— Says government will take legal action against Imran for ‘inciting public against civil servants’
ISLAMABAD: As Imran Khan stepped up pressure on the government over his claim that Shehbaz Gill, his chief of staff, was tortured and subjected to sexual abuse in police custody, Minister for Interior Rana Sanaullah Khan dismissed the accusation and asserted the government did not believe in the ill-treatment of political prisoners.
Islamabad police have been accused of inflicting medieval torture on Gill, a startling claim it first sought to brush off but after coming under intense public criticism, began an internal inquiry into it.
Addressing a press conference on Sunday, the minister said Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chair had started propaganda that police tortured Gill and sexually abused him in the custody.
He claimed that PTI, on the behest of Khan, launched a campaign over the helicopter crash, which killed a serving lieutenant general among others, by levelling heinous accusations against the victims and their families.
He said that such allegations against the state were not leveled even by the “enemy state of Afghanistan”.
Gill was arrested after appearing earlier this month on private ARY News in Karachi when he allegedly incited troops and officers to mutiny.
During the broadcast, Gill, a known critic of the military, said soldiers and officers should refuse to obey “illegal orders” from the military leadership. He implied the rank and file in the military overwhelmingly supports Khan, who was ousted in a no-confidence vote in the National Assembly in April.
After the TV interview, he was arrested and charged with treason, which under the law carries the death penalty. ARY News was taken off air and its broadcasting license was subsequently revoked. The station’s director Ammad Yousaf was briefly arrested but was later released.
On Sunday, Sanaullah said that politicians had talked about the intervention of the establishment in politics but not a single person had ever stated that army officers should not obey the orders of the high command. He said that any state or institution could never allow anyone to spread such kind of allegations.
He said that Gill was produced before the judicial magistrate within 24 hours of his arrest and he did not say any word regarding torture and ill-treatment before the judge and media.
“I can confirm as the interior minister, that no torture was inflicted on Gill during the custody,” he said and added the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) as a party always opposed and condemned any kind of torture as it was a clear violation of the Constitution.
The whole leadership of the PML-N was put behind bars during the tenure of Khan. He said that Khan should seek an apology from the nation over his acts during his tenure.
He said that Gill remained in Adiyala Prison from August 12 to 17 and Shahbaz Gill never stated that he was tortured.
Terming the PTI’s narrative as drama, he said that Gill had never stated that he was tortured or sexually abused.
He said that the whole nation condemned “anti-state propaganda” of Khan about the martyrs and due to this campaign PTI was severely damaged.
He said that PTI did not own Gill’s statement and diverting the issue started a new drama of torture on him.
Referring to Saturday’s speech of Khan wherein he assailed the Islamabad police chief, his deputy and a junior judge, Zeba Chaudhry, Sana said a case would be registered against Khan for inciting the public against civil servants who were only fulfilling their duties, per the law.
He clarified that police interrogated Gill over his remarks but there was no torture during ingestions.
The whole drama was launched to divert the attention of the nation from the controversial statements made by Gill as well as the hateful social media campaign against the Lasbela copter crash martyrs.
He said that Gill did not file any application before any institution, authority or court regarding torture or sexual abuse.
He said that the interior ministry had prepared a report on Khan’s speech and sought an opinion from the Law Ministry, Attorney General for Pakistan and Islamabad Advocate General on whether a separate case should be registered or clubbed with the ongoing case registered against Gill.
He made it clear that the government would not allow Khan to divert the nation’s attention with propaganda.
He also claimed the comments made by Gill on ARY News were pre-planned and he was speaking the words of Khan, adding that the entire story created by PTI was nothing but foreign propaganda.
