- Says he will announce Saturday when long march will reach Islamabad
- Regrets ‘if largest political party can’t get justice then who can?’
LAHORE: PTI chairman Imran Khan Friday declared that the incumbent government’s planned amendments to the Army Act would be challenged in Supreme Court (SC), claiming that the coalition leaders were making these changes “for political gains”.
During in an informal talks with journalists in Lahore on Friday, the PTI chief claimed that the government was bringing the amendments for its “own benefit”.
Nawaz Sharif wants to bring an army chief who would weaken the PTI, he claimed, alleging that the government was trying to make the armed forces “like the Punjab police”.
The PTI chief also said that the appointment of the army chief should take place just like that of the chief justice. According to the Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Act, 1997, the CJP and all high court judges are appointed on the basis of seniority.
The law states that a person with five years of experience as a high court judge or 15 years of experience as a high court advocate was eligible to be appointed as the top court judge.
‘Didn’t meet Gen Bajwa in Lahore’
During the meeting, Imran said that he had not met Gen Bajwa in Lahore, clarifying that President Arif Alvi had had a meeting with the army chief. He, however, told journalists that there were no talks under way with anyone at the moment.
‘Will lead long march from Rawalpindi myself’
The PTI chief also said that he would lead the party’s long march to Islamabad from Rawalpindi himself.
After the Wazirabad assassination attempt on November 3, Imran allowed PTI leaders Shah Mahmood Qureshi and Asad Umar to take charge of the march. He had also said that he would join marchers later this month.
Imran expressed concern over the delay in presenting the suspect in court. “I fear the evidence would have been wasted in these 14 days.
Imran further said that he will announce the date to reach Rawalpindi on Saturday, adding that he had a medical checkup tomorrow where doctors would give their opinion on his recovery.
Toshkahana gift sale allegation
Talking about the Toshakhana gift sale allegation, Imran said he would be approaching the court in the UK and Dubai against the Jang Group and businessman Umar Farooq Zahoor.
Responding to these allegations today, Imran said that the development had given him a chance to go to court. “I have the discretion to sell or keep anything after buying it from Toshakhana.”
“What about the vehicles Zardari and Nawaz took? Who will take notice of that,” he asked.
At one point during the talk, the PTI chief also said that he would only become the prime minister again when he has “full powers”.
Taking a dig at rival party supremo Nawaz Sharif, Imran Khan questioned how a person like him could be permitted to decide when the election will be held and who the next chief of army staff should be.
“The person whose children are sitting in Britain,” said Imran, “how can he decide for Pakistan?”
“General Asif Nawaz’s brother has written in his book that in 1992 when he [Nawaz] was prime minister, he tried to bribe the general with a BMW in Murree’s Governor House,” he continued, “which was rejected”.
“Why did he do that?” lambasted Imran, claiming that Nawaz wanted to “escape accountability” and that is why he wanted to appoint an army chief of his liking and attempted to bribe him.
“He [Nawaz] has no idea how to play with a neutral empire,” said Imran.
Imran also predicted that Nawaz will ask the army chief to “first of all try to get rid of me, because he [Nawaz] cannot compete with me”, and then “he will try to finish all corruption cases against him. And finally, he will never hold elections until he knows for sure he will win.”
Turning his attention towards the “threatening environment” that he claimed was being created to “scare people away”, Imran revealed that a private media house owner “has also now been threatened for his life much like Arshad Sharif”.
“Things were not this bad even when the country was under martial law under Pervez Musharraf,” he exclaimed.
The PTI chief also questioned during his address that “if the largest political party cannot get justice in Pakistan, then who can?” as he pointed towards the difficulty he and his party faced in registering an FIR over the gun attack on him.
Imran said “prosperity is necessarily dependent upon justice” as he asserted that “hard-working” Pakistanis were leaving the country to seek economic security because the “system is not just”.
“Whenever I ask overseas Pakistanis why they do not do business in Pakistan they tell me that they do not have faith in the system,” he added.
