Fresh bid by PTI leaders to ‘rescue’ Imran

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) senior leaders have recorded video statements on oath, testifying that former prime minister and PTI Chairman Imran Khan never gave them any instructions before or after May 9 to attack and vandalize any state institution and military installation.

The PTI leadership preemptively recorded their video statements on Saturday as a proof to foil a ‘nefarious plan’ in case they get arrested, tortured and blackmailed to give false statements against the party chairman.

PTI leaders, including Secretary General Omar Ayub Khan, in their separate recorded video statements made it clear that the sole agenda of the PTI chairman and the party was to make Pakistan a prosperous country.

“Therefore, these video statements recorded under oath should be kept safe and presented before courts as proof,” they said and declared that in case of their any other video statement, contrary to the recorded one, would be fake because under the new trend, PTI leaders were being whisked away and the abductors got recorded statements of their choice under duress and coercion.

Omar Ayub said: “In case of my ‘enforced disappearance’ or arrest, please keep this statement of mine on oath as proof that the PTI chairman never gave any instructions to harm any government or state institutions’ building.”

He said PTI members were patriotic Pakistanis who wanted ‘rule of law’ in Pakistan to see it prosperous, adding that Imran Khan had always advised them to remain peaceful as he always talked about the integrity of Pakistan.

Likewise, in his recorded video statement in connection with the May 9 incident, PTI Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa President Ali Amin Gandapur said Imran Khan never ordered him to do any illegal activity. “I swear. I have never been ordered by Khan to concoct a plot or do violence or similar acts against the Pakistan Army, police and other state organs. The aim of any of our sit-ins or protests was never to obstruct the appointment of the head of any institution. I am recording this statement under oath that Khan never ordered us to take any violent action or in any case attack military installations,” Gandapur testified.

PTI Secretary General Central Punjab Hammad Azhar also recorded a statement under oath that the PTI chairman never directed any violent protest in his presence. He denied participation in any violent protest.

PTI Sindh President Haleem Adil Shaikh, who is a member of the PTI Core Committee, in his video statement under oath, categorically said: “I take oath with this holy Qur’an in my hand that Imran Khan, the leader of this nation, never incited us to attack private and public institutions.”

He went on to say: “I swear that whenever there was a possibility of confrontation like on May 25 or when we were heading towards the parliament, Khan instantly ordered his party men to go back to avoid clash. We were never asked to be part of any conspiracy to prevent the appointment of the present army chief.”

PTI Karachi President Firdous Shamim Naqvi said he had been associated with the PTI since 1996, but his leader never talked about attacking and vandalizing state institutions or inciting violence. Similarly, PTI Additional Secretary General Ali Nawaz Awan, in his recorded statement, stated that the PTI chairman believed in supremacy of law and Constitution. He never supported violent acts that was evident from his lifelong struggle.

Adviser on International Media to PTI Chairman Syed Zulfiqar Bukhari, in his video statement under oath, stated that Khan neither issued any order of violent protest in his presence nor himself took part in any such violent activities. Brigadier (retd) Musaddiq Abbasi, who served as federal adviser to PM Imran Khan on Accountability and Interior and also to the CM Punjab on Anti-Corruption and Public Prosecution, said Imran never instructed making frivolous cases against his political rivals and gave them due legal treatment in jail.