Ready for 'minus-one' if told its advantage, says Imran
Pakistan
I told CJP Bandial I condemned May 9 violence
LAHORE (Web Desk) – PTI chief Imran Khan said on Saturday he was ready to be eliminated from politics if he was told what benefit it would incur to the country.
Addressing via video link, he asked what advantage lied in delaying polls. "Hold free and fair elections and then the nation will start fighting back against the quagmire it has been in," he added.
— PTI (@PTIofficial) May 20, 2023
Taking a dig at interim governments in Punjab and KP, he said the caretaker governments were illegal, adding that that they failed to announce elections in two provinces within 90 days of dissolution of assemblies. “Every order issued by them is illegal,” he added.
He went on to say that the federal government wanted to hold NA elections in September, adding that it was their right to do so. “It is our right to demand election in two provinces,” he added.
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What could have negotiations got us, he asked. “They want to hold elections after they are sure that the PTI has been pressed,” he added.
“We are going beyond the point of no return,” he decried. They were destroying the whole country to crush a party, he said.
Mr Khan said he told Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial in clear words that he strongly condemned every kind of violence.
He continued by saying that it was also a propaganda that he did not condemn the May 9 violence, adding that he apprised CJP Bandial that he never allowed his supporters to do something other than staging a peaceful protest. “It was a planned conspiracy to ban the PTI,” he added.
— PTI (@PTIofficial) May 20, 2023
PTI chief said PTI supporters, members, and office holders had been put behind bars. "Whoever is outside has gone underground because authorities are conducting raids on their homes," he said.
Mr Khan said it was very hard for the PTI to get information from the government about what’s happening, adding that 25 unarmed PTI supporters had been killed. “It’s not lawful to attack protesters,” he added.
He said geofencing showed only if a person was located somewhere, asking how could it tell they were involved in May 9 attacks. “If they were, the PTI condemns it the most,” he added.
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Who tore clothes of PTI Peshawar’s founding members during protests, he asked. “Plane in Mianwali could not be burnt as it is made of aluminum,” he added. “They” did something, he said, and burnt it.
“We don’t want anything else but investigation into it,” he said.
The PTI was protesting somewhere else in Peshawar but how they reached Radio Pakistan’s Peshawar office, he asked.
He said those calling for peaceful protests were also taken into custody. “PTI leaders Shah Mehmood Qureshi, and Dr Yasmin Rashid were calling for peaceful protests and I was house arrested in the IHC,” he added.
Even the people carrying placards were arrested,” he lamented. Which law did they break, he asked.
He said the PTI only pinned hopes in the court, adding that they [the state] were trying their best to pressurise courts to not grant us relief.
