ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan on Friday demanded justice for his chief of staff Shahbaz Gill, and claimed that he was ‘sexually’ abused while in police custody.
Khan also announced nationwide rallies to show solidarity with his chief of staff after the former prime minister claimed Gill faced ‘sexual abuse’ in police custody.
“I will lead a rally in Islamabad on Saturday... and rallies will be held in all divisional headquarters across the country,” he told journalists outside PIMS hospital.
Khan questioned from whom the police are getting the orders, adding “isn’t the court orders have any importance.”
The PTI chief was left without meeting Gill as the police deputed at the hospital did not allow him.
Islamabad court directs authorities to shift Shahbaz Gill to PIMS, orders medical checkup
Khan’s brief media talk came after he went to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) for meeting Gill — who is currently under treatment at the medical facility.
Earlier in a series of tweets, he said: “All the pictures and videos show clearly Gill was tortured both mentally and physically, including sexual abuse – most too gruesome to relate.”
The PTI chairman said the police humiliated Gill to break him down and that he now has full detailed information about the events regarding Gill’s episode.
“ICT police says it did not inflict any torture. So my question is: Who tortured Gill,” he asked.
He said there is a general perception in the public at large and in “our minds too as to who could have carried out the gruesome torture.”
“Remember the public will react. We will leave no stone unturned to find out those responsible and bring them to justice,” he warned.
Meanwhile, speaking at a presser along with other lawyers of the party, the PTI leader Babar Awan said those building castles in the air about a ‘minus one’ formula will have to kiss the dust as the party is fully united under the leadership of its chairman Imran Khan.
He said the way PTI leader Shahbaz Gill is being treated is appalling, inhumane, and barbaric.
Awan said the party is ‘united’ when it comes to Gill as he is an asset of the PTI. He also said Khan would visit Gill today to inquire after his health.
He slammed the government and the police for “custodial torture”, saying that such events were not witnessed in the past.
Awan said no one can be tortured and forced to speak something that they wish not to, adding several cases have been lodged against politicians in the past, but never had they been treated in such a manner.
He also said the medical board which examined Gill was changed overnight and the medical reports were also changed, and the sole reason behind all this is to pressure him to give a statement against Imran Khan.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022