Veteran politician and respected lawyer Aitzaz Ahsan. PHOTO: FILE
LAHORE:
Senior lawyer and former federal minister Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan on Saturday blasted the state’s governance and treatment of jailed PTI founder Imran Khan, alleging deliberate isolation, judicial silence and dangerous political implications.
Addressing a press conference at the Lahore Press Club, Ahsan said the situation in the country was obvious to all and termed the reported deterioration of Imran Khan’s eyesight as deeply worrying.
He claimed that the former prime minister had lost 85 percent vision in one eye and claimed that he had been kept in solitary confinement for the past 60 days to hide the problem.
He said a former prime minister had been cut off from the world and was unable to meet his lawyers or family members. “Where have the judges gone? Where are the courts?” Ahsan asked, adding that it appeared another movement to restore the judiciary might be necessary.
Ahsan said he had known Imran for 60 years as a friend and neighbor. He alleged that both the judiciary and Parliament were complicit in the current situation and warned that injustice would have consequences. “One must remember that on Judgment Day there will be an eye for an eye.”
Ahsan said the chief justice should have sought a report the very next day on the former prime minister’s health.
He maintained that Imran Khan should be granted bail on medical grounds, noting that in other cases people had left the country on the basis of fabricated medical reports. He demanded that the reasons behind the reported loss of sight be made public.
Ahsan called for political intervention and urged President Asif Ali Zardari to play a role in resolving the crisis. He said Zardari was a politician who was able to bring all sides together and said leadership was required to prevent further deterioration of the situation. He said that despite being stripped of his name and party symbol, the PTI founder had secured the highest number of votes. “They took away PTI’s election symbol, yet it got the most votes,” he said.
On foreign policy, Ahsan claimed that troops were being sent to Palestine at Trump’s behest, arguing that such deployments would serve to suppress opposition to Israeli occupation.
