Lashing out at the Shehbaz Sharif government, former Prime Minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) Chairman Imran alleged that the administration has “made a plan” to put him in jail and the whole episode that transpired over his arrest was “pre-planned”.
He was addressing the country, wherein he also denied any wrongdoing in all corruption cases against him. Addressing the nation, former PM Imran Khan said, “I want the nation to know how a plan has been made to arrest me on the basis of false and baseless cases. A lawyer is killed in Quetta and without any investigation and proof. Shahbaz Sharif’s advisor comes on TV on the same day and says that the murder was done by Imran Khan and later the video of the same lawyer’s widow shows who did it”.
“This is not politics…this is jihad. We are all slaves, ” Imran Khan added.
On May 9, this year, former PM and PTI Chairman Imran Khan was arrested from inside the High Court in Islamabad by National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on the charges of corruption in connection with the Al-Qadir Trust, which he owns alongside his wife, Bushra Bibi.
Following Khan’s arrest, his party called for demonstrations, which turned violent at many places. The administration resorted to crackdown and many arrests were made across the country. The people accused in the May 9 violence are being tried at military courts.
“On May 9, I was arrested like a terrorist from the Islamabad High Court despite being on bail, and after that the cases were piled up while the Supreme Court also declared this arrest illegal. Is anyone going to answer?” Khan asked during his address.
He added, “16 innocent Pakistanis were shot, 9 people are missing but there is no inquiry and no one is talking about it. Is this a free society? Do these Pakistanis have no rights? Aren’t their wives and children family?”
Before his address, Imran Khan asked the public to show ‘defiance’ and stand up for ‘Haqeeqi Azadi’ (Real Democracy).
“Let’s all raise the PTI flag to show defiance to those who are trying to crush Pakistan’s biggest and only Federal party through this current reign of terror. We are standing up for our Haqeeqi Azadi.” he said on Twitter before the address.
Slamming the Shehbaz Sharif government during the address, Khan said that if he is put in an open court, he can prove that all his arrest was “pre-planned”.
“I want to say that bring me up in an open court on a televised address. I will prove that all of this was pre-planned. The way I was picked from there. It was pre-planned for provocation. Later on, when people reacted to it, it was used to crush the party (PTI) down, because the party was not bogging down,” he added.
Giving a reference to the French protests over the fatal shooting of a teenage boy, the PTI Chairman said, “So many innocent civilians were shot at, no one is even talking about it, and in France just one person was shot and see what is happening. That’s what is called a free nation”.
Imran Khan accused the Pakistan government of destroying all the institutions in the country and gave an ‘explanation’ denying any wrongdoing in Al-Qadir case, Toshakhana case and land scam.
He claimed that the cheque payments in the alleged land scam were done after Khan was removed as the Prime Minister after losing the majority.
“They have filed an anti-corruption case on Bushra Bibi alleging that a road was constructed in her village. They have also filed the case on me and my sister. These ‘duffers’ say that as PM I got them lands worth of 6 million PKR at cheaper rates. But, look at the cheque numbers. The first cheque was given on April 25, 2022. The other cheque is on June 2. And I was not the PM since April 9,” he said.
The PTI Chairman further said that in the Al-Qadir case, not a penny could have gone to Imran Khan or Bushra Bibi as they happen to be the trustees of the charitable trust.
“In the Al-Qadir case, the cabinet received a proposal that if a case between a Malik Riaz family and a UK’s National Crime Agency is settled and kept confidential from the cabinet, 190 million pounds will come to Pakistan. But if it is not kept confidential, then Pakistan will have to prove its stand in the court. The case would have gone for 5-6 years, and we (Pakistan) have a very bad record in foreign cases, and have already lost cases over 100 million USD,” he said.
Imran Khan added, “If they are alleging money laundering here, what is stopping them? The money has come to Pakistan. It was a unanimous decision passed by the cabinet. They are also accusing that I did that to benefit the Al-Qadir university which is a charitable trust. But, in a charitable trust, not a penny can go to the trustees which includes me and Bushra begum”.
The Al-Qadir Trust case alleges that the PTI chief and his wife, Bushra Bibi, obtained billions of rupees and land worth hundreds of kanals from a real estate firm for legalising PKR 50 billion that was identified and returned to the country by the UK during the previous PTI government, as per The News International report.
He also claimed that the Toshakhana gifts were sold “as per the rules” and everything has been declared in FDR.
“As per the law, when PM, President, Army Chief receives gifts, it goes to Toshakhana, where it is valued. It is done through an FDR, with an initial value and then an appraisal. If there are any excess value, they give the option of purchasing. This is the rule. Under this I took many gifts and refused others. Whatever I sold, is declared in FBR and is under capital gains tax. What is wrong here? Also, under this case, NAB, Election Commission and FIR is also filed. It is just not possible that three cases are being run on the same issue,” he further alleged.
The case pertains to the allegations that the former PM “deliberately concealed” details of the gifts he retained from the Toshaskhana — a repository where presents handed to government officials from foreign officials are kept — during his time as the prime minister and proceeds from their reported sales.
