LAHORE: Making an impassioned appeal to all segments of society to lend support to the top court, PTI Chairman Imran Khan on Friday said that democracy in Pakistan is now hanging by a thread called Supreme Court.

“All those, who want democracy in the country, should stand with the Supreme Court and the Constitution of Pakistan,” he emphasised.

Addressing the nation from his Zaman Park residence, the PTI chairman said that the ruling mafia had weakened all institutions creating hatred among them [institutions] and people of Pakistan.

“If this trend continues, the nation must get ready to take to the streets for peaceful protests after Eid. I will lead you from the front,” Mr Khan announced while addressing his supporters.

PTI chief to lead street protests after Eid if ‘ruling mafia’ continues to ‘weaken state institutions’

Noting that with economy already ruined and democracy and people of Pakistan facing a debacle, he asked the powers that be to take remedial measures immediately to turn around the fate of the country.

Explaining what he called the torture and excesses being committed against the party leaders and workers, Mr Khan said the powers that be should keep in mind that they would not be able to force the nation to accept the “corrupt” rulers, who were about to be convicted in the Rs24 billion FIA and NAB cases.

He regretted that the establishment had allegedly sided with the corrupt mafia just to ensure that Imran Khan must not return to power. He said the rulers’ attack on judiciary, attempts to block elections, decision to stop poll funds and weakening of institutions indicated to their “one-point agenda to keep Imran Khan out of power”.

“They are working on their earlier claim that they have marked cross on my name,” he added.

The PTI chief predicted that PDM and the caretaker Punjab government would begin another phase of arrest of party’s senior leaders and office-bearers after the 27th of Ramazan.

Asserting that people will no longer bear such excesses, Mr Khan warned the powers that be to be mindful of the fact that when “a nation rises, the violent tactics do not work”.

He said PTI’s popularity was increasing by the day, adding that he was facing difficulties in selecting candidates for party ticket for Punjab elections from among so many applicants on each seat.

Referring to court matters, Mr Khan said the prohibited funding case had reached its logical end while Toshakhana case would become a nightmare for Nawaz Sharif, Asif Zardari and Maryam Nawaz, who had “stolen” luxury vehicles from the state repository despite a ban.

Earlier in a series of tweets, the former premier said the judicial magistrate had handed over Ali Amin Gandapur to the Punjab police on orders of “Namaloom” (unknown) in sheer violation of the Islamabad High Court’s (IHC) order. He condemned the way Mr Gandapur was being treated clearly on orders of the “Namaloom”.

“Despite IHC inductive order viz handing over custody, he was handed over to Punjab police by Judicial Magistrate at 11:40pm, the other day in brazen violation of IHC Court order,” he stated.

Talking about division within judiciary, he said everyone should pray for unity among the judges in the Supreme Court and warned that division at the top court would be tragic.

“Division among the apex court will be a tragedy for the country,” he cautioned. He said the country cannot be saved unless the Constitution is saved.

Lashing out at the imported government for running away from elections, he reiterated that these cabal of crooks did not care about the Constitution and law as they just wanted to secure another NRO to save their skin.

Mr Khan said democracy flourished across the world because of freedom of expression while dictatorships fast faded away since there was no place for constructive criticism. He said the country had become a banana republic without rule of law.

Talking about PTI’s flagship Billion Tree Tsunami programme, the PTI chairman shared past and present pictures of the Agror area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on his Twitter account and stated that for the first time, the greening of Pakistan happened on such a massive scale.

Published in Dawn, April 15th, 2023