Dawn – Zahra’s slaying: Imran calls for protests in Karachi today

Lahore, 19 May 2013. Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan has again alleged that his party’s senior leader Zahra Shahid Hussain was killed at the behest of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and has urged his workers in Karachi to stand up against ‘oppression’ in the city.

Responding to the allegation, the MQM said that Mr Khan had hurled the accusation against it before investigation into the incident and announced that it would hold demonstrations across the world against the PTI.

In a video message released on Sunday from the Shaukat Khanum Hospital where he is recovering from injuries suffered in an accident during an election rally, the PTI chief said Zahra Shahid had been murdered at the behest of the MQM. He termed the incident part of its policy to control the city by spreading fear.

The elderly PTI leader, who was vice-president of the party’s Sindh chapter, was shot dead outside her home in Karachi on Saturday night.

Appealing to his party’s workers to take a stand against ‘brutalities’ and protest against the murder on Monday, Mr Khan also urged other parties and those who wanted an end to the era of oppression to join the demonstration and not to lose this opportunity.

He said had he been discharged from the hospital he himself would have led the protest in Karachi.

He said Zahra Shahid had not laid down her life without a cause and her sacrifice would not go in vain.

The PTI chairman also urged his party’s workers to join a sit-in being held outside the Election Commission offices in Islamabad in protest against alleged rigging in the May 11 elections.

Backtracking on his demand for re-polling, Mr Khan said he was not insisting on it for the sake of continuity of the democratic system.

He urged the chief justice of Pakistan and chief election commissioner to take notice of the killings and rigging and said the nation had pinned high hopes on the judiciary and the ECP for justice.

http://beta.dawn.com/news/1012404/zahras-slaying-imran-calls-for-protests-in-karachi-today

The Hindu – Imran Khan on the mend as party seeks to cash in on sympathy wave

Anita Joshua

Islamabad, 8 May 2013. Though Imran Khan — who sustained injuries to his spine when he fell from a forklift at an election rally on Tuesday — is recovering, he had to pull out of the election campaign. Having been advised bed rest, he wouldn’t be able to cast his vote on Saturday in Mianwali, his home constituency.

Doctors attending on Mr. Khan said his morale was high and another round of tests was being carried out on Wednesday evening to assess the duration of his treatment. He has suffered three fractures on his spinal column.Soon after his admission to the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital on Tuesday night,

Mr. Khan gave an interview to a television channel in which he urged all Pakistanis to vote for his party, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).

Hoping to gain sympathy votes, the PTI quickly packaged his hospital bedside interview as an advertisement and it was being aired repeatedly across television channels. With the latest pre-election poll by Herald magazine showing the PTI neck-and-neck with its arch rival, the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz), the Insaafians (as Mr. Khan’s supporters are called) hope the sympathy factor will give the party an edge over PML(N).

Already, the intense campaign of the PTI had pinned down the PML(N) to Punjab. Sensing the sympathy wave in favour of the cricketer-turned-politician, former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif announced soon after the fall that his party had cancelled its campaigning scheduled for Wednesday in solidarity with the cricketing legend.

http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/south-asia/imran-khan-on-the-mend-as-party-seeks-to-cash-in-on-sympathy-wave/article4695213.ece

Dawn – Why youths want Imran’s PTI to win elections

Khawar Ghumman

Mandi Bahauddin Panjab, 29 April 2013. Ali Raza, 22, completed his three-year diploma in civil engineering with specialisation in road construction about two years ago, but he is yet to get a job. He wants change in government because he seeks a level playing field in order to compete for jobs on merit. According to him, no one can land a government job without a strong political reference or enough money to line the
pockets of people at the top.

Raza was one of the thousands of young people who had turned up at the cinema ground, in the heart of Mandi Bahauddin, to welcome the chairman of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), Imran Khan, for an election rally.

Raza, who will be voting this year for the first time, said: “Like many of my friends I have come from a nearby village to attend the meeting and have a glimpse of Mr Khan who has promised us jobs after coming to power. Yes, my entire family will vote for the PTI.”

When asked about his motivation to attend the rally, Ambar Gill, a local Christian, said he didn’t know much about the PTI or its manifesto, but strongly believed that if given a chance Mr Khan could deliver.

“So I will vote for the PTI,” he remarked.

There were many others in the rally who knew nothing about the politics of right or left, but came only to demonstrate their support for Mr Khan whose main slogan is to build ‘naya Pakistan’ (new Pakistan) after winning the May 11 elections.

Talking to Dawn, a group of PTI volunteers who looked after arrangements for the rally, said they had come on their own without any financial support from the party because they wanted to help Mr Khan build a ‘new Pakistan’.

“It seems that PTI’s slogan for change has started picking up momentum,” said Dr Arshad Khan, who runs a clinic near the cinema ground. “Most of the local youth are supporting Mr Khan; let’s see whether their support actually transforms into electoral victory for the PTI candidates in an area traditionally known for voting on caste basis.”

Even though wheat harvesting activities are continuing apace in the area, a large crowd, comprising mainly the youth, had gathered at the venue.

District administration and police officials, who only last week (on April 22) were on duty for a similar election rally addressed by PML-N leader Shahbaz Sharif in Malakwal, one of the three tehsils of Mandi Bahauddin district, told Dawn that the PTI’s meeting had attracted more people.

“Frankly speaking, we weren’t expecting so many people to attend the meeting in an area mainly dominated by Gondals and Tarars,” said a senior police officer present on the occasion.

The officer, who refused to speak on record, said that last year Mr Sharif had addressed a rally as chief minister on the same ground. “That meeting was not as well-attended as this one.”

In the 2008 elections, both the National Assembly seats and five provincial assembly seats in the district were won by the PPP.

The crowd was simply ecstatic when Mr Khan waved from his chopper to the participants of the rally before landing at a nearby helipad from where he was driven to the venue. Encouraged by the crowd, he refused to go behind the bullet-proof rostrum arranged by the local administration for his security. The PTI chief said he was not the one who needed such protection.

Pandering to the crowd, Mr Khan said: “I know many young people from the area have gone abroad in search of jobs. But let me assure you that after May 11 you will have a new Pakistan where you won’t have to leave your country for jobs. The PTI will provide you jobs.”

In his entire speech, Mr Khan mentioned President Asif Ali Zardari only once and mainly targeted PML-N leaders. He said President Zardari had carried out a suicide attack on his own party, destroying the former ruling party to the core. He said the Sharif brothers had ruled in Punjab five times and two times at the centre. Therefore, they should not be given another chance. “How can a party which has repeatedly failed in the past be given another chance?”

The slogan-chanting crowd shouted: “No, no.”

As usual Mr Khan talked about the ongoing energy crisis, local governments, ‘pro-American policies’ of the previous governments and rampant poverty in the country. He said that after coming to power his party would resolve all these issues on an emergency basis.

Later, Mr Khan addressed similar election meetings in Hafizabad and Sargodha, where he again hit out at the PML-N leaders for “misguiding people with their lofty promises”.

http://dawn.com/2013/04/29/why-youths-want-imrans-pti-to-win-elections/

The Hindustan Times – Kashmir jihadis in Pakistan, says Imran Khan

Islamabad, 15 April 2013. Cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan’s party has acknowledged “Kashmiri jihadi forces” active in Pakistan as one of key factors driving “terror and lawlessness” within the country.

The ‘Naya Pakistan Plan’, a document posted on the Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf’s special website created for the May 11 polls, lists six factors in its section on internal security that “drive terror and lawlessness in varying degrees”.Pakistan

These factors are “Taliban resistance movement in Afghanistan; Pakistani Taliban trying to enforce their interpretation of Shariah; Kashmiri jihadi forces working from within Pakistan; sectarian violence, particularly Shia-Sunni killings; ethnic terrorism and violence, for example in Karachi; real and perceived disenfranchisement of Balochistan”.

Though anti-India groups like the banned Hizb-ul-Mujahideen and Al-Badr Mujahideen openly operate from bases and camps in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, Pakistani political parties have for long been reluctant to acknowledge that such organisations have a presence in the country.

Most political parties usually state in their election manifestos that they will support the Kashmiri people in their movement for the right to self-determination.

They also toe the Foreign Office’s stated position that Pakistan only extends “political, moral and diplomatic support” to the Kashmiri people.

The admission in the Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf document is possibly the first time a Pakistani political party has acknowledged the presence of “Kashmiri jihadi forces” within the country.

Though the issue of internal security also figures in the party’s manifesto released by Imran Khan on April 9, there is no mention of the Kashmiri jihadis in that document.

Sources told PTI that a draft of the manifesto had contained material similar to that found in the “Naya Pakistan Plan” but it was dropped after some Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf leaders noticed it.

While the “Naya Pakistan Plan” document lists several steps that the party intends to take to improve the internal security situation if it comes to power, it does not state how the issue of Kashmiri jihadis will be tackled.

The Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf states that if it forms the government after the May 11 general election, it will pull Pakistan out of the “US dictated war on terror” and help the US in its “exit strategy” for Afghanistan.

It further states it will hold a “stakeholders’ conference” on the lines of South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, to which representatives of “dissident groups” which shun violence will be invited.

The party also states that it will create a National Counter-terrorism Authority with representatives from the armed forces, Inter-Services Intelligence, Intelligence Bureau, Pakistan Rangers and police to tackle internal security issues.

Imran Khan has often been criticised by his detractors for being soft on the Taliban and other militant groups.

However, he was the only major politician to criticise the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi after a string of deadly attacks on the minority Shia community.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/Pakistan/Kashmir-jihadis-in-Pakistan-says-Imran-Khan/Article1-1044428.aspx

Dawn – Imran holds Punjab government responsible

Lahore, 13 March 2013. Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaaf chief Imran Khan has held the Punjab government responsible for the Badami Bagh incident, stating, “the PML-N government’s close connections with terrorist organisations has led to attack on the houses of innocent people belonging to the Christian community.”

Mr Khan was speaking to media persons during his visit to Joseph Colony along with party leaders on Tuesday.

Stating that the PML-N leadership had finalised seat adjustments with the banned outfits in order to grab power, he observed that such moves were fanning terrorism and resulting in tragic incidents that were tarnishing Pakistan’s image at international level and putting minorities’ lives in danger.

Despite having cognisance of the entire situation, the PTI chief said the Punjab government did not act timely to stop the attackers from burning the houses which displayed its incapability and “deep connections” with banned outfits.

“Police at the site got vacated the houses of victims and then acted as mere spectators instead of barring the attackers from carrying out destruction in the area,” Imran Khan said.

The PTI chief said the present provincial government had made political appointments in Punjab police that were resulting in poor law and order situation. “The Punjab government has failed the police department just by appointing their blue-eyed people at top positions,” said Imran.

Mr Khan assailed the federal and Punjab governments for their failure to ensure safety of the lives and properties of minorities in the country. He said the burning of Christians’ houses had tarnished the image of the country at international level. “Had the culprits of Gojra incident been held accountable, the tragic incident of Badami Bagh would not have taken place,” he said. After coming into power, the PTI would ensure the minority rights and provide them with their basic rights at their doorstep.

He said the Punjab government was aware of the situation and could not control the protesters just because of its lethargic attitude. He said the Supreme Court was doing the job of a government, while the writ of the state was just missing.

He said elections should not be delayed at any cost. “Timely elections are the only solution to the entire crisis being faced by the country.

http://dawn.com/2013/03/13/imran-holds-punjab-govt-responsible/

Dawn – Major parties fuelling sectarianism: Imran Khan

Our Staff Reporter

Lahore, 5 March 2013. Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaaf Chairman Imran Khan said on Monday support to terror outfits by major political parties busy making seat adjustments with organisations like Lashkar-i-Jhangvi has added to the menace of terrorism in Pakistan.

He said both ruling parties – the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) – were involved in providing refuge to the terrorists of banned outfits and making seat-adjustments with banned outfits just to attain power. Both parties were least bothered about the masses’ miseries.

Mr Khan said this while talking to reporters after visiting the family of former Shaukat Khanum Hospital consultant Dr Ali Haider, who was recently killed in alleged target killing in Lahore last month.

He called Dr Haider’s killing a national tragedy, adding that the country had been deprived of internationally recognized eye specialist.

The PTI chief said the Sunni-Shia conflict had an international dimension but the real cause was incompetence of governments. Once in power, he said, the PTI would eradicate terrorism from Pakistan.

The PTI chairman said the government did nothing to eradicate the militancy and extremism in the past five years from the country. The ongoing killing spree due to the Shia-Sunni conflict was part of an internal conspiracy, he alleged. He advised Karachites to not vote those political parties that had armed wings.

The PTI chief said that his party, if voted to power, would take the country out of US-led war on terrorism and initiate dialogue with Taliban, besides banning foreign funding for the terrorist groups.

Mr Khan said the incumbent governments had completely failed to deal with the militancy and restoring peace in the country. But, he said, the PTI would deal with sectarianism, militancy and extremism, which other parties failed to do despite being in power for several times.

He said the PTI had been supporting dialogue with Taliban since long, but other parties were mocking it and even the move was called a conspiracy by Jews and Christians. However, he said, it was quite surprising that all these parties were now backing the PTI’s suggestion of dialogue.

“The JUI-F and ANP should tell the nation that why did they not convene the APC five years back despite being a part of the government, as they have convened the conference when the government is about to complete its five-year tenure,” he argued.He called the Metro Bus Service, laptop and solar lamps schemes as a part of pre-poll rigging, the PTI chief said the Punjab government could not fool the masses by launching these initiatives with public money because they had been exposed before the masses and the people had already made their mind to vote for the PTI.

The PTI chairman said that pre-polls rigging was on its peak in Punjab and the latest example of it was the regularization of 10,000 contract employees.

http://dawn.com/2013/03/05/major-parties-fuelling-sectarianism-imran/

Dawn – Asma Jahangir hits back at PTI

Lahore, 6 February 2013. Asma Jahangir, former president of the Supreme Court Bar Association, has described the Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaaf’s statement regarding her as a “fierce campaign which is not only illogical but also vicious”.

“The assertion made by the PTI chief about any decision made by the two major political parties regarding her candidacy to the caretaker prime minister has been denied several times and thus there is absolutely no need to single her out for this vicious propaganda,” she said in a rejoinder to the PTI statement.

The criteria of the PTI were apolitical and undemocratic, she said and added: “It calls for a caretaker who has no opinion or a mind of his own.”

It’s no secret that a number of political parties had and continued to have support of the establishment, she said, asserting that there were strong indications that the PTI was no different.

“Singling out her name in an orchestrated way is another such indication. The claim that the objections are not based on any personality clash sounds hollow as her name was slammed even before laying down the so-called objective criteria.”

She said the fact that the two major parties she had often criticised found her neutral, clearly showed that neutrality was not the issue. “I had also publicly criticised the candidacy of Asif Ali Zaradari for the presidency and the PML-N often enough when in power and out of it.”

In any event, the constitutional procedure required a consensus only of the prime minister and the leader of the opposition and not of every party or group outside parliament, she said.

“If neutrality for the PTI means that all caretakers should toe its line then only a PTI supporter will fit the bill. If it means that the person should have no opinion other than in support of the PTI, it may be searching for a spineless person.”

Referring to the PTI accusation about ‘attacking’ the judiciary, she said criticising courts for genuine reasons was every person’s basic right to free expression.

“Whenever the judiciary has been targeted by the executive, she has been on the frontline in denouncing such executive actions. Surely anyone with some intelligence will not have blind respect for all Pakistan’s institutions. Such an expectation only qualifies pliable entities, which is precisely what had been done in the past and is being engineered at present,” she said.

She also asserted that she had never supported any ‘undemocratic’ ruler ever, whereas Mr Khan had been a supporter of Pervez Musharraf’s referendum.

Imran Khan claims he can lead the nation with skill on the premise that he has the experience of running a hospital successfully, though his political judgments in the past had been flawed, she said.

“In the same vein I’ve also successfully run several organisations and have had no previous history of supporting dictatorships.

I remained the longest serving UN Rapporteur whose basic criteria is independence. My reputation as fearless and independent human rights activist is globally known and does not need Mr Khan’s validation.”

She said she was happy that she did not fit the ‘unfit’ criteria of the PTI and had no intention of tailoring her views and position according to the PTI’s ‘apolitical’ qualifications.

Asma said she had never lobbied for a position or accepted one even when offered as her independence was far more valuable to the causes she espoused.

http://dawn.com/2013/02/07/asma-hits-back-at-pti/

Dawn – Will not accept Asma Jahangir as caretaker PM: Imran Khan

Lahore, 28 January 2013. Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan on Monday said that his party will not accept the appointment of prominent social activist and former Supreme Court Bar Council chairman Asma Jahangir as caretaker prime minister.

Speaking at a press conference in Lahore on Monday, Khan alleged that the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N) have entered into a deal among themselves.

Rejecting any chance of participating in the PML-N’s protest march in Islamabad, the PTI chief said that there was no chance that the two parties could enter into a pact with one another.

Khan said that, instead of protesting with the PML-N, his party would hold a separate protest demonstration.

Moreover, the PTI chief rubbished talks of carving a new province out of south Punjab, rejecting it as mere a “election stunt”.

Khan again called for President Asif Ali Zardari’s resignation, reiterating his stance that polls could not be ‘free and fair’ with Zardari as president.

Khan said that the PTI would accept the chairman Senate as acting president in case of President Zardari’s resignation.

Khan further reassured that the PTI would not boycott the general elections, and vowed that his party would achieve success in the upcoming polls.

http://dawn.com/2013/01/28/will-not-accept-asma-jahangir-as-caretaker-pm-imran/

Dawn – Imran Khan asks Obama to end US drone attacks

Gurgaon, 7 November 2012. Pakistani cricketer turned politician Imran Khan said Wednesday he hoped President Barack Obama would “give peace a chance” and stop US drone attacks now that he has been re-elected.

Khan, leader of the Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf party (PTI), has campaigned for an end to US drone strikes against suspected Taliban and al Qaeda militants in Pakistan’s tribal areas, saying they result in civilian casualties.

“What Pakistan would be hoping for is a de-escalation of violence now in Afghanistan and the drone attacks in Pakistan’s tribal areas,” he told reporters where he was attending the India World Economic Forum.

Khan said that Obama’s first term in office had been “very tough on Pakistan – an increase in drone attacks and a surge in Afghanistan and increased militancy in Pakistan as a result.”

“Now he (Obama) is no longer under the pressure to be re-elected we hope that he will give peace a chance which we so desperately need,” he said.

Khan argues that drone strikes are illegal and counterproductive and last month led thousands of supporters – and some US peace activists – on a march to the edge of Pakistan’s restive tribal districts to protest against them.

The Pakistani politician said he wanted Obama to call a ceasefire in Afghanistan, saying that if Americans do not “get it right it is conceivable that they will leave it in a bigger mess than they found it.”

The White House has said that Washington will gradually hand over security responsibility to the Afghans and eventually withdraw US troops. The US-led Nato force plans to pull out its 100,000 troops by the end of 2014.

Islamist militants have killed thousands of people in Pakistan since 2007, and US officials say the drone strikes are a key weapon in the war on terror.

But peace campaigners condemn them as a breach of international law.

Pakistanis call them a violation of sovereignty that breeds extremism, and politicians including Khan say the government is complicit in killing its own people.

Casualty figures are difficult to obtain, but a report commissioned by legal lobby group Reprieve estimated last month that 474 to 881 civilians were among 2,562 to 3,325 people killed by drones in Pakistan between June 2004 and September 2012.

http://dawn.com/2012/11/07/imran-khan-asks-obama-to-end-us-drone-attacks/

Dawn – US questions Pakistan’s Imran Khan on drones

Islamabad. Pakistani cricketer turned politician Imran Khan was stopped by US immigration officials and questioned about his views on American drone strikes in his country, party officials said on Saturday.

Khan, leader of the Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf (PTI), has campaigned vociferously for an end to the controversial US campaign of missile strikes against suspected Taliban and al Qaeda militants in Pakistan’s tribal areas.

He argues they are illegal and counterproductive and earlier this month he led thousands of supporters — and a group of American peace activists — on a march to the edge of the restive tribal districts to protest against drones.

On Twitter, Khan said he was stopped by US officials in Toronto.

“I was taken off from plane and interrogated by US Immigration in Canada on my views on drones. My stance is known.

Drone attacks must stop,” he wrote.

Khan said the delay meant he missed his flight and a party fundraising lunch in New York, but insisted “nothing will change my stance”.

PTI spokesman Shafqat Mahmood criticised the move.

“PTI strongly condemns the off loading of Imran Khan at Toronto airport and questioning on principled stand against drones.

US should apologise,” he wrote on Twitter.

US officials in Washington declined to comment.

http://dawn.com/2012/10/27/us-questions-pakistans-imran-khan-on-drones/