By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: Punjab police on Thursday registered a case against former prime minister Imran Khan and several of his senior party leaders under the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997, following a clash between the two sides a day before in Lahore.
“They were chanting slogans against the government and threatening national security institutions that ‘our leadership – Imran Khan, Hassaan Niazi, Farrukh Habib, Fawad Chaudhry, Hammad Azhar, Mahmood Rashid and Ijaz Chaudhry etc. – have given us the target to destroy the government and its institutions brick by brick,” the FIR said.
The PTI activists were informed that their gathering was illegal since the government had imposed Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure which did not allow such public congregations, it added.
“However, some PTI members attacked the police with an intention to kill them.”
This is the 80th case against ousted prime minister Khan registered by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N)-led coalition government during its 11 months of rule.
The FIR said 11 police officials were injured in the clash with PTI workers who hurled stones at them.
An activist of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party was allegedly killed during the police crackdown on party supporters who gathered outside Khan’s residence, defying a government ban on rallies in Lahore.
Police fired tear gas and used water cannons to disperse the party’s PTI activists. Dozens of PTI supporters were also arrested. The party, however, claimed that its peaceful workers were arrested after the provincial authorities placed the city under Section 144, banning public gatherings.
Khan, in a tweet, said party worker Ali Bilal was “murdered by Punjab police”.
He said the party would file cases against the Punjab inspector general, the Lahore capital city police officer and others for “murder”.
Meanwhile PTI chief said his party’s “hardships” increased after the appointment of Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Syed Asim Munir.
“For us, nothing has changed,” Khan told the BBC in an interview. “Till now (after Munir’s appointment), there has been no change and, in many ways, hardships have increased,” Khan said.
In response to a question about whether he was willing to negotiate with the army, Khan said: “Actually, I was asked if the establishment talks to you, will you speak to them … I told them that I am a political person and that I am ready to talk to everyone except thieves, those who have looted the country’s wealth.”
However, he clarified that he had neither invited the army chief nor PM Sharif for talks.
“I just said one thing; that if you want to pull the country out of this crisis, then there is no other way but free and fair elections,” he said. “To reach that end, we will talk to whoever wants to talk to us, for elections.”
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