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Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan on Friday reiterated his call for the public to rally “in support of” the Supreme Court and chief justice of Pakistan, stressing this will send a message to the ruling coalition and its “handlers”—his euphemism for the military establishment—that violations of the Constitution will not be tolerated.
In a statement issued via video-link from his Zaman Park residence in Lahore, he said the country was at a critical juncture that required unity to ensure the people were granted their fundamental rights. In this regard, he said, the PTI would organize four simultaneous rallies on Saturday (today) in Lahore, Rawalpindi, Islamabad and Peshawar. Stressing that he would personally lead the rally in Lahore from Zaman Park to Lakshami Chowk, he urged people across Pakistan to gather at 5:30 p.m. to emphasize that they will not accept any threats to their fundamental rights.
Noting that the ruling alliance had made it clear it would not hold elections in Punjab on May 14 as ordered by the Supreme Court, he claimed the judiciary was the last bulwark against the “might is right” aims of the government. Slamming ministers for criticizing the judiciary over the May 14 election date ruling, he claimed—falsely—that he had never criticized judges when they had dismissed his bid to dissolve the National Assembly to avoid ouster through a vote of no-confidence.
Reiterating his claims of the Sharif and Zardari families “looting” the country, he alleged that Pakistan’s economy had been prospering under his government but this was halted because of political instability. He also referred to statements from government leaders challenging him to dissolve the KP and Punjab assemblies to secure early elections and lamented that they had now started claiming that the country lacked the funds and security for polls.
Khan maintained that the government needed to explain how it expected to achieve the finances and security necessary for polls in October, reiterating that the ruling alliance was avoiding elections because it feared being wiped out due to its economic policies.