Imran says Musharraf should not be allowed to escape trial

Says if Musharraf is genuinely ill, he should be provided with the best medical facilities.

KARACHI: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chairperson Imran Khan on Tuesday said if former president Pervez Musharraf was genuinely ill, he should be provided with the best medical facilities but if that is not the case, he should not be allowed to run away from the trial.

Imran - who is visiting Sindh - was speaking to the media in Karachi today.

Referring to a speculated deal for letting Musharraf escape the treason trial, Imran said only time will tell if there is a third National Reconciliation Ordinance in the making.

“There should not be one law for the rich and another for the poor,” Imran added.

May elections

The PTI chairperson said people praise former president Asif Ali Zardari for heading a democratic government for five good years but no one looks at what the tenure did to the people of this country.

Referring to last year’s general elections and the rigging that took place, Imran said the people who came to power are afraid of verifying votes that were cast during the elections.

He said the verification of a few constituencies will disclose what a farce these elections were.

“Eight months have passed since the election but the issue has not been solved; we want recounting of votes in only four constituencies in Punjab,” he said.

The PTI chairperson said his party wants to make sure next elections are not rigged the way May 11 polls were.

Sindh politics

Responding to a question regarding Arif Alvi’s stance on the Bilawal House wall issue, Imran said he was the representative of the people and he just wanted the implementation of a court order which states the wall should be brought down.

He stressed that he was not against tight security for PPP patron in chief Bilawal Bhutto but that court orders should be followed and people of the area should facilitated.

On Bilawal’s criticism of Imran on Twitter, the PTI chief said his politics was on the ground, not on Twitter.

Referring to his recent rallies in Lahore and Umerkot, Imran said he is amidst the people and so is his politics.

He went on to apologise to the people of Sindh for not campaigning enough in the province for the general elections and assured he will visit all the districts in the coming months.

Imran particularly praised the people of Karachi for standing with the PTI in the general elections against the violent politics of the city.

Sindh I, Sindh II

Rubbishing the idea of dividing Sindh because of the current problems, Imran said politicians should focus on addressing the issues rather than creating rifts.

He stressed that people are sick of injustices and political leaders should not be taking advantage of this situation but alleviate the suffering.

Without naming Altaf Hussain or Bilawal, Imran lashed out at them for creating a hue and cry while living aboard.

Zahra Hussain

Imran said he was informed that the murderers of Zahra Shahid Hussain were arrested. He said PTI should be informed about the culprits and what party they belonged to.

The PTI central vice president was shot dead on May 18 outside her house in Karachi just hours before re-elections in some polling stations of NA-250 were due to begin.

Condemning the recent killings of two of his party members in the city, Imran said people were being terrorised prior to the local bodies election.

Accountability

Boasting about Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa’s soon-to-be introduced accountability law, Imran said the law will go after the big “jinns” of corruption.

He stated that the said law can also investigate the chief minister if he was involved in corruption.

PESCO

Clarifying that PTI and its coalition members were ready to take control of Peshawar Electric Supply Company (Pesco), Imran said the provincial government also wants the control of power generation.

He said Pesco only manages power distribution in the city.

Imran went on to say that the K-P government - if given control of both power generation and distribution - will provide cheap electricity to the people and reduce power theft.