ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founding chairman Imran Khan on Wednesday categorically rejected rumours regarding a deal with powerful quarters, insisting that the protest scheduled for November 24 would neither be postponed nor cancelled.

Speaking to reporters after a hearing in the Al-Qadir Trust case at Adiala Jail Rawalpindi, Khan’s lawyer Faisal Chaudhry quoted the former prime minister as saying that Khan has strongly rejected the reports that PTI had entered a deal with the Establishment. “Protest will neither be postponed nor be cancelled at any cost,” he said, while quoting Khan, as PTI has no alternative but to proceed with the protest.

However, Khan also said that PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan and Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had not sought permission from him for talks with the establishment on the basis of presumption but someone might have necessarily reached out to them for dialogue, Chaudhry said.

Imran pushes PTI leaders for Nov 24 protest, govt vows stern action

“Dialogue will be held only with those who have power based on three points including party’s stolen mandate must be returned; release of party leaders and workers, and restoring the constitution to its pre-26th amendment status,” he said, while quoting Khan.

Quoting Khan, he said “if any breakthrough is made in talks, then his party will stage celebrations on November 24 instead of protest.”

Earlier, the Accountability Court hearing the Al-Qadir Trust case involving Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi approved Khan’s wife’s exemption application and adjourned the case till November 22.

Accountability Court Judge, Nasir Javed Rana, while hearing the case at Adiala Jail, Rawalpindi, approved the defence counsel’s plea seeking a one-day exemption from the personal appearance before the court on medical grounds.

Jail authorities produced Khan before the court.

At the start of the hearing, Bushra Bibi’s counsel Usman Gull filed an application seeking an exemption for his client on medical grounds.

The NAB prosecutor objected to Bushra Bibi’s exemption plea. He told the court that the accused has not yet appointed her pleader. The defence has filed the exemption for delaying the proceedings of the case, he said.

He said that the accused have also not submitted the replies to the questionnaire handed over to them under Section 342 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).

The court after hearing the arguments approved Bushra Bibi’s plea and adjourned the case till November 22.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024