Imran Khan’s party gives two weeks for his release

September 8 (EUROPA PRESS) –

Pakistan Movement for Justice (PTI) party led by former Prime Minister Imran Khan has given two weeks for the release of Khan himself following a mass demonstration held on Sunday in Islamabad.

“If the founder of PTI is not legally released within one to two weeks, we will release him ourselves,” warned the Chief Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Ali Amin Gandapur, addressing the thousands of people who attended the rally. Gandapur himself said that he himself would lead the action and take the “first bullet.”

The demonstration was accompanied by a large police presence, which monitored the various columns of Jan’s supporters, who overcame the checkpoints installed at various points to try to prevent them from reaching the country’s capital. The event was finally carried out legally after the authorities revoked the permit on two occasions.

PTI leader Hamad Azhar stressed in his speech that these impediments “are proof that the current rulers are afraid” of Imran Khan and his followers. Azhar also recalled other imprisoned PTI leaders such as Shah Mahmud Qureshi and Umar Sarfraz Chima.

Sher Afzal Marwat, meanwhile, said: “We will enter Punjab with 50,000 people from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa within a week.” The protesters will arrive on foot and will face tear gas.

Local authorities in Islamabad later warned that the demonstration had to be dissolved at 7 p.m., but as the protesters remained, the police intervened. The protesters themselves threw stones at the officers, injuring several of them, including Superintendent Shoaib Khan.

Police used tear gas and managed to disperse some of the protesters, but others remained in the Sangyani area for hours.

Accusations against Jan

In the ‘iddat’ case, Jan and his wife, Bushra Bibi, were sued by Bushra Bibi’s ex-husband, Jawar Farid Maneka, who claimed that she had married Jan during the ‘iddat’ period, the three-month period a woman has to go through after a divorce or widowhood before she has a relationship or marriage with another man.

Another now-closed case against Jan was the Ciphergate case, which stems from Jan’s decision to present a document during a public event in March 2022 claiming it was a diplomatic cable from a foreign country — a veiled reference to the United States — that had conspired to remove him from power. Jan was also acquitted.

Finally, Jan has been accused of inciting violence during the wave of political unrest that followed his arrest in May last year, which the country’s prosecutor’s office considers a terrorist crime. This violence was carried out by his supporters — who in turn denounced police persecution — during protests against Jan’s arrest in May 2023.

A report by the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention released on 1 July said Jan was being held “without legal basis” in a series of politically motivated cases aimed at removing him from politics. It also called for Jan to be immediately released and compensated for his time in prison.