Imran vows to prove May 9 was not PTI handiwork

LAHORE:

Former prime minister Imran Khan has said he now believes that government buildings and army installations were set on fire in the wake of his arrest as part of a planned conspiracy to undermine his party as he demands an independent inquiry into the rioting.

“We have video evidence that terrorists were used to provoke people after my arrest,” Imran said in a video message that was posted on his Twitter account on Monday night. “I want an independent inquiry into the incidents [of rioting and vandalism],” he said.

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief said no judge gives a verdict without hearing the versions of both the parties but lamented that all the electronic media is right now presenting a one-sided narrative.

He said the ruling mafia took advantage of the public reaction to his arrest and now it is holding the PTI responsible for all the vandalism and rioting that took place in its wake.

Imran asked how could a party which has in its 27-year history never resorted to violence and which did not turn violent even after an assassination attempt on its chairman do such acts of vandalism.

“God willing, we will prove in case of an independent inquiry that some other people did all that mischief and not the PTI. We have videos to prove this,” he said.

“This is a plan, the London Plan to ban the PTI and throw Imran Khan in jail. Harass their people and scare them so that no one leaves their house.

“But whoever is doing it, you don’t know anything about history or politics. Neither do you know what happened in East Pakistan … I remember it … the same efforts were made and the country was broken into two … today, the most dangerous efforts are being made,” he said.

Imran Khan was arrested from the premises of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on May 9 on the order of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) which is carrying out an investigation into a corruption scandal—the Al-Qadir Trust case—that also involves his wife, Bushra, as well as some other PTI leaders.

After his arrests, violent protests broke out across the country with people in some areas setting fire to state properties including military installations and residence of army personnel.

The former premier was released on the order of the Supreme Court on May 11 which declared the arrest illegal. He was later also granted bail in a number of cases, including in the Al-Qadir Trust case.

However, a crackdown against the PTI workers and supporters continues with police rounding up hundreds of people who allegedly took part in rioting in the wake of Imran’s arrest.

Earlier, the PTI chief claimed that the government will arrest him again and use “some sedition law” to keep him inside the jail for the next 10 years as a part of the London Plan.

“So now the complete London Plan is out. Using the pretext of violence while I was inside the jail, they have assumed the role of judge, jury and executioner,” the former premier said in a series of tweets in the wee hours of Monday.

“The plan now was to humiliate me by putting Bushra Begum in jail, and using some sedition law to keep me inside for the next 10 years.”

Khan said: “To ensure there’s no public reaction, they have done two things: first deliberate terror is unleashed not just on the PTI workers but on common citizens as well.

“Second, the media is totally controlled and muzzled. Then will follow a complete crackdown on whatever is left of [the] PTI leadership and workers. And finally, they would ban the largest and only federal party of Pakistan, just as they banned the Awami League in East Pakistan,” he said.

Referring to two video clips related to the protests, the PTI chief averred that PTI Central Punjab President Dr Yasmin Rashid and her sisters were clearly telling the protesters not to harm the Lahore Corps Commander House.

“Clearly, this was managed by those who wanted to use this as a pretext to carry on further crackdowns against the PTI, jail their workers and senior leadership along with me so that the assurances given to [Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leader] Nawaz Sharif in the London plan could be honoured,” he added.

He said the sanctity of “chadar” and “chaar dewaari”—women and household—had never been violated to this degree earlier. This was a deliberate attempt, he said, to create so much fear in the people that when they come to arrest him tomorrow, the people would not come out.

“The government has launched a massive crackdown against the party and arrested several senior leaders, including Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Asad Umar, Fawad Chaudhry, Mussarat Cheema and Shireen Mazari,” he added.

Referring to the ruling coalition’s sit-in outside the Supreme Court building on Monday, he said the ruling parties only want to intimidate the chief justice of Pakistan so that he does not give a verdict according to the Constitution.

He also claimed that the coalition government would again suspend internet services and ban social media, which was only partially opened three days after the arrest of Imran.

Addressing his supporters, he said his message to the people of Pakistan is, he would fight for ‘Haqeeqi Azaadi’ till the last drop of his blood because for him death was preferable than to be enslaved by this assortment of crooks.

 “If we bow to the idol of fear there would only be humiliation for our future generations. Countries where there is injustice and the law of the jungle do not survive for long,” he added.

Meanwhile, the PTI has announced it will hold ‘ghaibana’ namaz-e-janaza—funeral prayers— for the protestors killed on May 9. In his video message to his supporters, the PTI Chairman said that after maghrib prayers, the funeral prayers of all the martyrs would be offered at his Zaman Park house.

“Those who came out of their houses to stage a peaceful protest for their rights received bullet injuries. It was shocking to see that no independent investigation was held into the incident,” he added.

He said that no government in the world opens fire on their own people. The protesters in France throw petrol bombs at the police but they do not fire at them as they are a free country.

“General Dyer opened fire on peaceful protestors because we were his slaves,” he said in a reference to a British general who massacred hundreds of people in 1919 in Amritsar city of Indian Punjab.

Through an official circular issued by the PTI Additional Secretary General Omar Ayub Khan, the party has directed all its former MNAs, MPAs across Pakistan and current ticket holders in Punjab to assist the Insaf Lawyers Forum (ILF) team to provide assistance to all arrested, injured, martyred party workers.