Imran terms May 9 mayhem bid to eliminate PTI

LAHORE:

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan has reiterated his demand for conducting an independent investigation into the May 9 vandalism as well as holding free and fair elections in Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) for political and economic stability in the country.

Addressing the nation via video link from his Zaman Park residence on Saturday, the PTI chairman underscored that the May 9 arson incidents were a deliberate and orchestrated conspiracy to put an embargo on his party because all Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) parties were scared of defeat in electoral field.

Imran showed a short documentary of May 9 violence, claiming that it was a well-planned conspiracy intended to weaken and eliminate the PTI.

Whenever an independent investigation would be conducted into the incidents, it would unveil the faces of real miscreants.

“The PTI has a 27-year-long history of democratic struggle for rule of law and justice in the country and never ever such incidents happened in the political history of the party,” he said, adding that he never allowed his workers to take the violent path.

In the PTI rallies and protest, he highlighted, families, women, and children came. “How is it possible that we instigate violence in our own rallies? It is unfortunate that a party that maintained a peaceful demeanour for over 27 years is being portrayed as a terrorist entity.”

Denouncing the allegations that he did not condemn the May 9 vandalism and arson incidents, Imran said he was unaware of the violent incidents because he was in custody.

Read Imran seeks US help over political crisis in purported audio leak

When he came to know about these incidents during his appearance at the Supreme Court, Imran said he promptly expressed his unequivocal opposition to all forms of violence.

Imran pointed out: “When I was shot, no such reaction was witnessed. I even named senior army officials behind the attack. I never ask my party workers to take the violent route. I have never given permission to my people to do anything other than peaceful protests.”

He said there were several videos available on social media showing the PTI workers stopping people from violence.

In Mianwali, he said, the PTI workers tried to stop people who set the sabre jet stationed at a roundabout on fire.

"We used to see it with pride. The aircraft was made of aluminum, so how did it catch fire? It was set ablaze by those who had brought something with them," he claimed.

The former premier said that the police could have apprehended him without resorting to violence.

"Was it necessary to use force and brutality? Was I sitting there as a terrorist? I am a former prime minister. They hit me on the head with a club," he added.

He said that the PTI leaders, including Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Asad Umar, Yasmin Rashid and others, were giving calls for a peaceful protest but all of them were put behind bars without investigation and offering an opportunity to explain their position.

Imran questioned: “How did the Radio Pakistan building catch fire? The protest was happening somewhere else. Outside the corps commander’s residence, a person was seen instigating people, and as soon as the gate opened, he disappeared from the scene," he alleged.

He said the law enforcement agencies were arresting and torturing peaceful workers of the PTI when these incidents happened. “Why the people were not stopped?”

On the formation of a three-member judicial commission to probe audio leaks, the former prime minister said that the commission should be empowered to investigate “powerful and unknown” elements who tapped and recorded telephone conversations of citizens, including high public functionaries.

"The federal government has formed an inquiry commission under Section 3 of the Commissions of Inquiry Act, 2017 to investigate into the issue of audio leaks," he wrote on his official Twitter handle.

However, he added that the Terms of Reference (ToR) formed by the federal government suffered from a deliberate omission. "They fail to take into account the issue that who is behind unlawful and unconstitutional surveillance of the PM Office and sitting judges of the Supreme Court."

The commission, he wrote, should be empowered to investigate who were these powerful and unknown elements who tapped and recorded telephone conversations of citizens, including high public functionaries.

Read more Imran demands commission to probe ‘powerful elements’ behind audio leaks

"This is [a] serious breach of privacy guaranteed under Article 14 of the Constitution," he added.

"Not only those who illegally retrieve data through unlawful phone tapping and surveillance should be held accountable but those who through fabrication and tampering of different phone calls leak them on social media also need to be held accountable."

He said that democracies governed by the rule of law proposed that the state should not arbitrarily intrude into certain aspects of life.

"Right to privacy and dignity guaranteed under Article 14 are patently infringed whenever the state unlawfully surveils an individual," he wrote.

Imran said that some of the recent leaked calls were made over what was supposed to be a secure phone line in the PM Office.

"Nevertheless, they unlawfully were tapped and fabricated/tampered with. Seemingly, the elements behind such audacious tapping operate in a manner outside the command and even knowledge of the PM of Pakistan," he added.

"Who are these actors who are above the law and outside the command of even the prime minister of the country, and who resort to such illegal surveillance with impunity? Such elements need to be identified by the commission," he concluded.

Earlier, the federal government formed a three-member judicial commission, led by Supreme Court senior puisne judge Justice Qazi Faez Isa, to probe the veracity of audio leaks and their impact on the independence of the judiciary.

The decision was made on Friday during the federal cabinet’s meeting. The commission includes Balochistan High Court (BHC) Chief Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan and Islamabad High Court (IHC) Chief Justice Aamer Farooq.

However, the consent of the judges is yet to be taken.

The commission will probe the genuineness of the audio leaks and their impact on the independence of the judiciary.

Meanwhile, PTI Central President Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi said that when our soldiers were being martyred by Indian Army on the borders, PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif was inviting Narendra Modi and Sajjan Jindal, a steel tycoon, to his house without visa and feeding them.

“Should we forget Dawn Leaks,” he said, when Nawaz and Modi’s agenda was to make the Pakistani people and army fight each other. He said the “incompetent government of Punjab” had made so much noise that there were terrorists at Zaman Park, but failed to stage a fake action in the presence of international media.

Elahi said that Imran strengthened Pakistan Army and Pakistan’s defence during his tenure as well as tried to clear the misunderstandings about the army in the western world.

“The puppet caretaker government wants to worsen the situation in Punjab again. Mohsin Naqvi and his gang are on an anti-national agenda.”

He welcomed the decision of the Lahore High Court of restoring the membership of PTI members of the National Assembly. “If this process of restoration goes ahead, there can be a peaceful solution to the political crisis in the federation and the provinces.”

The caretaker Punjab and K-P governments had been constitutionally abolished. “In Punjab and K-P, we will approach the judiciary to end the illegal caretaker governments.”

He said that the PTI would remain united under the leadership of Imran, while political nomads who left the party, were of no importance, as the party had already rejected them. “Any attempt to break the PTI from inside and outside will not succeed, as the PTI is the most popular representative party among overseas Pakistanis.

“Imran Khan is not only the most popular leader of Pakistan but also the world of Islam. The Arab media has declared Imran Khan as the favourite leader of the Arabs in their reviews.

“Imran Khan has done the most for the promotion of Islam and Pakistan in the western world. Imran Khan raised his voice in the United Nations for our beloved Prophet (PBUH).”

Elahi claimed that those who were demanding a ban on the PTI were not sincere with neither Islam nor Pakistan.