PTI founder urges CJP to form judicial commission to probe May 9 events

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan on Tuesday urged Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa to form judicial commission to investigate May 9 events, wherein military installations came under attack, ARY News reported.

Speaking to journalists during the hearing of the £190 million reference, the deposed prime minister urged the chief justice to hear PTI’s May 25 petition and form a judicial commission to investigate the incidents.

“There has been no inquiry on the incidents so far,” Imran Khan stressed, noting that “concealing” information is also a crime.

He regretted that a political party, referring to PTI, is being eliminated based on the May 9 incidents – the day military installations, prominently Corps Commander House Lahore and General Headquarter (GHQ) in Rawalpindi came under attack following Imran Khan’s arrest.

The PTI founder also urged authorities to consider releasing other party leaders while he remains incarcerated, stating, “If you want to keep me in jail, keep me but release the others.”

He also demanded a comprehensive investigation into February 8 general elections, questioning the legitimacy of the Election Commission Pakistan (ECP) to conduct inquiries amidst allegations of rigging.

Moreover, Imran Khan called for an inquiry into United States (US) Assistant Secretary of State Donald Lu’s statement denying ‘cipher conspiracy’ that according to him led his ouster from power in April 2022.

The PTI founder denied the reports that the US envoy met him in the prison, saying that he would speak to the US envoy about Lu’s statement and the alleged role of the US embassy in the ciphergate if he met him.

He questioned why Pakistan’s alleged cypher breach wasn’t subject to investigation, pointing out that the original cypher resides in the Foreign Office.

The deposed Pakistan prime minister publicly accused the US diplomat Donald Lu of delivering a warning to the then-Pakistani ambassador in Washington, Asad Majeed, suggesting that the removal of Imran Khan from office would help improve ties.

Khan and his PTI government were removed from power in April 2022 through a vote of no confidence, a first in Pakistan’s history.

Since then, the US has repeatedly denied Imran Khan’s allegation that it was involved in any conspiracy to remove him from PM office.

Lu testified before a subcommittee of the US House Committee on Foreign Affairs, at a hearing titled ‘Pakistan After the Elections: Examining the Future of Democracy in Pakistan and the US-Pakistan Relationship’, where he was questioned about the allegations and his assessment of them.

“It is not accurate. At no point does it accuse the US government or me personally of taking steps against Imran Khan. And thirdly, the other person in the meeting, the then-ambassador of Pakistan to the US, has testified to his own government that there was no conspiracy.”