Sept 21 Lahore rally is do or die for us: Imran

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder chairman Imran Khan on Thursday said that the Sept 21 public rally in Lahore was a do or die event for the party, hoping the PTI and nation will come out whatever the situation was.

Talking to reporters at the Adiala jail, the former prime minister said: “I have been in jail for 15 months and ready to stay in jail even more. People should not be afraid of going to jail.”Imran said that he had been telling the party for 28 years to follow the Constitution. “The Constitution gives us the right to assemble. I ask the nation to come out for their future on September 21 in Lahore. The Supreme Court is the last institution from which people have expectations. If the Supreme Court is also destroyed, Pakistan will become a banana republic,” he said.

The PTI founder said that there should have been a full discussion on the proposed amendments to the Constitution, adding that the intention behind the amendments in the dark of the night was now known. “To destroy the Supreme Court is to destroy democracy, and to destroy democracy is to destroy freedom. When freedom is destroyed, people become slaves,” he said.

He said people have been jailed for a year without trial, while three umpires are being granted extension through constitutional amendments. The future of Pakistan is linked to investment, and no one would invest in Pakistan except Pakistanis living abroad.

“Zardari and Nawaz Sharif ran out twice, now they will run out again, everyone knows that their money is lying outside,” Imran added. “During our government, NAB collected Rs480 billion and Rs1,100 billion were to be collected more. They were given to NRO-2, and now NAB is left only to take revenge,” he said. He questioned what the business of Mohsin Naqvi was, who had five million dollars lying abroad, adding that Naqvi had justified money laundering.Khalid Iqbal adds: Islamabad’s Special Accountability Court, meanwhile, adjourned the hearing of the Al-Qadir Trust reference against Imran and his wife Bushra Bibi in the 190-million pound financial scandal till today (Friday).

On Thursday during the hearing, Imran’s lawyer Zaheer Abbas Chaudhry completed the cross-examination of the last witness of NAB and the reference investigating officer, Mian Umar Nadeem. The NAB lawyers requested that Bushra Bibi’s lawyer should also start the cross-examination of investigation officer. However, the hearing was adjourned till Friday (today). Usman Riaz Gul, the lawyer of Bushra Bibi, will cross-examine the same witness today.