Announces rallies; Attack on Rushdie ‘unjustifiable’
PTI Chairman Imran Khan Friday announced nationwide rallies to show solidarity with his chief of staff, Shahbaz Gill, after the former premier claimed Gill faced “sexual abuse” in police custody.
“I will lead a rally in Islamabad tomorrow […] and rallies will be held in all divisional headquarters across the country,” the PTI chairman told journalists.
Khan’s brief presser came after he went to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences hospital in the Federal Capital for meeting Gill — who is currently under treatment in the medical facility.
Imran Khan said anyone could suffer what his chief of staff Shahbaz Gill suffered in custody. “If a political worker [like Shahbaz Gill] can be subjected to such torture, it could happen to anyone,” the ex-premier said in a brief conversation with reporters outside Islamabad’s Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences.
The former premier went there to inquire after the detained Gill’s health but was unable to do so as the police reportedly stopped him.
PTI leaders have demanded the release of Gill from police custody and repeatedly claimed that he was tortured in police custody.
Meanwhile, in his press conference, Khan reiterated that he would prefer death and will not accept the current government.
In a series of tweets earlier, the PTI chairman demanded justice for his chief of staff and claimed that he was sexually abused while in police custody.
“All the pictures and videos show clearly Gill was tortured both mentally and physically, including sexual abuse — most too gruesome to relate,” the PTI chairman said in a series of tweets.
The PTI chairman said the police humiliated Gill for breaking him down and that he now has full detailed information about the events regarding Gill’s episode.
“ICT police says it did not inflict any torture. So my question is: Who tortured Gill?” Khan asked.
The PTI chairman added that there is a general perception in the public at large and in “our minds too as to who could have carried out the gruesome torture”.
“Remember the public will react. We will leave no stone unturned to find out those responsible and bring them to justice,” he added.
Meanwhile, Imran Khan has condemned the knife attack on Salman Rushdie, an India-born author and winner of the Booker Prize, saying the anger of Muslims against the author was understandable but it still didn’t justify the attack, reported Guardian on Friday.
“I think it is terrible, sad,” Imran told the newspaper in a comment on the violent attack that put Rushdie on a ventilator.
“Rushdie understood, because he came from a Muslim family. He knows the love, respect, reverence of a prophet that lives in our hearts.
