Sitting here only due to judiciary, says Imran

LAHORE: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman and former premier Imran Khan claimed on Saturday his party workers were not involved in any attacks, arson and vandalism at the military installations, including General Headquarters (GHQ), Rawalpindi, and Lahore corps commander’s residence during protests after his arrest at the Islamabad High Court on Monday last.

An independent judicial inquiry must be held to unearth those behind violence and arson, as only those running away from elections wanted to create unrest and chaos in the country, he said. “But my party wants elections, and it did not carry out any violent protests,” he said in his first address through video-link after his release on bail by the IHC.

Expressing his gratitude to the judiciary for bailing him out and saving him from being imprisoned in fake cases, Imran Khan said he was sitting at his residence only because of an independent judiciary. He said Pakistan’s democracy was hanging by a thread, which was the judiciary, the only institution that stopped his opponents from victimising him.

“The judges are the reason why I am sitting here today. It is time for the whole nation to stand with the judiciary,” Khan said, adding that the government made 145 bogus cases against him.

He accused former prime minister and Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PMLN) supremo Nawaz Sharif of attacks on judiciary. He said Nawaz Sharif attacked and threatened the judiciary from time to time.

Imran said he had always advocated for the rule of law and respect for the judiciary. He said he had been pursuing politics through peaceful means and he was against violence and vandalism. He added that his party always followed peaceful politics and remained peaceful despite all kinds of coercion and provocations, used against it by the authorities.

Imran Khan criticised the establishment for “attacking” him as if he was “the biggest terrorist of Pakistan”. He said he was in custody while violence was unleashed in the country. He claimed he was being victimised for demanding elections according to the Constitution and exposing those destroying the situation in the country.

Imran alleged that his opponents wanted him killed and he barely survived assassination attacks. But there were no riots when he received bullets, he said, adding that it was because his party always pursued peaceful politics. “I want the chief justice of Supreme Court to make a panel and investigate the matter because I don’t want the government to investigate it,” added Khan.

He lamented that over 3,500 workers of his party had been arrested along with the main leadership. He quoted PTI Peshawar leaders that they had never seen these suspicious people who were rioting in cantonment areas and who even tried to harm them.

“The same people in civil dresses attempted to assassinate me outside the judicial complex in Islamabad. They were not our people,” he said, adding “the way they assaulted women was something unbelievable in my party.”