Imran says will lead election campaign rally in Lahore today.
LAHORE - Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan on Saturday accused the Punjab caretaker government and senior police officers of covering up the alleged murder of party worker Bilal. The former PM also urged the Lahore High Court (LHC) to constitute a judicial commission to probe the death. “In any civilised country, these two shameless people would have been jailed not just for lying so blatantly but for insulting the intelligence of our nation. This is what happens when the country is taken over by dangerous duffers who believe everyone is as dumb as them,” the PTI chief tweeted late Saturday. PTI worker Bilal, also known as Zillay Shah, died, and several others were injured while many were arrested by police on March 8 as the caretaker Punjab government used force to block a rally called to express solidarity with the judiciary. In his maiden televised address after the LHC revoked the ban on the PTI chairman’s speeches, also Imran announced that he would lead an election campaign rally in Lahore on Sunday (today) at 2:00pm, and urged his supporters and workers to participate in face of the police brutality purportedly committed against the party. He questioned how there could be a crackdown on an election rally when the schedule for the Punjab elections was already released. “I know they still want to do something [to find an excuse and] run away from elections,” Imran said. Imran hit back hard at the provincial authorities, terming the Punjab police as “savages”, saying that he could not believe “what they did to a special person (Bilal)”. “Police are trying their level best to cover up the case. They put his family members in jail and now they’re making people give forceful statements to cover it up,” he said. Addressing the judiciary, Imran said they were the only ones preventing the country from turning into a “banana republic”. “I request Punjab’s chief justice to form a judicial commission on this matter today and investigate what happened with him (Bilal),” the PTI chief said, adding that he had no hope from the government.