Right to name those behind bid on life: Imran

LAHORE: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman and former prime minister Imran Khan, while reacting to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's statement, on Monday questioned whether “[military] officers are above the law.”

Earlier on Sunday, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif strongly condemned the PTI chairman’s statement saying: “Imran Niazi’s act of routinely maligning and threatening Pakistan Army and Intelligence Agency for the sake of political gains is highly condemnable. His levelling of allegations against General Faisal Naseer and officers of our Intelligence Agency cannot be allowed and will not be tolerated.”

At this, Imran Khan slammed the premier, asking: “As someone who has suffered 2 assassination attempts on his life in [the] last few months, can I dare to ask SS [Shehbaz Sharif] the following Qs: Have I, a citizen, the right to nominate those I feel were responsible for assassination attacks on me? Why was I denied my legal & Constitutional right to register an FIR?

“Does SS tweet mean mly officers are above the law or that they cannot commit a crime?” he wondered. The PTI chief further asked that if a person is being blamed for a crime, how can it be perceived that an entire institution is being maligned, Geo News reported.

“Who was so powerful as to sabotage Wazirabad JIT while [the] PTI govt was in power in Punjab?” Khan, without naming anyone, said that when PM Shehbaz can truthfully answer all his questions, it would point to point to one powerful man and his accomplices “all being above the law”.

“Then it is time for us to officially declare that in Pakistan there is only law of the jungle where Might is Right.” Meanwhile, Minister for Information and Broadcasting Marriyum Aurangzeb on Monday asked Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan to better produce evidence either before police or courts instead of resorting to hurling allegations against others.

Reacting to Imran Khan’s statement about the rights of citizens in the country, she said the PTI chief could not get his rights through his Twitter handle or by holding rallies. He would have to either go to courts or police stations and present evidence there if he wanted action against anybody, she added.

“Rights are only given under the law and the Constitution,” she said while terming Imran Khan an “impostor”. She said Imran Khan had a track record of levelling accusations against others whether it was related to the cypher, the regime change conspiracy against his government or 35 punctures, but he failed to produce evidence in every matter in past. Whether the law and the Constitution allowed anybody to hurl such allegations against others, she questioned.