Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Secretary General Asad Umar Saturday penned a letter to Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial and asked him to take suo motu notice against the government’s “illegal” and “unlawful” actions against Chairman PTI Imran Khan to save and protect his fundamental right to life.
In a letter written to CJP, Asad Umar said that he wrote a letter to CJP asking him to take notice of the illegal attempts to stop Imran Khan from reaching the judicial complex or arrest him despite clear court orders. Asad Umar stated that the Islamabad High Court (IHC) had barred law enforcers from arresting Khan in the Toshakhana case and the Lahore High Court (LHC) prohibited his arrest in nine cases, besides directing the state authorities to refrain from coercive measures against Imran Khan.
He went on to say said that Imran Khan in compliance of the court direction left from Lahore to attend the hearing. However, he said that as Imran Khan was en route to Islamabad on Saturday to appear before a trial court, the Punjab Police stormed his Zaman Park residence in Lahore, while the “doors and walls have been raised to the ground”.
It was further informed that ICT police in order to create terror and harassment has blocked the roads leading to the judicial complex, Islamabad and also blocked Motorway and other highways to create hurdles in Imran Khan Khan’s lawful endeavor in pursuant to the above referred order. He wrote that the unlawful and illegal actions were with intention to arrest Imran Khan in certain cases that were not in the knowledge of PTI Chairman. He further added that the access of his legal team and media presence was refused to almost none, as his fundamental right to access to justice and fair trial has been hampered and compromised by the police and law enforcement agencies.
In the prevailing circumstances, Umar told the CJP that he has “firm reasons” to believe that the state in order to take revenge on the PTI chief is “hell-bent to compromise the liberty of Imran Khan in the most unlawful manner”. “And it has been reiterated by Imran Khan time and again his life is at stake and he may be taken out in a bid to take his life,” he wrote. Asad Umar appealed that “if the respondents are not stopped from acting illegally” and arresting Imran, the former premier may face “unseen consequences”.
