Aleema says Imran being pressured to accept govt, stay silent

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Patron-in-Chief Imran Khan is being pressured to stop speaking up for the people, accept the current government, and apologise for the events of May 9, his sister Aleema Khan claimed on Wednesday.

Speaking to the media outside the Anti-Terrorism Court in Rawalpindi, she said negotiations are only meaningful when based on “give and take,” asserting that Imran Khan stands for the rule of law, the supremacy of the Constitution, and democratic freedoms.

“To be clear, the establishment is saying: ‘Do not raise your voice for the people. Forget your demands and stay silent. Accept this government with a stolen mandate,’” she alleged.

She also criticised the recent 26th Constitutional Amendment, saying it was introduced by a government lacking legitimate public support.

Aleema stated that she had appeared in court to seek bail. “My crime is conveying a message Imran Khan gave me in jail to the media. An FIR was filed against me for ‘spreading chaos’. But what chaos did I spread? I only shared what he had already said in open court,” she argued.

Responding to a question about ongoing political developments, she said that whenever Imran Khan calls for a protest, “good news” about his possible release begins to circulate. “Everyone now understands that as soon as a protest is announced, reports of his release start spreading,” she said.

On the proposed protest movement, Aleema said the real question is not how Imran Khan will lead it from jail. “He has said Omar Ayub will be his voice and Salman Akram Raja will implement his directives within the party,” she noted.

“Imran Khan keeps changing the fielding — that is his success,” she added.

Separately, PTI Information Secretary Sheikh Waqas Akram Wednesday rejected the results of recent by-poll in Sambrial, alleging the electoral process was rigged. “We do not believe in the elections held in Sambrial. The candidate who was there before, had taken 58,000 votes on Form 47 and at that time, the turnout in the election was also very high. Despite the low turnout in the by-election, the votes received by their candidate were 78,000; we reject the results of this election, the turnout was very low, the PMLN supporters did not turn out at all,” he noted.

He said, “The PMLN camps were empty; it was all fraud; we do not believe in it.” He told a news conference here along with PTI Punjab leader Aliya Hamza that the police took out the polling agents of his party, whereas the police are not allowed to obstruct the elections.

Waqas charged that the fascism and ‘hooliganism’ that the Punjab government committed was unprecedented while during the by-election, the PTI protested peacefully against rigging in the constituency of Punjab.

This, he emphasised, was not an election because elections are a transparent process, but here voting was rigged and ballot boxes were stuffed; no laid down procedure was followed in the election. He claimed that where there were 1300 registered votes, 1400 votes were cast and hence this was not an election but a made-up drama.