PTI’s patience is wearing thin: Imran

Former PM warns of protests over attack on Raoof Hasan

RAWALPINDI:

Reacting to the attack on PTI leader Raoof Hasan, incarcerated former prime minister Imran Khan has said the PTI’s patience is wearing thin and that the former ruling party will take to the streets against the coercive tactics allegedly used against party leaders and workers.

"We know who is behind the attack on Raoof Hasan. What happened to him proves that the system is being run through force,” Imran said while interacting with journalists inside Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail.

“The party should get ready; we will take to the streets over the Raoof Hasan issue. Our patience is running out, and we will protest in the streets," he added.

On Wednesday morning, Hasan was attacked by a group of transgender persons with a blade outside the building of a private news channel in Islamabad. The party later condemned the attack and called for the formation of a judicial commission to probe it.

Imran said the party is not staging protests due to the country's situation. The economy, he said, cannot bear the strain of protests, but if any damage occurs, the government will be responsible.

“We will not let the assembly and budget session proceed. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is saying that difficult decisions have to be made. Difficult decisions are made when the leader starts making sacrifices themselves,” he said.

Imran Khan said that Nawaz Sharif, Shehbaz Sharif, and Asif Ali Zardari should bring back the billions of rupees stashed abroad. “The nation has already sacrificed a lot, and now it will demand sacrifices from you first,” he added.

Responding to a recent statement of PML-N supreme leader Nawaz Sharif, Imran said Nawaz assumed that his conscience could be bought with “just one road”.

Addressing the PML-N’s Central Working Committee on May 18, Nawaz Sharif stated that after the 2013 polls, he had gone to Imran’s residence at Bani Gala and told him that his allegation about rigging in 35 constituencies was unjustified.

According to Nawaz, the meeting had ended on a positive note with Imran Khan demanding a freshly paved road to Bani Gala, a request that was immediately accepted.

Read more: PTI demands judicial inquiry into attack on Raoof Hasan

However, soon after this meeting, Imran went to London where some other politicians and a former spymaster also converged to conspire against his government, the PML-N leader claimed.

Imran said the road to Bani Gala was constructed by selling gifts from the Toshakhana.

The former prime minister said he was convicted in three cases days before the February 8 general elections, yet people came out to vote for the PTI-backed candidates.

He demanded that proceedings of all the cases filed against him should be livestreamed so that people may know who stole public money. “They are most welcome to initiate even high treason proceedings against me. I am even prepared to go to the gallows,” he added.

Imran, who is regarded as one of the iconic cricket stars, used the analogy of the sport with regard to his scheduled appearance at the Supreme Court on May 30 in connection with a case related to some amendments to the law governing the country’s top graft buster. “On May 30, I have a match at the Supreme Court,” Imran said.

The hearing will be conducted by a five-member bench headed by Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa, and including Justice Aminuddin Khan, Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail, Justice Athar Minallah, and Justice Hasan Azhar Rizvi. On May 16, Imran Khan had appeared in the case hearing via video link from Adiala Jail, but he was not given the opportunity to speak.

 

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