LAHORE, March 10, 2023: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan on Friday said the PTI would raise the matter of the death of party activist Ali Bilal who had lost his life in the PTI’s rally in Lahore with court.
Addressing via video link even after the Lahore High Court’s (LHC) orders directing Pemra to revoke the ban on the broadcasting of Mr Khan’s speeches, he said the PTI would move the court against Punjab interim Chief Minister (CM) Mohsin Naqvi, Punjab Inspector General of Police (IGP) Dr Usman Anwar, and Lahore Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Bilal Siddique Kamyana.
He said the country was going through a time worse than martial law adding that an infidel society could survive but a cruel society could never be. “The LHC ordered the Pemra to revoke ban on the broadcasting of his speeches but it was not acted upon”, he added. He questioned the powerful saying whose influence there was behind forcing Zil-e-Shah’s [deceased party worker’s nickname] father to stave off the case [against the perpetrators].
He went on to say that Punjab police had claimed that they did not kill Mr Bilal adding that who was powerful enough to keep his [Mr Khan’s] record obtained by the JIT from surfacing. “Lahore CCPO was not reinstated despite the court’s orders, and KP Governor was not floating the date for the election in the province”, he added. He reiterated who actually was behind all this.
He said it was up to Pakistanis now what path they wanted to trek now; the path of slavery or the path of real freedom adding that the rulers had destroyed the country. “If the incident like that of Lahore had happened in the UK, people would have taken to streets [against it]”, he added. It would not affect criminals like Nawaz Sharif, PM Shehbaz Sharif, and Asif Zardari, he said, who had their money outside the country, and it propelled him to call the masses to stand up for themselves.
He claimed that the police had planned beforehand to create chaos and kill people even though PTI leader Hammad Azhar had finalised consultations with the police regarding the route the PTI had to follow. “The police came out of nowhere in the morning and placed the barricades”, he added. They had planned, he said, that they would lodge cases against him after the people were killed. Were they dumb, he questioned, to think that he would get Zil-e-Shah killed?
He continued that the PTI’s election rally was banned despite the fact that the ECP had announced the schedule for the election in Punjab adding that they were ensuing fear in the masses so thieves might win again. “The nation should get ready for the struggle of real freedom and we shall not back off now”, he added.