Imran urges CJP to stand for justice, calls parliament ‘fraud’

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founding chairman Imran Khan said on Monday he wanted to tell Chief Justice Yahya Afridi that the nation was looking towards him, emphasising that the chief justice must stand up for law and justice.

Speaking informally to reporters at Adiala Jail, the PTI supremo said he had sent two letters to the army chief because all democratic channels had been eliminated. He said that while censorship already existed, enacting the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA) and blocking social media had further restricted free expression.

He described the current parliament as nonfunctional, calling it a “fraud parliament,” and asserted that the prime minister, president, and ministers were “fake,” leaving no hope for parliamentary proceedings.

The PTI founder expressed scepticism about negotiations with the government, saying, “We never spoke about the February 8 elections; we only demanded a judicial commission to investigate the incidents of May 9 and November 26.”

Separately, Imran Khan’s sister, Aleema Khan, said her brother had urged Chief Justice Yahya Afridi to make a decision, emphasising that the top judge must uphold the rule of law. She said the PTI leader had also sent a message to overseas Pakistanis urging them to support democracy. Quoting Imran, she said, “I will face my cases; I will do so before these judges.”

Aleema Khan said that her brother had ruled out making any deal and clarified that his letters to the army chief were not written for that purpose but to convey concerns. “The founder wrote the letters because the gap between the army and the people is widening,” she maintained while speaking to the media outside Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi.

She said Imran Khan had stressed that the nation and the army must unite against terrorism and that he planned to write another letter to the army chief next week. Aleema Khan quoted her brother as saying that “the war of independence is not over” and that history would remember those who participated in it.

She said that the PTI founder had paid tribute to the people who attended the Swabi rally and expressed gratitude to the people of Punjab, saying that the Punjab government had cracked down on PTI supporters. He also thanked the people of Sindh.