Lahore: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan has said that he has formed a committee to lead the party after he was arrested.
“I have formed a committee that will obviously decide once – if – I am inside the jail,” the 70-year-old said in an interview at his Lahore home on Saturday morning before flying to Islamabad.
He told JEE News that 94 cases have been registered against him. Khan said the threat to his life was greater than ever and said, without providing evidence, that his opponents wanted to prevent him from contesting elections later this year. Khan said that there is no reason to arrest him now as he has been granted bail in all the cases. If convicted in any of the cases, Khan could face disqualification from contesting elections in November.
“The establishment is somehow feeling threatened by me right now. And this is the problem,” he claimed. “My life is in more danger than ever,” he said, adding that he worried about the reaction to his arrest or any attempt to kill him. “I think there will be a very strong reaction, and it will be a reaction across Pakistan,” Imran said.
“I just think that the people who are trying to do that don’t understand the situation. Unfortunately, I don’t think they understand where Pakistan is right now. Khan claimed that the former army chief The army was instrumental in pushing General (retd) Qamar Javed Bajwa, who retired in November, from power after relations soured.
Yesterday, when Imran Khan left for the federal capital, the Punjab Police resumed operations at the PTI chief’s residence, raiding his house and arresting several party workers. In his reaction, the former prime minister said it was “clear” that despite getting “bail” in the cases registered against him, the Pakistan Democratic Movement-led government intended to arrest him. He added that it is also now clear that the entire siege of Lahore was not to ensure my court appearance in any case but to take me to jail so that I would not be able to lead my election campaign.
In another tweet, he added: “Meanwhile, Punjab Police raided my house in Zaman Park where Bushra Begum was alone. Under what law are they doing this?”
He added that this is part of the London plan where promises were made to bring fugitive Nawaz Sharif to power to agree to a meeting.
PTI Vice Chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi, PTI Secretary General Asad Umar and Dr Shireen Mazari criticized the government and Punjab Police for the attack on Zaman Park residence. Qureshi said that the PTI workers were subjected to the worst torture and the sanctity of the niqab and the four walls were violated. “Doesn’t the law apply to these animals?”
In his response, Asad Umar said that the Zaman Park operation is in complete violation of court orders. He said that there was only one housewife in the house. He said that there was no law and no morality.
Criticizing the imported government, Dr Shireen Mazari said that the attack on Imran Khan’s residence where Bushra Bibi was alone inside the house was pure state terrorism by a corrupt caretaker chief minister and his glo-butt police.
Dr. Mazari said that it seems that some people from within the state deliberately want to create a rift between the people and the state so that Pakistan becomes weak and accepts the slavery of external powers.
PTI leader Fawad Chaudhry demanded the government to immediately remove obstructions from the inner city roads leading to the court in Islamabad to ensure free flow of traffic. He said that there should be some scope for constitution and law in the country.
“The course of the courts has changed in Gaza,” he wrote on Twitter, adding that a writ petition would be filed in the Islamabad High Court immediately. He termed the restrictive administrative measures as “police terrorism”.
