Imran revs up poll campaign as he hits the road today

PTI chief wants judicial probe into death of party activist

LAHORE:

PTI chairman and former premier Imran Khan on Saturday again announced launching his election campaign with a rally, which he would personally lead, from Lahore on Sunday (today).

He also demanded that the Lahore High Court chief justice should form a judicial commission to investigate the death of party activist Ali Bilal, alias Zillay Shah.

“I ask my party and supporters to get ready. I will lead the election rally in Lahore tomorrow. I ask the people of Lahore to come out in numbers. You have to tell everyone that you are not cattle and won’t accept oppression,” he said while addressing his supporters through video link from his Zaman Park residence in Lahore.

Imran accused the current rulers of trying to escape from general elections and impose an emergency. “I know they will do something to run away from elections. They might stage a bomb blast or get someone murdered. They’re trying to kill me. They have made a plan and I have already told you [about it],” he claimed.

“Why do they want me in court so badly? There is no police there. No one is there for protection. They call us there where anyone can murder us because that is their intention,” he added.

Demanding that the LHC chief justice should form a judicial commission to investigate the death of PTI activist Ali Bilal alias Zillay Shah, Imran said  the judiciary had a major responsibility on its shoulders to protect the fundamental rights of  citizens.

“You [judiciary] have a big responsibility on your shoulders as unidentified people are active. It is time for you to take a stand. Zillay Shah’s [Bilal’s death] is your issue. It is a custodial torture issue,” he added.

Imran said custodial torture was condemned in the entire world and Pakistan had signed a treaty against it as well.

“I ask the judiciary that this country is becoming a banana republic and you are the only obstacle. The PDM [Pakistan Democratic Movement] government is in favour of court decisions which are only in their favour,” he said.

Imran, who ousted from the post of the prime minister in April last year, also asked the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to seek the resignations of the Punjab caretaker chief minister, IGP and Lahore police chief.

He lashed out at the caretaker Punjab government, claiming that it had wiped out all the evidence collected by the joint investigation team formed to probe into the attack on him in Wazirabad.

Condemning the “murder” of Bilal, Imran said he was deeply hurt by the incident.

“Every Pakistani including myself has been deeply hurt by the death of Zillay Shah [Bilal]. He was a special child. They had previously broken his arm. He had done no wrong to anybody. The police subjected him to custodial torture. What they did to him for two to three hours is unimaginable. One of our party activists found his  body and took it to Services Hospital,” he maintained.

“My mind does not accept the way he [Bilal] was tortured. Whoever committed that [act] is a psychopath. There were 64 torture marks on his body. He was tortured and thrown on the road. The Punjab police get a bad reputation because of such incidents. These people do not consider people human, but rather cattle,” he added.

Imran noted the police first said Bilal was murdered and now they were claiming that it was a road accident.

He continued that the police had now apprehended those who were with Bilal in the police van.

“They spread lies and think the nation is a fool. Pakistan is being ruled by beasts. They’re only busy in covering up the murder,” he maintained.

Imran claimed that as per Bilal’s post-mortem report, his private organs were also tortured.

“Tell me in what kind of [road] accident such private organs get damaged?” he questioned.

The former premier pointed out that Defence Minister Khawaja Asif had himself asked officers not to take wrong directives from higher-ups.

However, he added that when PTI leader Shahbaz Gill had presented the identical argument, he was tortured.

Lashing out at PML-N Senior Vice President Maryam Nawaz for criticising the courts, Imran said that what she was saying depicted what was wrong with the country.

“Maryam is demanding [PML-N supremo and her father] Nawaz [Sharif] should be exonerated in all the cases against him. This is our problem. There is no rule of law in Pakistan. She is ordering to arrest [selected] people and ordering others to be exonerated," he claimed.

The PTI chief complained that Maryam was openly maligning the judiciary, but no contempt notice was being served to her.

Imran claimed that unidentified people were deciding whether someone should be tortured or not as was evident in the reports of PTI leaders Azam Swati and Gill.

“As a former prime minister, I tried to have an FIR of my wish registered but I was unable to do so because of the unidentified people… and I am an ex-premier. What would happen with the common people?” he questioned.

He maintained that those in power were involved in the murder of journalist Arshad Sharif and they had also tried to assassinate him.

“How will I get justice since they are in power” he asked.

“What happened with Zillay Shah [Bilal] is happening with every poor citizen of Pakistan. The powerful can do anything in this country. There are forces that can do whatever they want and no questions will be asked,” he claimed.

The PTI chairman maintained that the current rulers only feared elections as they were aware that his party would emerge victorious so they wanted to get rid of him.

“A convicted person is running the country and his daughter is openly criticising courts,” he said, while referring to Nawaz.

“I have decided that I will fight till the last drop of my blood. You have to stand with me for yourself. Pakistan cannot be run like this,” he added.

Earlier, Imran had announced launching his election campaign from Wednesday by leading a rally but he had changed his mind when the provincial caretaker set-up had imposed Section 144 of the Pakistan Penal Code, banning gatherings of any kind in the city.