Nawaz addressing rallies to pressurise accountability institutions, says Imran

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman, Imran Khan, on Sunday expressed reservations over the ex-premier Nawaz Sharif’s plan to travel to Lahore in a cavalcade via GT Road, alleging that he was addressing the rallies to pressurise the accountability institutions.

He alleged that Nawaz Sharif and cohorts were protesting to actually bring down the democratic system by refusing to accept the apex court’s decision in the Panama Papers case. “Sharif’s plan was a deliberate attempt to continue undermining the Supreme Court of Pakistan by calling into question its decision on the Panama case, which was a unanimous decision by the five-member SC bench after a thorough investigation,” Imran said in statement here, which was also available on his Twitter account.

Imran charged that by doing so, Nawaz Sharif was attempting to destroy the judicial system in the country and was now prepared to destroy the whole democratic system. The PTI chairman noted that this “deliberate attempt by Sharif to attack the judiciary was in complete contrast to PTI’s acceptance of the SC decision on rigging despite the party’s misgivings over the judgment.

“Sharif’s second purpose in going on the GT Road was to pressurise NAB where his cases are to open against his corruption, money laundering, tax evasion, assets’ concealment and forgery,” the PTI chairman contended.

Imran said it was everyone’s democratic right to protest peacefully, adding that the Sharif protest, aided and abetted by the entire Punjab government machinery, was neither democratic nor peaceful. He noted it was ironic that when the PTI was peacefully protesting to seek justice for rigging and later against corruption unveiled in the Panama Papers, the Nawaz Sharif government was accusing it of derailing the system and now Nawaz and his cohorts are protesting to actually bring down the democratic system by refusing to accept the SC verdict.

“While the PTI called off its protests once the SC took up the rigging and corruption cases, Nawaz Sharif has chosen to take to the streets after being found guilty and having been disqualified. Worse still, he is continuing to use state resources — from funds to government machinery including Punjab Police and local governments — to destroy the judiciary and thereby the democratic system, which is moving towards accountability of the powerful for the first time,” he maintained.

Imran warned that this destructive design of Sharifs would not be allowed to succeed.In his social media messages, he said that women rights activists should stand by Ayesha Ahad’s quest for justice denied to her for seven years against physical and mental abuse by Hamza Shahbaz Sharif.

“Ayesha Ahad had contacted me saying she fears for her and her daughter’s lives. Incumbent PM and police should provide her security against the Sharif mafia,” he wrote.