Imran Khan urges Supreme Court to give ‘protection’ to next long march

By Muhammad JuniadPublished On 06 Jan 2023

After a chaotic episode during the first phase of the long march, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman and former prime minister Imran Khan on Monday demanded the Supreme Court to assure ‘protection’ of the second phase of the long march.

He was addressing PTI’s lawyers convention in Peshawar.

He ruled out impression of a deal behind calling off the long march and reiterated the reason behind the move.

Imran Khan said the people were furious, and he feared that there could be clashes between the security personnel and PTI workers.

PTI chairman said he did not want people to develop more hatred against the police and paramilitary Rangers who did shelling.

Therefore, the former prime minister demanded the top court to explain on what basis they were stopped from coming to Islamabad and ensure that it would not happen in the future. “Supreme Court should give the ruling to us. I have to give a date [for another long march] to the people,” Imran Khan said.

However, he explained that getting a favorable ruling from the Supreme Court would be one strategy. If not, he added that as part of their alternate strategy, long marchers would come prepared this time and remove all obstacles in their path.

He said a country cannot progress without the rule of law, adding that the lawyers and judiciary have the responsibility to uphold it.

He said the ‘thieves’ at the top would shred the rule of law in the country.

Referring to an interview of an FIA official, he said a prosecutor namely Zulqarnain confessed that he was stopped from further probe into cases of Sharif family. “I wonder who stopped him when I was the chief executive,” he wondered.

He recalled the investigators of FIA were removed by the ‘corrupt’ mafia and such an attitude would destroy the country.

PTI chairman said it is the responsibility of the judiciary and lawyers to uphold rule and law in the country, or else the history would not forgive them.

He praised the Supreme Court for directly overseeing the corruption cases involving the Sharif family, adding that the jails should be opened and small thieves should be released if the big fish were to face no action.

Referring to the Sharif family, the Sicilian Mafia would only frighten people to consolidate its rule and hamper protest, adding that this mafia could either ‘purchase’ people or eliminate them. He said it was his experience that the more coward a person is, the crueler he is.

He recalled that the display of ‘barbarism’ by the government on participants of the long march was not even seen in the Musharraf’s era during the Lawyers Movement.

He said India, which is a strategic ally of the US, is purchasing cheap oil from Russia but lamented that this was made impossible in Pakistan through a US-backed conspiracy.

He said the people chanted slogans against the incumbent government in Madina, ruling out that the PTI government was involved in it. What could be more embarassing than this, he added

He said Pakistan is going through its decisive moment, adding that Allah Almighty would judge the people with their capacity of what they could do.

He said the lawyers and judiciary have an important role in the current situation of the country, adding that the lawyers’ community should consider the struggle Haqeqi Azadi (true independence) as Jihad.

PTI chairman said morality is the basis of democracy in the West, adding that the societies collapse if it is eliminated. This, he termed, was the primary reason people distributed sweets martial laws were imposed and democratic governments were toppled in the past. However, he said the history changed when people came out to protest when the PTI government was ousted.

He said the past government subdued before the foreign powers and did not utter a word about the drone strikes in the tribal areas, adding that this was the motto of his foreign policy.

He said the former dictator Musharraf should not have bowed before the US and asked why Pakistan should become part of a foreign war.