Imran orders PTI to shun all rifts

F.P. Report

RAWALPINDI: Incarcerated PTI founder and ex-prime minister Imran Khan has decried the lack of any “meaningful momentum” for the party’s planned August 5 protest and ordered its members to immediately shun all their differences. In a post Thursday on his X account — which is not operated by Imran himself — a message said to be sent on his behalf stated: “Let me make this absolutely clear: every member of the party must immediately set aside all internal differences and focus solely on the movement planned for August 5th. I do not see any meaningful momentum building behind this initiative at present. I am waging a battle against a 78-year-old system, and my greatest success is that despite unprecedented oppression, the public stands firmly with me.”

The message said the people had expressed their trust in the PTI by voting for it in the general elections, even in the absence of an electoral symbol. “After such a clear mandate, it is the moral and political responsibility of every party member to become the voice of the people. It will be nothing short of disgraceful and condemnable if PTI leaders waste time on internal conflicts at this critical juncture.

“Anyone found engaging in factionalism within the party will be expelled. I am fighting for the future of our generations and every sacrifice I make is for that cause. To create rifts within the party at this time would be a direct betrayal of my mission and vision,” the message warned. Lashing out at the government, the message said it had “crippled the judiciary” through the 26th Constitutional Amendment. “The way biased judges are now delivering blatantly unjust verdicts under these courts is visible to the entire nation. We must launch a robust campaign to liberate the judiciary, for no nation can survive, let alone progress, without judicial independence.”

The message claimed “inhumane conditions” were being imposed upon Imran’s spouse and former first lady Bushra Bibi while the PTI founder’s conditions were themselves not good. “I am enduring the harshest prison term in the country’s history solely for the supremacy of the Constitution and in service of my nation. The level of oppression and authoritarianism is such that even the water I have for ablution is filthy and contaminated with dirt, unfit for any human being.”

Meanwhile, Imran’s sons continued their engagements in the United States, where they currently are before visiting Pakistan for their father. They met Republican Congressman Joe Wilson of South Carolina who had introduced a bipartisan bill in the US House of Representatives in March, calling for sanctions on Pakistani state functionaries over alleged human rights violations, including the “persecution” of their father.

They also met US Congressman Brad Sherman. “I am concerned to hear that Khan remains isolated from his family, friends, attorneys and doctors. His sons also shared that his physical health may be deteriorating. The people of Pakistan deserve to have their leaders be treated fairly under the law,” he said in a post on X about the meeting.