The News : BB should lead opposition, says Imran

BB should lead opposition, says Imran

By Zubair Azam | December 1, 2007

LAHORE -- Imran Khan has urged Benazir Bhutto and Maulana Fazlur Rehman to take active role in restoration of judiciary by endorsing APDM’s call for boycotting the 2008 general elections.

Addressing a student convention at Ichhra on Friday, the Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) chief said the APDM’s polls boycott call has a single point agenda of restoring judiciary to pre-emergency status. He asked the prominent opposition leaders who have shown eagerness to contests the polls, PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto and JUI-F head Maulana Fazlur Rehman, to unite with APDM on this point. He also said Benazir Bhutto is scared of reopening of cases against her if she boycotted the polls.

“At this crucial juncture, she should lead the opposition,” Imran asserted. He vowed to back Benazir if the government reopened cases against her for seeking political vendetta. Around 1,000 students attended the convention. They belonged to Punjab University (PU), Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS), Beaconhouse National University (BNU), FAST-National University and others. Imran has called the moot for galvanising student support for the judiciary’s independence movement. Speaking at the occasion, he stressed upon the role of an independent judiciary for rule of law in the country. He paid glowing tributes to the apex court judges’ who had refused to take oath under the PCO. He said President Musharraf had targeted the sole instrument that provided justice to the people.

“Without an independent judiciary, this country has no future, the PTI chief claimed. He urged the students to support this movement, which aims restoring the judiciary. He stressed that the intention was not to launch a student wing of PTI but only to mobilise students and youth in the struggle. “I do not want students to politicise themselves,” he observed. Imran Khan added the youth had played a pivotal role in every revolution in the country.

For any movement to succeed, the participation of students is vital, he also said. Commenting on the Punjab University episode where he was thrashed by IJT members before handing him over to the police, Imran stated such incidents would not deter his resolve or confidence in the students. He lauded the surge of activism within students for restoration of democracy and judiciary.

The PU incident had not deterred him from the cause of saving judiciary, he claimed. He called the judges who took oath under PCO as PCO judges.