'Draw line somewhere': Imran urges judiciary to protect fundamental rights

Former prime minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan on Saturday urged the judiciary to protect the fundamental rights of party members and citizens of Pakistan, asking the Chief Justice of Pakistan, Umar Ata Bandial to "draw a line" somewhere.

"People should have confidence that judiciary will protect them... what namaloom afraad (unidentified persons) and dirty Harry are doing is in front of everyone to see," he said during a press conference flanked by PTI leader Usman Dar and a watchman in education department named Javed Ali.

Javed, during the presser, narrated how he was picked up by some ‘unidentified people’ and was tortured after being taken to an unknown locality blindfolded.

"People came and picked me up and took me to some unknown place. They blindfolded me. They asked me how much money Usman Dar got from you. They had hanged me upside down," he said.

He said that the unknown people stripped him naked and asked him to confess that Usman Dar had taken money from him, saying that they had involved his wife and children too.

"They wanted to make a case [against Dar]. They wanted the statement [from Javed] just like they wanted a statement against me from Shahbaz Gill," he added.

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Imran said that PTI leader Azam Swati was picked up and tortured on the basis of only one tweet. "They send an objectionable video to his daughter. I did not know before that such treatment was meted out to the citizens of this country," he added.

The PTI chief said that many social media workers belonging to the party were also taken into custody and were subjected to severe torture. "Parents of a boy called me and said that their son has not recovered yet... they fear to publicly come out as everyone fears namaloom afraad," he said.

Lashing out at the incumbent government, Imran Khan said that they should not be considered politicians but mafia. "Interior minister is running an [audio] tape of a judge. Maryam runs tapes too. Saqib Nisar's tape was also leaked. What kind of politicians does that," he questioned.

He urged the CJP to take suo motu on the treatment meted out to Javed, saying that it was the duty of judiciary to protect the fundamental rights of citizens.

"I urge CJP to listen to Javed and draw line somewhere. People should have confidence that judiciary will protect them," he added.

Hitting out at the Chief Election Commissioner, Imran said that there has never been a more dishonest CEC in the history of Pakistan.

The remarks by the PTI chairman come just days after Maryam fired a broadside against Imran Khan, Lt-Gen (retd) Faiz Hameed besides four serving and former judges of the Supreme Court in an address to the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) workers’ convention.

The chief organiser and senior vice president of the PML-N trained all guns at the PTI chairman, saying that Imran was thrown into the garbage bin but the judges were picking him up.

It is pertinent to note that the statements by the leaders of the political parties come as Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial on Wednesday stepped in and took suo motu notice of the delay in holding polls in Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa as the election process remains virtually paralysed by tensions between the stakeholders who disagree on the electoral law.

Justice Bandial constituted a nine-member larger bench to adjudicate on the matter and said there was an apparent lack of clarity on the matter.