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15 Rabi ul Awal 1446  

Imran makes sardonic comment about judiciary

- File photo - File photo

Expressing anger over detention of his party workers ahead of Islamabad lockdown on November 02, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan on Saturday questioned: Does judiciary only serves the rich, the powerful and the influential?

Talking to media at his Bani Gala residence, Khan drew the attention of Islamabad High Court (IHC) and asked: "In this country, does the judiciary only serve the powerful. Look what government is doing despite orders by Justice Shuakat Aziz Siddiqui not to place containers in capital".

"Our institutions for justice are controlled... [by a] a corrupt leader who wants to become Amirul Momineen," he said, in an obvious reference to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's reckless embrace of religious extremism back in 1998.

In an apparent response to IHC judge Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui's remarks earlier this week which questioned under which laws Imran Khan was going to seal Islamabad, he said the court had restricted the PTI to holding demonstration in capital, but it also directed the government not harass people by placing containers in the city.

"I want to ask Justice Siddiqui that when you passed an order permitting us to hold a peaceful protest, and said that containers will not be placed, then why our activists are in jail?" he questioned. "We have been watching since day before yesterday [Thursday] that our activists are being manhandled, they are being arrested, women are being beaten," he said, adding "they [authorities] have blocked everything [and] even food is not being permitted to come [to Bani Gala]," he questioned.

Imran alleged that all these arrests and crackdown on his workers are being done on the special directives of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in a bid to hide his corruptions that was exposed in the Panama leaks. "What law is allowing this...I'm asking from the judiciary of my country?" he asked. "Which democracy is this? The courts have made a decision... that decision is being violated in front of the whole country," he added.

Imran vowed to go ahead with his plans of a Islamabad lockdown on November 02. he advised PTI supporters to travel in groups, saying when they arrive in small numbers the police put them in jail.

He also hinted to PTI supporters that instead of taking the main route where police is stationed, they should opt for hidden routes to arrive at the site of protest. Reiterating his plans to put up a grand show in Islamabad on November 02 to seek accountability of the prime minister, he said: "This is Nawaz Sharif's dictatorship, not a democracy... we will show him on November 02 what democracy is".

Copyright Business Recorder, 2016