LAHORE: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) senior leader Shahbaz Gill has said that he was not a traitor and saw his ordeal as political victimisation; “however, out of respect for my country, I chose to remain silent”.

While addressing a press conference here on Wednesday, he reiterated his allegiance to his party chairman Imran Khan; “I would always stand by him, but I would exercise my right to voice my concerns within the party that I feel were damaging my leader and the PTI.”

He believed that he was being victimised and wrongly labelled as a traitor and; “dozens of treason cases were filed against me while my statements were distorted,” adding that FIRs were being secretly lodged against me. “I am not a traitor and thus please do not call me one,” he added.

Gill saw his background for the cause of being victimised; “Since I belong to the lower middle-class, I was being subjected to torture,” adding that “If I am a traitor then hang me, but do not play the mind games with me.”

“I went to a top international university and was getting a top salary, but I left everything and came to Pakistan to fulfil the vision of my leader. I sacrificed for this country, but in return I was labelled as a traitor. Since the start of my ordeal, I was subjected to worse kinds of torture and was not allowed to meet my family. My whole life has been destroyed in the last six months,” he said.

Gill also observed that the politicians with weak backgrounds were subjected to torture while the elite was just arrested; “Hence, I advise the middle-class people not to join politics. In Pakistan, the poor are treated with contempt and it seems that they have no rights,” he added. “I stayed in jail for 16 days and it was true that during this period I was subjected to torture although I was not involved in any corruption,” he added. He advised the overseas Pakistanis against joining politics in Pakistan as the people with modest backgrounds have no future here; “only the elite has all the luxury to get away with everything. There was no equality in the country,” he added.

He continued that when he joined the party, some members criticised him and accused him of being a ‘paratrooper’. “I am a loyal supporter of Imran Khan unlike some who were more interested in a photo session with the party chairman. If there were five loyal supporters of Khan, I was one of them,” he added.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023