Rawalpindi:
The leaders of Pakistan Tehreek-E-insaf (PTI) warned Monday that the president of the party foundation, Imran Khan, could be transferred to isolation after a few additional hearings and accused the authorities of carrying out a campaign to divert the attention of his message.
The party also said that future imran messages will be delivered by its sisters to avoid similar diversions.
Aleema Khan, addressing journalists near Adiala prison, said that she expects “after some additional hearings, Imran will be transferred to isolation”.
She said that a campaign against her had been launched to distract the public from Imran’s message and announced a change in the way Imran communications will be relayed.
“I will be replaced by my sisters, Dr. Azmi and Noreen Khan,” she said, adding that they “will transmit his message so that attention is not diverted because of me”.
Aleema insisted that the movement was aimed at silencing attention on Imran. “All of this is an attempt to distract the founder’s attention.”
She said that only a few hearings remained in the Toshakhana-2 affair and warned that “two or three hearings after that, Imran will be placed in a full lonely holder”.
“We find it difficult to get the founder out of prison … he is and will remain the president of the party. Forget that he will remain imprisoned for the next 10 years – Imran and we will never incorporate ourselves.”
Aleema told journalists that Imran had been warned that he could be arrested, but that he was not worried. She said that she and others worked to secure her release and reported a tactical change.
“During the following two or three hearings, my sisters will issue Imran’s message,” she said, “so that this attention will not change because of me …”.
At the same time, the president of the PTI, lawyer Gohar Ali Khan, defended the position of the chief minister of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Ali Amin Gandapur, and criticized the speed and conduct of political events. “Ali Amin Gandapur will remain chief minister as long as he will have the confidence of the founder of the party,” he said, and expressed his hope of avoiding taking the Toshakhana affair in the superior judicial power.
Speaking near Adiala prison, Gohar Khan said he had not yet met Imran but expected a meeting the next day.
He underlined the legal delays across the country and connected them to the party’s situation, claiming that tens of thousands of cases in Pakistan were pending.
He demanded that Imran’s trials be carried out with access to lawyers, the media and the public, just like other cases, and argued that the way in which Imran trials were only precipitated.
Gohar Khan reiterated the official position of the party against terrorism and called for the restraint of KP operations.
He urged de -escalation and said he had been in contact with families affected by recent incidents.
Gohar warned that the public’s confidence in the judiciary was eroded by the treatment of Imran Khan and said that there was no basis for suggesting that the sisters of the imprisoned chief had inappropriate contacts with an agency.
