Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Murad Saeed’s fellow party leaders on Tuesday raised concern over “life threats” being sent to him as they urged authorities to take notice.
Party chief and former premier Imran Khan took to Twitter to express his support for Saeed saying “it is my request to the Chief Justice of Pakistan to take notice of the text and contents of this letter […] before it is too late”.
The letter the PTI chief was referring to was sent by the former minister to President Dr Arif Alvi yesterday wherein Saeed had highlighted details of stalking and threats by suspicious persons.
“I believe that life and death are in the hands of Allah. I have complete faith and trust in Allah. I am not afraid of death and will continue to speak the truth,” Saeed had added.
He had requested the president to take notice of the matter and take necessary action.
In his two-part tweet, Imran likened the threats faced by Saeed to the cases of Senator Azam Swati and journalist Arshad Sharif.
Swati was arrested by the Federal Investigation Agency cybercrime wing on November 27 for using derogatory language against the military on social media website Twitter. Subsequently, cases were registered against the PTI leader in Balochistan and Sindh. However, the Balochistan High Court quashed all the cases while the Sindh police took him into custody from Quetta last week.
Sharif on the other hand had fled the country after he was charged with sedition and died in Kenya’s Nairobi after reportedly being shot under suspicious circumstances.
Criticising the country’s judiciary for not taking action on the threats issued at Saeed, the ‘custodial torture of Swati and the murder of Sharif, senior PTI leader Shireen Mazari said “how long will the Supreme Court (SC) of Pakistan simply ignore these gross human rights violations?”
PTI General Secretary Asad Umar said that Saeed was “a young man fighting the cause of Pakistan with logic, reason and passion, and is an asset to the country” as he hoped that a “strict notice” will be taken over remedy the threats that have been expressed by him.
Fawad Chaudhry also joined his party leaders in raising alarm over Saeed’s letter as he revealed that Saeed had been “receiving threats for the past several months”.
“A local terrorist group has been tasked with taking his life,” he added stressing that Saeed and Sharif had maintained a “very close relationship” and alleged that those who had “Sharif killed also want to harm Murad”.
Former minister Ali Muhammad Khan also said that “in our traditional politics” Saeed is a “beacon of hope for the middle-class educated patriotic youth who started his political journey from scratch” as he urged for authorities to protect his life.
Earlier, Saeed had demanded that the investigation team that went to Kenya and Dubai to investigate the murder of journalist Arshad Sharif should present the evidence before the public.
Saeed had said that Arshad’s laptop was not with him and those who went for investigation should “put the evidence they have brought before the nation”.
While addressing a news conference at the Peshawar Press Club, the former federal minister had said that he had not received any notice from the FIA yet and the team that went for investigation had all the equipment and evidence.
