Imran urges CJP to look into the matter

ZULFIQAR AHMAD

ISLAMABAD:  Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan Saturday appealed to Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry to take suo motu notice of Kamran Faisal’s ‘murder’, saying due to involvement of sitting premier in RPPs case, no fair trial could be expected.

Kamran Faisal – an official of National Accountability Bureau (NAB), investigating rental power plants (RPPs) case, in which Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf is one of the main accused, was found dead under mysterious circumstances in his apartment Friday.

Speaking at a press conference, the PTI chairman made it clear that since Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf was involved in RPPs case, hence a fair trial was next to impossible.

He said a fair investigation into the ‘brutal murder’ of Kamran Faisal is possible only when Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry springs into action. “I appeal to Justice Chaudhry to take suo motu notice of the case [and] the investigation should be conducted under apex court supervision,” he maintained.

This is heart-wrenching that a brother of four sisters and father of two daughters, Imran said, lost his life. “He [Kamran] was investigating a case in which Prime Minister Ashraf is also involved…this matter should be thoroughly investigated,” he added. 

He said Kamran was ‘killed’ to send a strong message to other officials investigating the sensitive case of RPPs. Terming the matter similar to that of TV journalist Wali Khan Babar, he said that in Babar’s case, all the six witnesses had been killed one by one with no headway in the case yet.  

Referring to the long march taken out by Dr Tahirul Qadri, Imran said it was the first step towards a true change through ballot and general elections would prove that a major change is coming in Pakistan.

“The forces of status quo claim that the long march has failed. Actually this was the first step towards success as thousands of people came out on roads to bring about a change. Over 90 percent people want change in Pakistan as reflected by a recent poll conducted by a US firm,” he added.

Asked whether the PTI would go for an election alliance with Dr Qadri’s Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT), Imran said that PAT is yet to decide whether it is going to take part in elections or not. “We will decide on the issue once elections are announced,” he added.          

Imran Khan said the demands of Dr Qadri were similar to those of PTI; however, the approach to get the issues resolved was different as the PTI wanted a change through ballot while the TMQ opted to stage a long march.

Imran said the federal and Punjab governments are trying to purchase votes by dolling out heavy funds in the name of development funds to its lawmakers and even candidates. If Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) did not intervene, it will trigger a major political disaster, he warned.

“The PTI will take out a huge tsunami march if a neutral caretaker prime minister is not appointed….we’ll take to the streets to save the democratic process from a total collapse,” he maintained.

Imran Khan reiterated his demand for President Asif Ali Zardari’s removal…as free, fair and transparent election under him could not be expected. However, he said that when the PTI tried to build pressure for his removal, Nawaz Sharif led PML-N jumped into the fray to rescue Zardari.

“The PML-N once again has come to rescue the President...when people were staging a sit-in in front of the parliament house, Nawaz Sharif gathered forces of status quo to counter the people’s march and said that if Zardari resigned, the PPP would elect a new president,” he lamented. 

The PTI Chairman said the recently released IMF report showed that financially the country was heading towards disaster. Imran Khan urged the Election Commission of Pakistan to take notice of the use of development funds for political purposes as after the allocation of development funds to MNAs and MPAs, the ruling party was now dolling out funds to its candidates for the upcoming elections.

To a question about the agreement signed between the government and Dr Qadri, Imran said there were some good points in the agreement but the question remains who will implement it as there was no constitutional cover for such changes.