Despite 3rd notice Imran doesn’t appear before JIT

ISLAMABAD: Despite being given a third notice for appearance, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman and former prime minister Imran Khan did not join a joint investigation team (JIT) of the police on Sunday, in connection with an investigation into a terrorism case registered against him.

Following the orders of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) to the PTI chief to join the investigations, the head of the JIT had issued summons to Khan for the third time, and asked him to report to the Margalla Police Station, Islamabad, at 6pm on Sunday. Khan, however, did not show up.

A case was lodged against former premier for allegedly threatening a lower court judge, Zeba Chaudhry. Last week, the IHC asked him to ensure that he cooperates with the police in the case investigation.

According to the notice issued to Khan, he must appear before the JIT and answer questions related to the charges levelled against him. The notice further stated that despite the orders of IHC, Khan neither appeared before the JIT nor presented his position regarding the case.

The JIT — in the recent notice — mentioned that Khan was summoned on Sept 9 and 10 for investigation into the case as well and the JIT waited for his arrival at the designated time, but he never showed up.

Although, Khan did not appear before the JIT, he submitted a reply on Friday, Sept 9, through his lawyer stating that the threats issued to a female judge in a rally did not fall under “terrorism” and the case should be dismissed as he was “innocent”.

“I am the chairman of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf: I have been the prime minister of Pakistan, the government tortured [my aide] Shahbaz Gill due to political opposition; the report filed in the Islamabad High Court proved the torture of Shahbaz Gill,” Khan told the JIT in the letter.

The PTI leader added that what he said in the speech could not be categorised as terrorism, adding that he neither committed any illegal act nor harmed anyone.

A first information report (FIR) was registered against the former prime minister on August 21 under the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) for threatening the additional sessions judge and senior police officers of the Islamabad Police at a rally in the federal capital’s F-9 Park.

The FIR was registered on the complaint of magistrate Ali Javed at Islamabad’s Margalla Police Station under Section 7 of ATA.

Following this, Khan managed to secure transit bail till August 25 from the IHC, but was asked to approach the ATC as it was the relevant forum. Then, the trial court extended the interim bail till Sept 12 in the terrorism case.

Separately, PTI senior leader Chaudhry Fawad Hussain Sunday said his party respected the non-elected constitutional institutions, but those institutions should also respect political parties and their leadership.

Addressing a news conference here, he made it clear that Imran Khan was not against the institutions. “Our campaign is only that the people and political parties should also be given respect like the institutions; the decisions should be considered by people, and the institutions must be on the same page, for which it is necessary to obey the decisions of people,” he added.

The former minister contended that “there should be no thinking of elevating or bringing down stature of political parties and leaders, as this disturbs the balance. It is imperative that the institutional balance is kept intact.”

Fawad came down hard on the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) again, and also criticised the incumbent coalition government. He announced launching of a campaign against inflation in the country. He alleged that the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) decisions were being taken behind closed doors. “They do not realise that after spending billions of rupees of the country, three days ago they said elections are not being held. Institutions should take responsible decisions,” he demanded.

The Election Commission has administrative bias against the PTI, but there is also an administrative crisis, which has arisen due to the incompetence of the chief election commissioner and his team, he claimed.

“We want to be on the same page with the institutions, but political parties are also institutions that represent the opinion of the people, while Pakistan’s un-elected constitutional institutions do not represent people,” he added.

Fawad said that everyone saw that millions of people came out of their homes across the country and expressed solidarity with Imran Khan. Last time, the PTI won 100 percent seats in north Punjab.

He said the day Hamza Shehbaz took oath as the Punjab chief minister, he and his father Shehbaz Sharif were to be indicted. The indictment did not take place for the last nine months, while the seriousness of the judicial system is before everyone, as far as the case of money-laundering of Rs24 billion against them is concerned.

Fawad Chaudhry said that today they have informed all their district presidents to make preparations, because from the next week, “we are going to start a big movement against inflation and I sincerely hope that it will become a big movement which we will turn into a political movement”.

The imported government broke all records of inflation, besides ruining the economy, industries and all other sectors, Fawad alleged.

“Today Panadol is not available in the country, current inflation rate is 45 per cent, and no real estate plan has been made public for the last five months,” he said and regretted that the media was too busy to discuss inflation.

Fawad said today the prices of petrol and edible oil had witnessed a decline in the world, but the people in Pakistan were facing 45pc inflation, adding that during the PTI government’s tenure, petrol in the world market was $105 per barrel, today it is $83 per barrel, but they increased the price of petrol by Rs85 per litre.

“Edible oil was $1,700 in our time, and now $800, but the current government did not give relief to masses. During the PTI government, power per unit rate was Rs16-18, which surpassed over Rs36 per unit today,” he added.

To a question about Nawaz Sharif’s return, Fawad said, “I don’t think Nawaz Sharif will come back because he wants to escape from courts. Under the law, Nawaz Sharif needs a two-thirds majority to qualify and get back into politics; there is no other way, we want him to come back and face cases against him.”