ISLAMABAD: A day after the anti-terrorism court issued non-bailable arrest warrants of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leadership, party chief Imran Khan said he is not afraid of going to jail and that such arm-twisting tactics cannot deter him from holding the November 30 rally in Islamabad.
“Whether I am in jail or not, there would be historic gathering in Islamabad on November 30,” Imran Khan said while addressing the sit-in on 92nd day at D-Chowk of the Constitution Avenue.
Drawing a comparison with government’s response to the Lahore Model Town incident in which over a dozen people were killed, Imran said “a single warrant has not been issued.” On the other hand, he said, there was no loss of life in the PTV case.
Challenging the rulers, Imran said: “Prove that I am involved in attack on PTV, I will quit politics.”
He termed the PTV attack “a fixed match” and said that rulers shut down the transmission on their own in no time while it had taken two hours for transmissions to go off air when General (retd) Pervez Musharraf toppled the government.
An ATC judge had issued the warrants in response to two separate First Information Reports (FIRs) registered by the Secretariat police against Imran Khan, Tahirul Qadri, Shah Mehmood Qureshi and others for attacking the PTV building and the Parliament House on August 31.
“I am enjoying it,” Imran said while talking about his feeling after the arrest warrants and added, “I have spent 21 days in the sit-in and going… I guess jail would be no different from that.”
The PTI chief vowed to continue his struggle saying “I am inviting Pakistanis to reach Islamabad on November 30 because it is a decisive time.”
He said both Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and former president Asif Ali Zardari were afraid of PTI’s rallies in Larkana and Islamabad respectively, and therefore they issued arrest warrants and booked the organiser for the Larkana rally. Talking about the London Plan, he said that he was accused of hatching conspiracies but the “London plan was in the making at that juncture” as PM Nawaz, Zardari, Syed Khursheed Shah, Khawaja Asif were staying in the same hotel of London.
“Who would pay the hotel bills?” he questioned while adding “20 primary schools could be opened from that money.”
He said that PM Nawaz justifies his foreign visits claiming he is bringing foreign investment but at the same time “Sharif family is not investing in Pakistan.” Nawaz wears a watch wroth Rs30 million but pays merely Rs5000 in tax, he added.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 14th, 2014.
COMMENTS (4)
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Musharraf get's bail on murder and treason charges and IK gets no bail? No wonder Pakistan judicial system has terrible reputation.
@Sajjad: That speaks volumes of your political knowledge and understanding. Thank you for opening our eyes as we are dumb and living in the 13th Century.
This man has nothing to do in politics, somebody please put him in food shop.
...put him in jail and dig your political graves!!