Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan Sunday (today) alleged that the government is using state machinery to hide Prime Minister’s Nawaz Sharif’s crimes.
Speaking to reporters The PTI chief said the Islamabad High Court should take suo motu notice of the situation in the capital.
Flanked by PTI’s Imran Ismail, Jahangir Tareen and Shah Mahmood Qureshi outside his Bani Gala residence, the party chief said, “To save one criminal, you can see how much of the country’s money is being squandered. To hide his theft and corruption, the entire state machinery being employed… there are helicopters, police, checkposts.”
“Their containers and tear gassing lead to the death of an infant. The death of a colonel happened only because of the closure of roads using containers. Two First Information Reports (FIRs) should be registered against Shahbaz Sharif for these crimes,” he said.
Speaking about the recovery of weapons and alcohol from PTI leader Amin Gandapur’s car, Imran claimed the government are “masters of this”.
“They wrongly arrest people and then ‘find’ things in their cars,” he alleged.
“They are picking up people and locking them up. Why have we been locked in? What is my crime?” the PTI chief asked, as dozens of protesters trying to reach Bani Gala were arrested by police on Sunday.
The PTI chief said it was possible the date for the planned ‘lockdown’ may extend to Nov 3 or Nov 4 due to attempts made to ‘stop’ the siege of the capital.
“We have given Nov 2 as the date. If they try to stop us, it may be Nov 3 or Nov 4. But we will not be stopped. I will not stop till my last breath,” Imran Khan said.
“Nawaz Sharif, do what you want. We will not let you digest the money you have stolen. This nation will ask you for accountability.”
“Once again, I will ask the judiciary of Pakistan: what kind of democracy is this? The government does not obey law or court rulings.”
Earlier today, Imran directed his party workers across Pakistan to uproot all barricades and impediments leading to Islamabad and reach Bani Gala on Monday.
Read more: Imran tells party workers to break every obstacles, reach Bani Gala on Monday at any cost
“I urge all party members, who were supposed to come on Nov 2, to reach tomorrow,” Khan said talking to reporters outside Bani Gala residence.
“Do not let any obstruction on the way stop you.”
“You have to reach here because we don’t see any law in this country,” Khan said adding that from here, the caravan will head towards Islamabad on Tuesday.
Imran Khan further said former Information Minister Parvaiz Rasheed, who was asked by the prime minister to step down from his post, has been made a scapegoat but the nation “demands much more”.
Read more: Imran Khan felicitates nation over minister’s sacking
The PTI leader hit out at the information minister. Invoking a metaphor, Khan said, “The nation wants the sacrifice of a horse, not a mule.”
“Rasheed could not speak without a signal from “his masters” to do so. He could not dare to anything on his own. He just obeyed instructions,” Khan added.
“People are not ready to accept the sacrifice of an associate,” he said. “We want to know who was the one from the ‘royal family’ who directed this entire drama.”
He also reiterated his ongoing criticism of the government for its actions in the days leading up to his scheduled November 2 protest and said it has “gone out of its way” to restrain the party from exercising its constitutional right of protest.
He also said the Islamabad police did not spare female protesters of PTI but there was no Section 144, an order which bans public gatherings, for Defa-e-Pakistan Council.
Khan said the credibility of the judiciary was at stake as, according to him, the government was violating laws and had committed contempt of court.
“I want to tell the judiciary that it is their trial, not mine.”
“What would people think as you passed orders and everyone is seeing what is going on?” he said, in an apparent reference to shipping containers that have blocked routes to Islamabad despite an order by the Islamabad High Court to keep the city open.
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