The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chairman, who has been recovering from a gunshot injury from an assassination attempt last year, has thrice avoided indictment hearings in an Islamabad sessions court in the case.
Police had arrived at Imran’s residence just after noon, where they were confronted by a horde of PTI supporters and functionaries, outnumbering the police contingent. Imran’s chief of staff Shibli Faraz informed them that the PTI chief was “unavailable”.
Police said Imran was “avoiding” arrest and added that a police superintendent had “gone to the room” inside his Zaman Park residence but the 70-year-old politician was not there.
While the police were outside his residence, Imran posted on Twitter about how a country “becomes a banana republic”.
“What future can a country have when crooks are thrust as rulers upon it? SS (Shehbaz Sharif) was about to be convicted by NAB (National Accountability Bureau) for Rs8 bn money laundering and by FIA (Federal Investigation Agency) for another Rs16 bn corruption when he was rescued by Gen Bajwa who kept getting NAB cases trial postponed,” he tweeted.
made PM. He has since proceeded to select heads of those institutions investigating his cases – first FIA & now NA… https://t.co/nG7LEBQL4G
— Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) 1678007242000
Despite Islamabad police chief’s earlier statement that they won’t go back empty-handed, the arrest could not be made and the police left Imran’s residence around 1.30pm.
As Imran’s whereabouts were debated upon, he ended the hours-long mystery by addressing a televised party event right from his Lahore residence around 5pm.
In a fiery speech, the PTI chief said that he had neither bowed before any institution or person nor would let his nation do so.
“No matter if the government places my name on the exit control list (ECL) as I have no intention of leaving the country,” Imran said, adding that he was not like the leaders of Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), an alliance of over a dozen governing parties, whose legs start shaking if their names are put on the no-fly list.
He lashed out at politicians in the government, alleging that they had stashed their wealth overseas and were given protection in legal cases by former army chief Gen (Retd) Qamar Javed Bajwa.
The PTI chief renewed his allegation that “all those in power today” were behind the assassination attempt on him in Wazirabad, Punjab, but named Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, interior minister Rana Sanaullah and an intelligence official in particular.
As the news of police attempt to arrest Imran broke, PTI’s senior vice president Fawad Chaudhry called on workers to gather at their leader’s residence. “Any attempt to arrest Imran Khan will seriously worsen the situation, I want to warn this incompetent and anti-Pakistan government not to push Pakistan into further crisis and act sensibly,” he tweeted.
Later, speaking to the media, Chaudhry said that about 74 cases are registered against Imran, of which 30 are criminal cases. “It is not possible for a human to appear in court in such a large number of cases,” he added.