels talks but I don’t think these ongoing talks would have any meaning outcome”.
“I will announce the ‘long march’ date either on Thursday or Friday,” he added.
He said that incumbent regime after suffering defeat in the recently-held by-polls have realised that they cannot compete with PTI in the election; hence, they will not call early elections.
He also warned that if the government attempted to stop his organised peaceful protest, it will result into chaos.
He said he had been demanding early elections to save the country from going further downhill, “as thieves at the helm are busy in getting closed down their corruption cases”.
Speaking about arrest and alleged torture on PTI Senator Azam Swati, Khan said he had never witnessed such victimisation of political leaders under any democracy.
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He said Swati was arrested in front of his family, claiming later he was stripped and subjected to torture in the custody. “I will raise the matter of Azam Swati at every forum,” he added.
He also drew top court’s attention to the matter, saying, “Had suo motu been taken on custodial torture on Shahbaz Gill, this would not have happened”.
The chief justice must take notice of this and inquire as to who the people were who tortured and stripped Swati, said Imran, adding “if you allow this to continue, Pakistan will be turned into a banana republic”.
The PTI chief said ‘institutions’ cannot earn respect through intimidation and torture, adding such actions will only increase hatred against them.
He said PTI’s social media activists in Punjab were being picked up by “Na Maloom Afraad” (unknown people) over merely ‘critical tweets’.
In an obvious reference to the powers that be, he said: “Everyone is afraid of these Na Maloom Afraad…they are destroying our country. They are the enemy of our country.”
“All this is being done to force my supporters to give statements against me but this will not work,” the PTI chief added.
To a question about mysterious disappearance of PTI Senator Saifullah Niazi, who was thought to be in the custody extrajudicial custody of Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), he said that Saifullah is “underground”. He did not elaborate his statement about Niazi any further expect saying he is underground.
Reiterating his allegations against Chief Election Commissioner (CEC), Imran expressed doubts that someone else was “behind the verdict” against him. “One thing is sure that he cannot give this verdict on his own. Everyone knows that he is a ‘servant’ of Sharif family,” he alleged, adding it should be investigated if he was ‘kicked’ from somewhere else.”
Khan said his upcoming ‘long march’ will be different from the previous one, saying that his party is a specialist in holding such protest rallies.
He also congratulated former federal minister Hammad Azhar and other officials on the removal of Pakistan from Financial Action Task Force (FATF) grey list.
Speaking on the occasion, Swati described the alleged torture he was subjected to while in police custody.
He warned that if the Supreme Court and Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial did not take suo motu notice, the “flames may one day reach your doorstep”.
He further added that his granddaughters had suffered emotional trauma as a result of seeing him stripped naked and beaten in front of them. “If one cannot get justice from this country’s institutions, then close them,” he said. The senator went on to say that he would take this matter up with Supreme Court, adding, “We will (approach the SC) so that next time a parliamentarian (or) a judge will not be stripped naked and humiliated”.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022
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