PTI founder threatens hunger strike if ‘denied justice’

ISLAMABAD: The PTI on Friday reiterated its demand for Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa to recuse himself from benches hearing cases related to the political party, while its founder revealed he was contemplating a hunger strike if he continued to be denied justice.

Talking to the reporters after attending proceedings in the £190m corruption case on Friday, Imran Khan said that cases must not be decided on the basis of ‘like or dislike’, as all citizens are equal before the law.

He pointed out that every other case involving his party was fixed before CJP Isa even though his counsel objected to the CJP’s presence in the bench.

He claimed that his legal team wanted such cases to be transferred away from Courtroom 1.

The ex-PM also reiterated his allegation that Adiala Jail was being managed by some colonel or major, pointing out that the jail superintendent served “under their command” who denied his meeting with party leaders.

Some PTI leaders had arrived at the jail to meet Mr Khan on party’s internal disputes, but the jailer allegedly on the instructions of that military officer, did not allow them access for at least three hours.

The PTI founder said he was mulling the decision to observe hunger strike and would do so if justice was denied.

Talking to reporters, Mr Khan said he would advise the PTI leaders not to make internal differences public, as it would divert their attention from the real cause.

The PTI founder said the recent budget had already buried PML-N politics.

Separately, at a press conference, PTI Central Information Secretary Raoof Hasan said the CJP should recuse himself from all PTI related cases as they had reservations with him.

Speaking on the occasion, PTI lawyer Shoaib Shaheen noted that the party wanted that decisions should be made based on the law and Constitution, and that since the party and its leader had expressed reservations about the CJP, he should not be part of the bench.

PTI leader Shaukat Basra even claimed that all 180 PTI MNAs and MPAs from across the country would appear in court to express their reservations.

Proceedings

Earlier, Judge Mohammad Ali Warriach of the accountability court summoned four witnesses namely Pervez Khattak, Zubeda Jalal, Azam Khan and a patwari in the graft case. The court would record their statements on July 10.

So far, the court has recorded the statements of 30 prosecution witnesses who have also been cross-examined by the defence counsel.

Published in Dawn, July 6th, 2024