LAHORE, Sept 8:
Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Imran Khan today completed 400 days in prison, pledging that he is ready to spend his whole life in jail but will not compromise on his struggle for “Haqiqi Azadi (real freedom).”
The 71-year-old former cricketer-turned-politician’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party held a rally in Islamabad today to press for his release from jail.
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Khan was arrested on August 5 last year after his conviction in the first Toshakhana corruption case filed by the Election Commission of Pakistan. Since then, he has been in jail in different cases.
The Government Ministers say Khan’s freedom is linked with his unconditional apology for the riots in which the PTI workers allegedly attacked state and military installations. Khan, however, demands the setting up of a judicial commission for a probe into the May 9 violence.
“Today, Imran Khan completed 400 days in jail, but the powers that be couldn’t break his resolve for Haqiqi Azadi. The whole nation is standing behind him and he will soon come out of jail,” PTI’s senior leader Asghar Gujjar said on Sunday.
Gujjar said that today’s landmark rally in Islamabad will be an eye-opener for this “fake government” of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) which could no longer detain Khan.
Last week in a talk with journalists during a court hearing in Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail, Khan said that he will “remain in jail for my whole life but not strike a deal for my freedom. I will not compromise on the struggle for Haqiqi Azadi.”
A few days ago, Khan on his X account wrote about the deplorable conditions he is kept in the prison. He said he is kept in solitary confinement as he spends 21 hours of the day inside his prison cell.
“My cell heats up like an oven because of the weather, but I have never complained, never said I’m suffering. I have to go to a separate room to bathe. I have just one complaint, though. I am not allowed to speak with my children, although that is my legal right. They (the illicit government) lie on the floor of Parliament that I have been given five-star facilities. I have the same facilities that an inmate on death row has,” Khan said.
He said it feels as though a Martial Law administrator is in charge. “I have not spent a single day at the prison hospital. Nawaz Sharif, Shehbaz Sharif and Asif Zardari were given air-conditioned rooms with en-suite bathrooms. One of the prisoners cooks for me, but I have never complained,” he said.
“Only three visitors are allowed to meet me in a week, whereas Nawaz Sharif met with 40 people (when he was in jail). It was an open house for him. Nawaz Sharif used to even talk to journalists in the privacy of his room. I send the names of six of my party leaders every week, and only three are allowed to meet me for a mere 30 minutes. I have so many cases against me and yet, I am only allowed to meet with six lawyers,” he added. (PTI)
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