Outcome of talks not in sight: Imran Khan

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman and former prime minister Imran Khan Saturday said he was foreseeing no outcome of talks and would announce the long march date on Thursday or Friday next.

Speaking to the media along with PTI Senator Azam Swati here, Imran expressed his disappointment that “they would not hold snap election in the country”, which was need of the hour to steer the country out of current crisis.

The PTI chief said people would enjoy the long march, as there would be no violence.

Imran said dialogue was always held through backdoor, and political parties always indulged in backdoor talks. However, he had no hope of the general elections being held before time and, therefore, he would announce the date for the long march on Thursday or Friday.

The PTI chairman said the march would be different from the rest of the marches, adding “we have full experience, but this time the nation is eager for the march. I am moving on along with my plan, but the nation is eager for its beginning. “Our march will not be violent, and people will enjoy it and citizens from all walks of life will join it as it will be a protest.”

He claimed that attempts were being made to eliminate his party and added that “ever since these people (rulers) have been imposed on us under a conspiracy, I see they have tried to finish my party.

“And when people took to the streets, they started fearing what would happen to them.”

Imran said the tactics that had been used with the PTI had never been seen in the history of the country earlier. He expressed his regrets that the higher judiciary did not take suo motu notice of violence of Shahbaz Gill in custody. “I also faced contempt of court for what they had done to Shahbaz Gill earlier, but I reacted because I came to know what they had done to Gill. “I will go to every forum with Azam Swati to highlight what they had done to him. I regret that our judiciary did not take suo motu notice of it; it is custodial torture,” he claimed.

Imran said if the court would have taken suo motu notice of Shahbaz Gill’s custodial torture, then perhaps what happened to Azam Swati would been avoided. He said they climbed the walls of Swati’s residence without warrants and his only crime was that he had criticised a big man. Which country allows this to be done over criticism through a tweet, he raised a question.

He said that the most frightening thing was that they handed him over to someone else. “Who were those people? I want the chief justice to call the FIA and ask them to whom they handed over Swati, and who unleashed violence against him after stripping him naked,” Imran Khan said.

He asked if there were some people in the country who did not fall under any law. “Can they do whatever they want in this country? And if you allow some people to do it, then the country becomes a banana republic,” he added.

Imran wondered whether the nation would respect the institutions in such a situation. Hatred would increase, he warned and added that there were such unknown people in the country who did whatever they wanted. Everyone is afraid while uttering their names, the PTI chief said without elaborating.

Swati said on the occasion “today in this democratic era, a senator, is arrested in violation of the law and in violation of the Constitution. If the Supreme Court does not take suo motu notice of the case and those who tortured me in custody and the manner in which the media persons were tortured, I will expose the names of those who disrespected democracy, parliament and Senate,” Swati warned.