PTI march resumes: Those sitting in Islamabad are in a hurry: Imran

LALAMUSA/LAHORE: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan said on Thursday that not he but those sitting in Islamabad were in a hurry.

Through video-link from his Lahore residence, he was addressing the participants in his party’s long march, which resumed in Wazirabad where he was shot at some days ago. The former premier said some forces wanted to pit him and his party against the armed forces, but they would not succeed ever, as he was standing with the Pakistan Army.

Imran Khan urged the chief justice of Pakistan (CJP) to investigate the shooting incident that took place in Wazirabad city while he was leading an anti-government protest march to the federal capital last week in which he sustained bullet injuries and one of his supporters was killed.

Khan made the request while vowing that the anti-government caravan would not stop now and reach Islamabad later this month. “The whole nation is looking toward you [the chief justice] now,” he said. “I want to directly address the chief Justice of Pakistan, as he has a huge responsibility,” Khan added. “They planned [my assassination] and it all went as per the script. However, Allah saved me.”

Khan said the nation had lost its confidence in national institutions, adding it was the responsibility of the chief justice to restore it. “We are going to become a banana republic,” he said. “You must save the country now.”

Imran Khan said: “We will not get real independence until we bring justice to this country. If anyone thinks that the law of jungle will be enforced and the country will become prosperous, then it is not possible.

“Justice liberates men and brings the powerful under the law. Since the arrival of a senior army officer, we have been oppressed like terrorists,” the former premier said. Imran Khan said: “Ever since this officer came, the media is being threatened not to broadcast my speeches. I have been the prime minister of Pakistan and I am the leader of the largest party of the country. I could not register the FIR of an attack on me, because the name of the senior officer appeared in it,” added the PTI chairman.

Imran said inclusion of the army officer’s name annoyed the army officer. “The DG ISPR says that the army has been insulted,” he added. Khan said the army would be insulted when the army did not take action. The army would be insulted when an institution considers itself above the law.

“If the FIR of a former prime minister could not be registered, what would be the situation of a common man,” asked the PTI chief. About his attacker, Imran Khan said: “Whether the guy, who is in police custody, looks like an extremist or a religious man?”

Imran Khan alleged that an army officer masterminded his assassination plan. He said his assassination plan was hatched in September. “On Sep 24, I said in a public rally that a plan has been made and that they will blame a religious fanatic for it.

He said Shahbaz Gill and Azam Swati were subjected to custodial torture. Why was no suo motu notice taken on this? “I ask the chief justice to provide justice to victims of custodial torture and humiliation,” Imran added.

The PTI chief said: “Had the attack on me been successful, the largest party of Pakistan would have disintegrated. This can only be desired by the enemies of Pakistan.” Imran Khan also urged the CJP to look into the matters of the FIR of attack on his container as well as the murder of journalist Arshad Sharif. He said an inquiry into that case could only be done by the Supreme Court. “We do not trust any other agency, because the agencies are now in the hands of thieves,” Imran said adding that he knew who had controlled the Punjab government. He claimed that police were being controlled from somewhere else, “while we are in the government”. Who leaked the tape of the arrested person, asked Imran Khan.

Imran said his party would take responsibility for the children of Moazzam, who was martyred in the Wazirabad long march attack. Other PTI leaders including Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Asad Umar, Fawad Chaudhry, Hammad Azhar, Dr Yasmin Rashid and Azam Khan Swati also addressed the long march participants.