Imran brought goons to court: ATC judge

ISLAMABAD: An anti-terrorism court’s (ATC) judge issued remarks regarding Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan after he appeared before the courts at the judicial complex in Islamabad with a swarm of people.

The former prime minister appeared before three courts on February 28 to attend the hearing of four cases. Khan secured interim bail in three cases while a non-bailable arrest warrant was issued against him in one. Pakistanis stand with his party and they would keep supporting it. In response to a query regarding his recent trip to Islamabad when he was due to appear in four courts, Khan said that the decision to travel to the Capital by road, instead of air, was made late at night. “There was news that they wanted to arrest me from the airport and take me to Balochistan.” The PTI chief expressed concerns that his life was still in danger and said that “those who should protect” him were instead putting him in danger. He also said that going to jail would earn the party more votes. Khan also said that women, who had been elected on reserved seats, also wanted to be considered as candidates for the post of the Punjab chief minister. “If the decision for the post is made now, there will be a massacre,” Khan laughed. During the hearing of a case at the ATC, the judge — without mentioning Khan’s name — remarked that the PTI chief appeared before the court along with 2,000 people.

“He [Imran Khan] has named his party after ‘Insaf’ but they chant ‘Zindabad’ and ‘Murdabad’ slogans,” he said and added, “Khan quotes examples from Britain but himself does not respect the court as the PTI chief brought goons along with him to the hearings.”

“Now he will keep me busy with the court hearings for the next year,” said the ATC judge, adding that he has the CCTV footage of the incident.

Earlier this week when Khan arrived at the judicial complex in the federal capital, a large number of PTI workers forcibly entered the building by knocking its gate down.

Security arrangements at Sector G-11 of the judicial complex were disrupted as the PTI workers broke all the barriers to barge into the premises.