Veteran politician and esteemed lawyer Aitzaz Ahsan. PHOTO: ARCHIVE
LAHORE:
Senior lawyer and former federal minister Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan on Saturday criticized the state of governance and the treatment meted out to jailed PTI founder Imran Khan, alleging deliberate isolation, judicial silence and dangerous political consequences.
Addressing a press conference at the Lahore Press Club, Ahsan said the unfolding situation in the country was evident to all and termed Imran Khan’s deteriorating eyesight as deeply worrying.
He claimed that the former prime minister had lost 85 per cent of vision in one eye and alleged 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 effectively cut off from the world and unable to meet his lawyers or family. “Where have the judges gone? Where are the courts?” Ahsan asked, adding that it seemed another move might be necessary for the restoration of the judiciary.
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. “We must remember that on the Day of Judgment there will be an eye for an eye.”
Ahsan said the chief justice should have requested a report the next day on the former prime minister’s health.
He argued that Imran Khan should be granted bail on medical grounds, noting that in other cases, people had left the country on the basis of false medical reports. He demanded that the causes of the reported vision loss be made public.
Calling for political intervention, Ahsan urged President Asif Ali Zardari to play a role in resolving the crisis. He said Zardari was a politician capable of uniting all parties and said leadership was needed to prevent further deterioration of the situation. He said that despite being deprived of his name and party symbol, the PTI founder had secured the highest number of votes. “They took away the PTI’s electoral symbol, but it was the one that obtained the most votes,” he said.
On foreign policy, Ahsan alleged that troops were being sent to Palestine at Trump’s behest and claimed that such deployments would serve to suppress resistance against the Israeli occupation.
