LAHORE - Following the Supreme Court’s decision about the holding of elections in Punjab and KPK provinces within 90 days of the dissolution of provincial assemblies, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan Wednesday called off ‘Jail Bahro Tehreek’ and announced the start of the election campaign from Saturday. “After today’s Supreme Court decision, Jail Bharo Tehreek comes to an end, and we are starting the election campaign after sunset on Saturday. Party workers would hold corner meetings in every district, and I will address them”, the PTI chairman announced in a televised address to the party workers from his Zaman Park residence here.
Imran Khan further stated that in his address to the party meetings, he would tell the nation about the way forward to come out of the present quagmire of problems the country had stuck in. “I will tell you how to get it out of the quagmire as the current government had brought the economy to a dead end and they had no road map except seeking debt”, he remarked. Imran Khan said that Moody’s had also downgraded Pakistan’s rating as the incumbent government had brought Pakistan to a dead end. “I will give the future action plan on Saturday”, he said. Commenting on the Supreme Court decision, Imran Khan said: “Today, I want to congratulate the judiciary on behalf of the nation; I started the journey of justice movement 26 years ago because there is poverty, there is a separate law for the rich and the poor… the Supreme Court today upheld the constitution and law of Pakistan. I assure the Supreme Court… we stand with the Supreme Court….we want nothing to be unconstitutional”. The PTI chief said that it was clear in the constitution that elections must be held within 90 days.
Imran Khan further said that he had to say this with regret that had it happened earlier, the country would have been prosperous. He condemned the law minister’s statement and termed it shameful. “Today, they tried to divide the judiciary again. The PML-N has a history of dividing the judiciary. They used to call the judges and get punishments of their choice for their political opponents. They never like an honest judiciary; Today, the decision came but still there is an atmosphere that elections will not be held. There is no room left for any deviation from Supreme Court decision”, he observed.
He went on to say: “The PML-N bought the Quetta bench with money; It divided the judiciary.. but today, the youth of Pakistan have become conscious; It is not the era of 1998”. He said law and justice related to prosperity. “Nelson Mandela had said, “If there is justice, poverty will end in the country. Khan alleged that human rights were being violated for the last 10 months. “They tried to crush us, such reprisals never happened before, all kinds of cases were made against Tehreek-e-Insaaf”.
He said he will never forget the torture of Azam Swati and Shehbaz Gul. “There is a painful story of Arshad Sharif… an attempt was made to humiliate senior journalist Ayaz Mi”. He said 74 cases had been made against him. He said that terrorism law had not been misused in this way in Pakistan as was being misused now. He said the mafia violated all kinds of laws in Pakistan as they come to power through auctions and not elections. “They come to power through conspiracy with illicit money. Imran Khan has said that Shehbaz Sharif had 24 billion rupees cases in NAB and FIA which were waived off. The government changed the law and pardoned their 1100 billion cases. He said they were afraid of the elections.
The PTI chairman further said that Maryam Nawaz had planned and pelted stones outside NAB, but no case of terrorism was registered against him. “On the other hand, in my case, there was a protest outside the Election Commission, and I was at home and a case of terrorism was instituted against me”, he remarked. Imran Khan said that Pakistan has had a law regarding Tosha Khana for 70 years. “If a gift is received, it goes to Tosha Khana. Nawaz Sharif, Zardari stole cars from Tosha Khana.. there is no case against them”, he lamented.