Former Pakistan PM Imran Khan says he will continue to fight for the rule of law in the country
Posted Date – 11:59 PM, Mon – 6/19/23
Lahore: Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan has said he will continue to fight for the rule of law in the country, claiming he will not strike a deal or surrender even if the government puts him in jail.
Addressing the nation via YouTube on Sunday night, Khan said his fight was for a better future for his country and its people.
“Even if they put me in jail, I will not make a deal or surrender. I will continue to fight for the rule of law and a better future for our people,” Khan said.
The 70-year-old head of the Pakistan Justice Instigation (PTI) party traveled from Lahore to Islamabad on Monday to seek an extension of his bail ahead of his arrest in 19 cases.
Khan faces more than 140 cases. Most of these cases involved terrorism, incitement to public violence, arson, desecration, attempted murder, corruption and fraud.
Meanwhile, Lahore police arrested 30 PTI workers on Sunday, including ex-soccer star Shumaila Sattar, for attempting to buy a car in Khan’s Lahore complex, a police official said on Monday. He was met at his Zaman Park residence in Hore.
Sattar was a member of the national women’s football team.
A senior lawyer who is a petitioner against trying civilians in military courts was also “kidnapped” after meeting Khan in Lahore, the official said.
Lahore police said Sattar was arrested in connection with the May 9 attack on the Lahore regiment commander’s residence.
She was identified through geofencing and sent to jail on judicial remand, police said.
Khan also said that Aziz Bhandhari, a top defense lawyer at the Supreme Court, was abducted (by the agency) after visiting him at his residence in Zaman Park the other day.
He said the spokesman, Bhandhari, had filed a petition in the Supreme Court against trying civilians in military courts.
“This is total martial law in the country,” he said.
Thirty PTI workers released in connection with the May 9 violence wanted to see Khan and were re-arrested under the Public Order Act.
Widespread violence erupted in Pakistan after Khan was arrested by paramilitaries at the Islamabad High Court on May 9. He was later released on bail.
More than 20 military installations and state buildings, including the military headquarters in Rawalpindi, were damaged or burned during violent protests following Khan’s arrest.
According to PTI, law enforcement agencies have arrested more than 10,000 party members across Pakistan, mostly from Punjab.
Khan, the cricketer-turned-politician, was ousted after a loss of confidence vote in his leadership, which he claimed was part of a US-led plot against his independent foreign policy in Russia, China and Afghanistan.
