PTI Chairman will be tried in military courts for ‘orchestrating’ 9/5 attacks,Rana Sanaullah

Govt doesn’t want conflict with judiciary, vows firm response if limits crossed: Khawaja Asif

ISLAMABAD – Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah said on Tuesday that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan will be tried in a military court over the May 9 vandalism.

Talking to a private news channel, Mr Sanaullah accused the deposed premier of “personally planning attacks” on military installations before his arrest, adding that to substantiate this claim, there was also evidence.

On Monday, Mr Sanaullah said there would be no relaxation for those who attacked military installations even if they had left the PTI.

He said if other leaders distanced themselves from the party and condemned the May 9 attacks, they might be awarded relaxation. “Any person who was inside the red line of the Lahore’s Corps Commander House will not be exempt from punishment,” he added.

He went on to say that there were two types of those involved including motivators and doers. “PTI chief Imran Khan is among the motivators,” he added. Upon being countered that Mr Khan was not inside the physical red line, he repeated Mr Khan was an instigator.

Mr Khan’s wife Bushra Bibi was also among the motivators, he said. As for the treatment of PTI’s women leaders in jail, he assured that women would not be ill-treated.

Upon Mr Khan’s arrest before elections, he said Mr Khan could be arrested in the Al-Qadir Trust corruption case and May 9 attacks cases as well. “He could be disqualified if he is convicted after arrest,” he added.

On the question of law enforcers taking preemptive measures before the attacks, he said the operation would have been successful if the state had used full force. “The government did not give a go ahead to law enforcers because there were chances of bloodshed, and it might have given Mr Khan an opportunity to use it as a political stunt,” he added.

As for the question of military trials, Mr Sanaullah said trial would be conducted after thorough investigation into their role in the attacks. “Some people have even stolen sensitive documents from the Corps Commander’s House,” he added.

No decision had been taken for [indicting] Dr Yasmin Rashid and Mian Mehmoodur Rasheed yet, he said.

On putting Mr Khan under military trial, he said the military would take the final decision on it, adding that Mr Khan was the main instigator. “Military’s team has been constituted to try him in seven cases,” he added.

Answering a question, he said the PML-N would move the court for review on Nawaz Sharif’s disqualification as the party chief. “The party will request CJP Bandial to step aside for the case,” he added.

Mr Sharif’s return to the country was conditioned upon his health and elections in the country, he said. “Elections should be held in October and they will be,” he added.

Earlier.

Defence Minister Khawaja Asif  Speaking on the floor of the Lower House of the Parliament, he said that the Inquiry Commission on Audio Leaks did not include the Chief Justice because it included the audio of his mother-in-law, adding that He raised concerns about the inclusion of an audio recording that brought about a sense of satisfaction. Contrary to expectations of maintaining distance, the Chief Justice personally intervened and halted the commission’s activities but he, rather than distancing, personally intervened and halted the functioning of the commission.

He was referring to a five-member bench order of the apex court, headed by the chief justice, which stayed the proceedings on various petitions challenging the constitution of the judicial commission formed by the Federal government, tasked to inquire about the veracity of audio leaks allegedly involving the SC judge and a relative of the top judge.

The minister recalled that former chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry’s son was involved in a legal battle with Real Estate Tycoon Malik Riaz. He said the former chief justice recused himself from the case due to the conflict of interest. The minister regretted that such norms and precedents had been “abandoned by few judges of the apex court”.

“If the former chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry can recuse himself then why can’t the incumbent chief justice follow the same precedent to stop influencing the justice (proceedings)in audio leaks case,” he viewed.

He reiterated the government had only intended by constituting the judicial commission, which included the members of the judiciary, to ensure transparency in court’s proceedings.

He regretted that the Apex Court Chief Justice scuttled the senior judge of the Supreme Court and the chief justice of the Balochistan High Court from the Commission. “We had not appointed members of the Parliament or someone outside the judiciary in the commission to probe audio leaks,” the minister added.

The CJP had rejected that commission because his mother-in-law’s audio call was also under the probe, he alleged. “We expected that the chief justice would keep himself out of this(matter) to ensure justice.” The minister underlined that an impression was being given that the audio calls were recorded via the bugging of telephones or devices.

“One can hack phone devices while sitting in the UK or abroad. There is no listening device required for it. International hackers are doing this. Many superpowers like the US had faced breaches of information by the hacking of international hackers,” he maintained, meanwhile, dismissing the impression that the alleged audio leaks were taped indigenously.

A committee was formed( by the NA Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf) on the alleged audio leak of the former chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar’s son, he said. “Saqib Nisar’s son was found dealing with the distribution of PTI tickets for the elections of Punjab Assembly that were not held on May 14,” he alleged. The minister apprised the house that MNA Aslam Bhootani was the chair of that committee.