Stand with judiciary, Imran urges supporters at Minar-e-Pakistan rally

LAHORE/ISLAMABAD    -    Pakistan Tehreek-e-In­saf (PTI) Chairman Im­ran Khan late Saturday night told his support­ers that when any na­tion doesn’t stand against oppression they become slaves. 

“Against the law, just to implement one (court) warrant, my home was attacked from three sides with shelling,” the former prime minister said while addressing PTI’s Jalsa here at Mi­nar-e-Pakistan ground. The PTI chief went on to say that PTI workers and leaders were be­ing tortured by police. “Azhar Mashwani was picked up. My nephew was tortured. At least 2,000 of PTI workers are arrested. Some 40 cases have been regis­tered against me on ter­rorism charges,” he said. 

He also said that level placing does not mean that Imran’s hands be tied. He also alleged that his government was toppled through a conspiracy and ‘crimi­nals’ were imposed on the county. “This is the (tight) time that every­one including the law­yers should stand with the judiciary. 

‘BRINGING POWERFUL ELITE UNDER THE LAW’

Earlier, Imran Khan said that whether he is in jail or not, his party will "sweep" the elections. 

Speaking during a conversation with American media group National Public Ra­dio (NPR), the former prime minister said he does not know if he will end up getting disqualified or not, but that it also “doesn’t mat­ter” because he believes his party has a popularity wave “unprec­edented” in Pakistan’s history. Khan, a former cricket star, was prime minister from 2018 until 2022 when he was ousted from office in a parliamentary vote. Since then he has been demand­ing a snap election and holding protest rallies across the country to press his case.

His successor as prime minis­ter, Shehbaz Sharif, has rejected his demand and said an election would be held as scheduled lat­er this year. “What is happening is that the government is petri­fied of elections. They’re scared that we’re going to win the elec­tions. Therefore, they are trying everything to get me out of the way, including assassination, because I survived an assassi­nation attempt - [and am] very lucky to be alive,” said Khan — who survived an assassination attempt during a long march last year.

Commenting on whether he is confident that there will be an election at the appointed time, Khan said that’s what his worry was as constitutionally when the country dissolved its two provincial governments, the elections had to be held within 90 days.

When asked what would hap­pen if his party —the PTI— re­turned to power, making a refer­ence to the Opposition’s claims that Khan cracked down on the media and other critics when he was in power last time. 

“Steve, my 3 and a half years were the most liberal 3 and a half years in our history. I mean, the - we never interfered with the judiciary, which was always the case in the past. We never interfered with the media. The only time there were problems with the media was not because of us, because of the army, be­cause of the army establish­ment,” Khan responded.

He went on to say that cur­rently, within five months, not just him but also all his senior leadership have cases against them. “They’re running from one court to the other,” he said.