ISLAMABAD - Opposition politician Imran Khan on Tuesday urged the Supreme Court to take notice of arrests of his supporters and warned of a civil war if his concerns were not addressed.
In his second spell of speech from his container parked at D-Chowk, Khan announced to celebrate Eidul Azha at the sit-in venue and said they would sacrifice animals here. But in the same speech Khan said he would end his sit-in if Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif declared his assets.
“I will end the sit-in if Nawaz Sharif dared announce all his own assets and his children’s in the country and abroad,” he challenged the PM, adding that he has already declared all his assets. “Will Nawaz Sharif dare declare his assets,” he questioned and then answered himself that the PM would not do so as it would expose his corruption.
Earlier in the day during the first spell of his speech, PTI chief appealed to Chief Justice Nasirul Mulk to take notice of brutalities of police in Islamabad. He warned the CJ that by not taking notice of arrests of his workers, he was opening a path to a bloody revolution.
He said his workers were only being arrested for taking part in the sit-in and claimed that 40 of his supporters were arrested last night. He said the country was being pushed towards bloodshed and civil war.
Khan also claimed that government was not handing over the 17 dead bodies of the participants of the sit-in lying in Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS). However, later the head of the PIMS rebutted this claim arguing the hospital mortuary did not have capacity to store so many dead bodies.
“You now have the responsibility of saving Pakistan’s democracy,” he said while addressing the chief justice. He questioned the judges of the Supreme Court, high courts and other judiciary whether it was not their responsibility to protect the fundamental rights of the people. He went on to say that he was now finding it difficult to stop his supporters as they are angered by the police and are prepared to go against them under any circumstances.
“People will not tolerate this anymore. They know their rights and have awakened,” he said. He repeatedly urged the chief justice to save the country from bloodshed and civil war as well as save the police from being hated by the nation. Imran Khan asked the government to remove containers to let people live their lives normally and also to re-open schools in the light of court orders.
During his early night address, Khan told his supporters that they were fighting for the rule of law and gave the example of the inside video of PIA plane in which passengers were seen forcing two VIPs off the plane who allegedly had caused delay in the flight. He said they would end VIP culture in the country, as their VIPs would be the labour class. The nation has awakened as previously three inspector generals of police also had refused to obey illegal orders of the government, he said.
He said they would celebrate ‘Day of Salvation’ and ‘Go Nawaz Go Day’ on Friday and the police check posts would not be able to stop his workers from participating in the protest on that day. “We will gather here on Friday and set on fire the electricity bills,” he said. He asked his workers to come here on that day in maximum numbers.
He advised his supporters not to misbehave with the media persons, as they were disseminating the sit-in voice from home to home. “I ask you to please give respect to media persons,” he said. He said that their struggle was not only against rigging in elections but rigging is just a part of their struggle.
Khan alleged that Nawaz Sharif was demanding extra 40 million rupees for his upcoming visit to US to take his chefs there along with him. If the rulers had any concern with the common people, they would never do such things, he said and questioned the government why it doubled the electricity rates.
ARMY CHIEF GAVE ASSURANCES OF MEETING 5 DEMANDS: IMRAN
Monitoring Desk adds: PTI Chairman Imran Khan has revealed that Army Chief General Raheel Sharif had guaranteed the approval of five out of six demands of PTI, adding that he informed the COAS that he did not trust PM Nawaz Sharif.
Talking to a private TV channel on Tuesday, the PTI chairman said that in his meeting with the army chief, he had been assured that five of his six demands will be met. The unmet demand being PM Nawaz’s resignation, he added.
However, Imran maintained that the army was not behind his campaign. “We would have left by now if the army was behind us,” Imran said. “It has already been clarified that the military is out of political matters. We won’t leave even if the PM leaves for Haj.”