Govt may launch a fresh ‘operation’ during the Eid ul Fitr holidays at his Zaman Park residence in a bid to arrest him, Imran Khan tells LHC

LAHORE, April 17 (SABAH): Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman and former prime minister Imran Khan informed the two-member bench of the Lahore High Court (LHC) headed by Justice Tariq Saleem Sheikh and comprising Justice Farooq Haider on Monday that he fears the government may launch a fresh “operation” during the Eid ul Fitr holidays at his Zaman Park residence in a bid to arrest him.

The PTI chief informed the court about his concerns during a hearing on his petition seeking details of cases registered against him across the country.

During the hearing, Imran Khan’s counsel Barrister Salman Safdar told the court that state machinery was being used against his client. He urged the court to stop the registration of cases against the PTI chief.

“Everything has a limit in all cases the police are the complainant,” said Salman Safdar, citin the Wazirabad incident and Zile Shah case where the police were the complainant.

“If your stance has been recorded then it shouldn’t remain an issue,” Justice Tariq Saleem Sheikh remarked.

However, Salman Safdar told the bench that in all cases terrorism charges were included, adding that the court cannot remain silent over the misuse of authority.

“We have to fight on all fronts. Coming to take bail every day is not the solution,” said Safdar. He added that in the cases registered, so far, there is no need to arrest the PTI chief.

“Now, Eid is coming and the court will not be working. During these days the police may open another front at Zaman Park,” Safdar said, adding that the police should not be allowed to register a case within these days. “Is there any such precedence?” Justice Sheikh asked.

Upon this, the PTI chief came to the rostrum and told the bench that the court had ordered the police not to launch an operation in Zaman Park yet it happened.

“Now during holidays, they will launch an operation. I have credible reports that they will launch an operation. The court must stop them,” Imran Khan urged, adding that the “law of the jungle” prevails here first people are arrested then they are informed about the accusations. “I am just informing you about the threats beforehand,” Imran Khan said and returned to his seat.

Anwar Mansoor Khan, Imran Khan’s other lawyer, said that such actions are being used to stop the elections. “A political leader is being threatened with arrest so he does not go to the people,” said the lawyer.

Following this, the Punjab government’s counsel Ghulam Sarwar Nahang told the court that seeking the court’s permission for investigating someone is not legal. “Courts have been rejecting such petitions,” the Punjab government lawyer said.

On this, Justice Tariq Saleem Sheikh asked the lawyer when there was no need to arrest in old cases and then why does the government want to take action after the registration of new cases.

However, the government’s lawyer maintained that the petition was unmaintainable.

Moving on, Justice Sheikh remarked that the petition was fine apart from the inclusion of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif as a respondent.

Imran Khan’s lawyer told the court that the government machinery has never been used like it has been used against his client.

On this, Justice Sheikh informed the counsel that the Punjab government lawyer had referred to the cases of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leaders Hamza Shahbaz, and Maryam Nawaz.

At this point, Imran Khan once again came to the rostrum and told the court that the government violated the orders of the court despite its order. “I am trying to stop the bloodshed. We have no faith in this system,” Imran Khan said.

The court took a brief break and when Justice Sheikh and Justice Farooq Haider returned they announced that they are sending the case to the chief justice of the LHC Justice Muhammad Ameer Bhatti for the formation of a full bench on the case.

In a note, Justice Tariq Saleem Sheikh and Justice Farooq Haider said that the full bench was already hearing identical petition. They requested the chief justice to fix this petition before the same bench for hearing.

The PTI chief has made federal secretary for the Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Law, Ministry of Defense, Secretary Cabinet Division, Punjab Chief Secretary, Home Department Secretary, IG Punjab, Anti-Corruption Establishment DG, NAB, and FIA parties in the petition.

He also made the prime minister of Pakistan, PEMRA, and Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) as responding in the petition, which states 121 FIRs have so far been registered against Imran Khan in Quetta, Karachi, Islamabad, and Lahore.

He has pleaded the court to issue an order to stop the proceedings in the cases registered against him till the decision on his petition. He also sought an order to stop criminal proceedings against him without prior notice.

The plea seeking court directions against the government’s action targeting the ex-PM pointed out that “more than 100 politically motivated and unlawful FIRs” had been lodged against Imran while “100s of fabricated FIRs” had been filed against the leaders and workers of the PTI.

The plea said thousands of workers had been picked up and illegally detained, while the whereabouts of many were unknown, noting that the action amounted to grave violations of the petitioner’s rights.

“The petitioner seeks the protection of this honourable court from the most audacious assault on fundamental rights launched by any executive of this country in furtherance of the most constitutionally abhorrent objective: to prevent or delay elections required by the Constitution in order to ensure that the largest ’ political party in Pakistan may be prevented from participating or winning such elections.”

The plea went on to say that the “extraordinary nature of the attack on fundamental rights of one of the largest political parties of the country involved violations of their rights to life and liberty, fair trial, dignity and privacy of home, movement, assembly, association, speech, and equal treatment guaranteed under Article 9, 10A, 14, 15, 16, 17, 19, and 25 of the Constitution meant that the intervention of the court is required in order to protect and enforce the said fundamental rights and the rule of law”.

According to the petition, “Despite the fact that none of the tactics such as false criminal cases, edited and inauthentic audio leaks, custodial torture of Petitioner’s political associates, suppression of the coverage of the Petitioner and elimination of the voices in support, worked to diminish the popularity of the Petitioner, the Respondents did not end the matter there.”

Quoting an assassination attempt on the former premier in November last year, the plea pointed out that there was an attempt to assassinate the petitioner on Nov 3, 2022, during a political procession in Wazirabad.

“In the incident, the petitioner narrowly escaped the attempt on his life, although he received two firearm injuries and had to be rushed to the hospital. As many as 13 other individuals were injured and one innocent person lost his life. The incident resulted in the petitioner having severe mobility issues until he had fully recovered from the injuries.”

The plea urged the court to issue directions that the unprecedented repeated abuse and misuse of criminal law machinery of the state to register criminal cases against the PTI chief amounted to causing grave, and illegal violation of the Petitioner’s fundamental rights under Articles 10A, 15, 16, 17, 19, 19-A, and 25 of the Constitution.

It also sought the court’s directions that “the undue haste in seeking the apprehension and arrest of Imran is a grave violation of his right to life and liberty”.

The PTI chief also, in his plea, urged the court that the “practice of lodging different FIRs all over Pakistan over the same occurrence and practice of unnecessarily prolonging the incarceration of an accused by transferring them from one jurisdiction to another is a deliberate and male fide violation of fundamental rights and respondents be restrained from taking such steps.”

The plea said urged the court that no “coercive action” should be taken against the petitioner and his party in pursuance of all the FIRs /call-up notices.

 Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman and former prime minister Imran Khan said on Monday that the constitution could not prevail in the country if the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) did not release funds for the Punjab Assembly elections.

Speaking to media outside the courtroom, the deposed premier said, despite the fact that the constitution states that negotiations are not needed, we are doing negotiations for the sake of elections. The possibility of holding the electionsafter 90 days does not exist. There are constitutional limits on holding the elections over more than 90 days.”

Imran Khan was of the view that the interim setup should be replaced with the administrator, who should perform the task of holding the elections in the province. He alleged that the interim government was indulging in a political vendetta.

Imran Khan said, “Who is talking that we had strained relations with the US and KSA. General Bajwa launched a campaign against our government because he wanted an extension. Within three months, two meetings of the OIC were held in the country. Is this happened before in the country?”

“We were having strong relationships with China, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Donald Trump, and Boris Johnson. Who is ready to talk with the incumbent government?” he added.

Imran Khan maintained, “Already in the country, the fundamental human rights are being badly violated”.