PTI Chairman Imran Khan on Sunday dodged arrest as Islamabad Police showed up at his Zaman Park residence in Lahore with court summons to take him into custody for his persistent absences from Toshakhana court hearings.
The 70-year-old former prime minister, who has been recovering from a gunshot injury from an assassination attempt in Wazirabad last year, has thrice skipped indictment hearings in an Islamabad sessions court in the case.
When the Islamabad Police along with their Punjab Police counterparts arrived at Imran’s residence just after noon today, they found a horde of PTI supporters along with party leaders, and were informed that the PTI chief was “unavailable”.
With PTI workers outnumbering the police contingent, and despite Islamabad police chief earlier saying that they won’t go back empty-handed, the arrest could not be made. The Islamabad police left Imran’s residence at around 1:30pm.
As Imran’s whereabouts were debated upon, he ended the hours-long mystery by addressing a televised party event right from the Zaman Park residence a little before 5pm.
Imran’s speech
Addressing the crowd of PTI loyalists, Imran said he had never “bowed before any man or institution, and will never let you do so as well”.
Imran said he had called the public to Zaman Park to pay tribute to them for the way they participated in the ‘Jail Bharo Tehreek’ (court arrest movement). “I did not call you for my support but to thank you,” he added.
He said “only a nation, and not a group” could confront the challenges being faced by the country.
Assailing the government’s performance, he said it was the “worst time” for the country as the economy had “sunk” and the people were being crushed by “record high inflation in Pakistan’s history”.
He lashed out at government leaders, alleging that they had stashed their wealth overseas and were given protection in legal cases by former army chief Gen (retd) Qamar Javed Bajwa.
The PTI chief renewed his allegation that “all those in power today” were behind the Wazirabad assassination attempt on him, but named Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah and an intelligence official in particular.
Arrest on court orders, not govt orders: Sanaullah
Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah has said that Imran was being arrested on the court’s orders and not the government’s order.
“The police have only come to uphold the court’s order. If they had to arrest Imran at all costs, PTI burgers wouldn’t be an obstacle,” he claimed, adding that if the government had decided to arrest the PTI chief, “it would not have been a difficult feat”.
The minister further stated that Imran should be arrested as per court’s orders, punished and then disqualified.
Separately, PML-N chief organiser Maryam Nawaz has asked her father and party supremo Nawaz Sharif to “lend some of his courage to Imran Khan”. Nawaz is currently leading party operations from London.
In a tweet earlier, PML-N leader Attaullah Tarar said that the PTI chief was “panicking after seeing his [possible] arrest and the nature of the cases against him”.
“There is only one way to change the conditions — dragging him by the ear and putting him in jail,” he added.
Source: The dawn
BDST: 2012 HRS, MAR 05, 2023
MSK
