LAHORE: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan on Thursday said that the nation has lost trust in the institutions, and thus “I appeal to Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Atta Bandial to probe the First Information Report (FIR) issue and initiate an investigation into the Azam Swati video leak and the murder of journalist Arshad Shareef”.
“All eyes were on the Supreme Court of Pakistan (SCP), as only the Supreme Court can probe the matter. Pakistan’s future was in the hands of the Chief Justice; when will our justice system give us protection,” the former prime minister said while addressing the PTI’s ‘Haqeeqi Azadi’ march which resumed from Wazirabad through a video link from Lahore.
The long march to Islamabad was abruptly postponed after the assassination attempt on the PTI chief at Wazirabad and later it was decided to resume the movement from the place of the incident; the party chairman gave PTI Vice Chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi the task to lead the rally to the Rawalpindi.
Khan further said, “Mr Chief Justice, we are becoming a banana republic and thus you have to save the country; Pakistan cannot run without strong institutions. What was happening in Pakistan today was unimaginable even in the western societies,” he said.
SC says IG Punjab must register FIR of attack on Imran Khan within 24 hours
He expressed helplessness by saying that a former prime minister and a leader of the largest political party in this country could not get an FIR registered as he had nominated a senior officer in his complaint. He claimed that they run a government in Punjab, but the provincial police were controlled from somewhere else.
“What was the harm in including the names of three persons (Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Federal Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah and a senior military official) in the FIR; if they were innocent then the investigation would have vindicated them. The reality was, three persons had scripted the assassination plot, but Allah saved me. The Chief Justice should look into this matter,” he added.
Talking about the assassination attempt on him, the PTI chief revealed that as per a forensic report, there were two shooters involved in the Wazirabad incident and bullet shells from two different weapons were found at the crime scene. “I knew about the assassination plot and I had revealed it in my public rally on September 24,” he added.
He again accused the Prime Minister, the Federal Interior Minister and a senior military official of planning his assassination and giving it a religious colour; “they concoct a narrative to cover-up the assassination plot”. “These thieves have no relation with the religion and only care about concealing their theft. No action was taken over the torture of PTI leader Shahbaz Gill and Senator Azam Swati; whatever was happening in the country was bringing a bad name to the country across the world,” he added.
Targeting two senior military officers, Imran alleged that ever since they were posted in the federal capital, they were using tactics similar to the ones used to intimidate terrorists. “In Balochistan, they said that they had tackled terrorists; the way these two officers tackle things, terrorism will only increase, not decrease,” he claimed.
The former prime minister vowed to continue with the long march; “it will not stop at any cost, it will gain more momentum”. He averred that without ‘real freedom’, no progress can take place in Pakistan; “without rule of law and justice, we will never be free people”. He further said that under the current system, even a former prime minister has no rights.
“I will not step back and urge the nation to join the PTI’s long march. You have to win the war for the country’s future. I can only try but you have to participate because it was about yours and your children’s future,” he said, adding that he will receive PTI supporters from across the country in Rawalpindi.
Earlier speaking to a delegation of journalists, the PTI Chairman said that his only demand was free and fair elections and it was the way to bring the country out of the current crises. He further said that the PPP and PML-N need the support of the establishment and not him. “I fully support the army, it is my army. The opponents want to create a wedge between me and the army, but this will never happen,” he added. He further said that he was not in a hurry to speed up the tempo of the long march, but the rulers in Islamabad were desperate to see its end. Slamming the PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif, he said that efforts were underway to ensure his return; “he was fond of playing with his umpires”.
Earlier, senior party leaders, including Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Asad Umar, Fawad Chaudhary, Dr Yasmin Rashid and Hammad Azar led a large number of the party workers from the provincial capital to Wazirabad to resume the long march.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022
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