Imran Khan backs army’s stance on May 9 probe, says PTI not against military

RAWALPINDI: Asserting that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) was not against the military, former ruling party’s founder Imran Khan endorsed a recent statement issued by the Pakistan Army’s top brass in connection with a probe into the May 9 violent attacks.

The Corps Commanders’ Conference (CCC) — with Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Asim Munir in the chair — had a day earlier committed that planners, instigators, abettors, perpetrators, and desecrators of martyrs’ monuments and attackers of military installations on May 9 would certainly be brought to justice.

The May 9 attacks refer to the violent protests that broke out following the arrest of the incarcerated PTI founder in a corruption case last year.

During an informal interaction with journalists at the Adiala jail in Rawalpindi, the former prime minister said: “I endorse the declaration of the CCC. Suspects involved in May 9 incidents should be punished severely."

Stressing the need for a thorough interrogation into the violent attacks, Khan said that a commission should be formed on the May 9 incidents.

In the past, the PTI founder had been blaming the “agencies' men” for arson and shooting in some areas during the May 9 violent protests.

In a tweet from his official handle in May last year, the ex-PM said his party has “ample amount of evidence” to prove that agencies' men carried out arson and shootings during the protests to blame it on PTI.

But he told journalists today: "Neither we are anti-army nor want a clash with forces."

Responding to a question about reserved seats, Khan said that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) disregarded democracy by depriving the PTI of reserved seats for women and minorities.

He termed the ECP’s move injustice to women workers of the PTI. The PTI founder also accused the election regulator of mass rigging in the February 8 general elections.

“We want to hold a peaceful protest against the rigging,” the PTI leader added, a day after the PTI leadership announced a countrywide protest against the rigging on March 10.

"Peaceful protest is the right of every party in a democracy," Khan said.

To another question, the PTI founder said that 70% of the country’s revenue was being spent on returning interest and debt.

“I wrote a letter to IMF (International Monetary Fund) because economic stability is impossible without political stability,” he said, about the letter that he had written, calling on the institution to hold an audit of the Feb 8 polls before disbursing loans to Islamabad.

‘Khan picks Omar Ayub as Opposition Leader in NA’

Talking to journalists following his meeting with the former prime minister in Adiala jail, PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan has said that the former prime minister picked Omar Ayub as a candidate for the slot of Leader of the Opposition in the lower house of parliament.

“PTI will move the Sindh and Peshawar high courts over the matter of reserved seats,” he announced. The court would decide the matter as per the law and the Constitution, the PTI leader hoped.

He claimed PTI won 115 Punjab Assembly seats. The Khan’s counsel also raised questions over the trial of the party founder in the Al-Qadir Trust case.

Later in the day, speaking at a press conference, another party leader Taimur Saleem Khan Jhagra alleged that numbers were changed in Form 45s to declare PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif victorious in the recent polls.

“Nawaz Sharif’s 78 votes were changed into 1078 votes in Form 45,” he alleged.

Jhagra said: “We do not know who is involved in tempering in Form 45s.”

Yesterday, the ECP uploaded Form 45s on its website but later deleted some of the election-related documents, he claimed.