PTI chief Imran Khan Saturday warned that he would not ‘leave’ Islamabad’s inspector-general, deputy inspector general, and female magistrate, vowing to file cases against them for torturing Shahbaz Gill. “We will not spare the IG and DIG,” he said while addressing a public gathering at the F-9 Park. The former prime minister called out Additional District and Sessions Judge Zeba Chaudhry, who last week had approved Gill’s two-day physical remand at the request of the capital police, and said she too should prepare herself as the case will also be registered against her. Imran Khan said they are going to the Supreme Court against Islamabad IG, DIG and the judge. “Islamabad Police says they didn’t do anything in Gill’s torture, but they were ‘booted’,” he said. “Similar happened when we ordered to take action against the Punjab Police officials who took action against peaceful PTI protesters on May 25. They feared taking action because they got a phone call,” he added. He further went on to say that if a case can be registered against Gill, then, Fazlur Rehman, Nawaz Sharif, and Rana Sanaullah will also face judicial proceedings. Imran Khan said that Asif Ali Zardari, Nawaz Sharif, Maryam Nawaz, Fazlur Rehman, and others said lot worse than what Gill stated which – he said – had seriously inflicted damage on institution of army. Imran Khan urged the ‘neutrals’ – a tacit reference to the establishment – to stand with the people, justice and Pakistan instead of ‘thieves’.
“I want to tell my neutrals that this is a problem of Pakistan [hence] it’s imperative for you to stand with people and justice instead of thieves,” he said. He also questioned the conduct of establishment, saying, “Are you really neutral as you told us ‘we are neutral’ when foreign conspiracy was being hatched and you refused to interfere”. Imran said when they approached the Islamabad police and Adiala jail authorities to inquire as to who was involved in torturing Gill, “they told us that they were receiving orders from the top.”
Reiterating his stance not to bow down before the idol of fear, he said: “If we bow down then we will have to face slavery although in the garb of Gill’s arrest they are trying to enslave the people.” Khan maintained that what happened with Gill wasn’t because of what he said since coalition leaders in the government had “said much more than that to really deal damage to the army”. Imran alleged that Gill was “caught and tortured” to send a message and frighten the people that if he could be broken mentally then anyone could. Imran Khan thanked the participants for gathering in Islamabad and other big cities of Pakistan on his call on 24-hour notice. He cited the example of Mongol Emperor Genghis Khan who used to build towers from skulls to intimidate people leading others to give up without even fighting him.
Imran Khan said the voice of people could not be suppressed in the digital age. “I will give my nation a roadmap in my rally in Rawalpindi’s Liaquat Bagh on Sunday and would stay on roads with my people,” he added. Earlier in the day, Khan connected the current situation in Pakistan to the chief of army staff’s appointment, terming it “unfortunate” that everything in the country was happening over one appointment. In a conversation with social media influencers in the federal capital, the former prime minister said that the army chief should be appointed on the basis of merit. “A drama begins on the appointment of army chief which does not happen in any part of the world,” said the PTI chief.
He said that the army cannot unite a country single-handedly, adding that “if the army could unite the country, Pakistan would not have been divided” in 1971. He continued to say that the “neutrals” cannot pressurise the PTI in accept the incumbent “mafia government”.
