ISLAMABAD: Incarcerated Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founding chairman, Imran Khan, on Tuesday, directed his party not to negotiate with the establishment.
“I direct my whole party that no one holds talks with the establishment as they have deceived us,” he said while talking to reporters at Adiala Jail, Rawalpindi, after hearing of the Al-Qadir Trust case. He said that he never closed the doors for dialogue but today he is shutting the doors for negotiation.
Khan said that the establishment had requested us to postpone the August 22 public gathering for the sake of the country. He said that the date and no objection certificate (NOC) for the September 8 public gathering was given by the establishment.
“We were deceived in the public gathering of September 8”, he said, adding that nowhere in the world for the time for the conclusion of a public gathering is fixed. Is it a function at a private hotel that will end on time? he asked.
I had given the permission of talks with the establishment and Azam Swati had brought their message, he said. When he was asked whom from the PTI side was negotiating with the establishment, he said that our five to six people were negotiating with them.
Khan said that PTI will hold the September 21 public gathering in Lahore at any cost. I request the higher judiciary to protect democracy and supremacy of law, he said, adding that currently, there is an “unannounced martial law” imposed in the country.
He said that they are bringing a judicial package for bringing Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa again.
To a question that the Chief Justice has refused to take an extension, he said that I do not believe that Qazi Faez Isa has refused. “Nation should be ready for a peaceful protest,” he said, adding that no one should be afraid of jail.
Khan alleged that yesterday night the establishment had picked up Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur. You are increasing hatred by picking up the chief minister of a province, he said, adding by doing this with the chief minister of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, they are taking the country towards destruction.
When he was told that your party leaders were offering apologies over Gandapur’s statement, he said that those who were offering apologies over Gandapur’s statement are weak cowards and they should not be in the party. He said that Gandapur merely expressed the nation’s sentiments.
Earlier, the Accountability Court judge, Nasir Javed Rana, while hearing the £190 million National Crime Agency (NCA) scam – commonly known as the Al-Qadir Trust case, adjourned the hearing till September 12 due to the non-availability of the defence counsels.
Faisal Chaudhry, the associate of Khan’s lawyer informed the court that his lead counsel Usman Gull and Zaheer Abbas Chaudhry are busy at the Lahore High Court (LHC). He requested the court to adjourn the hearing.
Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi were produced before the court. The NAB prosecutor objected to the defence counsel’s request for adjournment of the hearing.
He said that the defence counsel was using delaying tactics. The court, after hearing the arguments, adjourned the hearing of the case till September 12.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024
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