Establishment, govt to be responsible if anything happens to imprisoned Imran: PTI

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) spokesperson Shoaib Shaheen has said the incumbent government and establishment would be responsible if anything happened to the incarcerated party founder Imran Khan. 

“Attempts are made to threaten and murder the PTI founder. Why do terrorists choose to target only Adiala Jail instead of other jails across the country?” Shaheen said while talking to journalists outside the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) office in Islamabad on Thursday.

His statement comes after the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) claimed to have arrested three Afghan terrorists and recovered a map of Adiala Jail, a hand grenade and Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) from their possession.

Imran is currently imprisoned in Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail as he serves several sentences in the Toshakana, un-Islamic marriage and cipher cases.

A failed assassination attempt was also made on Khan’s life in November 2022 when he was leading an anti-government rally in Wazirabad. He sustained bullet injuries in his leg.

In a conversation with journalists, Shaheen alleged that the average count of votes had been shown by up to 99.99% at some polling stations after “tampering” of records related to the 2024 nationwide election results, which was factually “impossible”.

The lawyer announced that his party had decided to release a “white paper” soon.

Reiterating allegations of “rigging”, Shaheen said the party would pursue a case on the basis of Form 45 against returning officers (ROs) involved in “tampering” of poll results’ records. He claimed the PTI, Jamaat-e-Islami, Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan and even independent candidate Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar possessed the “same Form 45”.

Slamming the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN) government, Shaheen said the current rulers will acquire another loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which would be spent on elites but all financial burden will be borne by the nation later.

To a question, he once again said that his party would not hold any negotiations with “dacoits”.