— Former PM accuses government of Shehbaz Sharif of planning to eliminate him
LAHORE: In a startling revelation, former prime minister Imran Khan Monday informed the Lahore High Court (LHC) that the caretaker government of Mohsin Naqvi had planned to conduct another police operation at his residence in the Zaman Park neighbourhood during the Eid ul-Fitr holidays.
Khan made the request to halt any action against his party, the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), during the hearing of a plea filed by him.
The plea, filed by the opposition party on Saturday, seeks to halt “coercive government action” against it and to quash more than 100 cases filed against Khan on identical charges.
A two-member bench, headed by Justice Tariq Saleem Sheikh, conducted the hearing into the petition.
The plea, which nominates nine authorities and individuals as respondents, including Naqvi, the prime minister, the interior minister, the chief of Punjab police, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), and the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), has now been taken up by the court.
Khan appeared in court where his counsel, Barrister Salman Safdar, observed that new cases were being filed against his client on a daily basis and accused the state of misusing its machinery.
Safdar expressed concerns about Khan’s potential arrest, noting that over 140 cases had been filed against him and demanded that the police high-ups appear in court to explain whether the arrest was necessary.
Safdar said the police were filing cases against Khan for political point-scoring and emphasised that according to the law, it was necessary to explain the reasons for the arrest.
During the hearing, Khan testified that the police had previously damaged his house during an operation and shared that he had received information about an upcoming attack at his residence during the Eid ul-Fitr holidays, expressing concerns about potential bloodshed.
He also accused the government of planning to cause him physical harm and said that they wanted to eliminate him. Khan emphasised the need for the court to intervene and issue strict directions to prevent the government from conducting any further operations.
The lawyer for the interim Punjab government, Ghulam Sarwar Nihang, contended that the investigative powers of the police could not be obstructed and urged the court to reject Khan’s plea.
The judge inquired if the government’s lawyer could assure that the authorities would refrain from taking action against the petitioner by filing a new FIR in the old case. The lawyer responded that a question would also arise that the petitioner had not turned up before courts when summoned in the past.
Khan repeated his claim that he had credible information about the government’s plan to launch another operation and expressed his lack of faith in the system.
After hearing arguments, the court referred Khan’s plea to the full bench for further review, noting that similar cases were already being heard there. The court also said in its note to the full bench that the petitioner had requested an urgent hearing for the petition.
