Government criticizes ex-PM Khan’s party for threatening protest in Islamabad during SCO summit

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistani government has criticized former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party for announcing a protest in Islamabad on October 15, the first of a two-day summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).
Pakistan is hosting the SCO Council of Heads of Government summit in Islamabad on Oct. 15-16 under its rotating chairmanship of the organization, with the participants expected to discuss issues related to trade, economic cooperation, security, and regional stability.
Khan’s PTI party on Friday announced a protest on the D-Chowk square in the federal capital, saying it would proceed with the plan if the government failed to grant the ex-premier access to doctors and lawyers. The development followed restrictions imposed by the Punjab provincial administration on meetings with inmates at Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi, where the ex-premier is imprisoned on multiple charges, in view of a threat alert issued by authorities in the lead-up to the summit.
In his televised comments, Defense Minister Khawaja Asif criticized the PTI for announcing the protest at a time when leaders of more than a dozen countries are expected to visit the South Asian country, accusing the party of trying to “destabilize” Pakistan.
“They want to take Pakistan hostage again, but the state will crush their motives with full force,” the defense minister said. “We won’t let Pakistan become a hostage of one man or his accomplices.”
Asif accused the PTI of being part of “international conspiracies,” saying the protest was being announced in retaliation to Pakistan’s “moral and diplomatic victory” in the form of the SCO summit, improving economic indicators and approval of a $7 bailout by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Sayed Zulfikar Bukhari, a former federal minister and Khan aide, denied the allegations, saying his party would never want to detriment any foreign visit, however, the government was trying a create a “false case of normality.”
“A former prime minister and leader of the largest party is illegally in prison (according to the UN) along with his wife, and to top it off has been banned to meet his legal team, doctor or family, which is against all human right conventions and our constitution,” Bukhari told Arab News on Saturday.
He said issues at home needed to be resolved before “faking business as usual.”
“Our only demand is let a doctor or sister meet Imran Khan. That’s all,” he said. “It’s completely illegal and unacceptable [not to let doctors and relatives meet he ex-PM]. And the world should know it.”