- Salman Raja says Qureshi still faces multiple cases.
- Strongly criticises current judicial system.
- “We are all victims of fascism at this time.”
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Secretary General Salman Akram Raja said that it is too early to suggest that senior party figure Shah Mehmood Qureshi will be taking over the party’s leadership.
His remarks came a day after an anti-terrorism court in Lahore acquitted PTI Vice Chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi in connection with the cases related to the May 9 riots.
Speaking to the media at the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Wednesday, Raja clarified that Qureshi is still facing eight or nine ongoing cases, making his release unlikely in the near future. He emphasised that discussing Qureshi’s potential release or leadership role is premature, given the unresolved legal matters still before the courts.
“We will see what happens now, what do the decision-makers and planners want to do, as the entire nation is being told that the justice system is no longer the justice system,” he contended.
In connection with the May 9 incidents, several PTI leaders and workers were sentenced to 10 years in prison a day earlier, including Leader of the Opposition in the Punjab Assembly and senior party leader and Dr Yasmin Rashid while Shah Mehmood Qureshi was acquitted.
The PTI secretary general expressed the resolve that they would continue to fight and speak for the independence of the judiciary, claiming the entire system was under control. “This is a challenge to the people and that living nations respond to it, and don’t remain silent in such situations.”
Salman Akram said: “We are all victims of fascism at this time, and no one is exempted.” Therefore, he emphasised, the public should not make any wrong assumptions. He claimed that what the state planners are doing with the judiciary and the system is before everyone.
He strongly criticised the current judicial system and said that now it was no longer a system of justice but a system of attacks, and this was not just a problem of the PTI but of the entire nation.
Meanwhile, incarcerated former prime minister Imran Khan’s sons, Sulaiman Khan and Kasim Khan, met United States President Donald Trump’s aide Richard Grenell on Wednesday ahead of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) protest for the party founder’s release from prison.
Following Tuesday’s meeting, Grenell, US special presidential envoy for special missions, took to ‘X’ and said that he had met Sulaiman and Kasim in California, urging them to “stay strong”. “There are millions of people around the world who are sick of political prosecutions. You are not alone.”
Dr Asif Mahmood, a Pakistani-American physician, was also present on the occasion. He shared a picture along with Grenell and former premier’s sons. “Immense pride for Kasim and Sulaiman Khan for their bravery in fighting for their father, former prime minister Imran Khan’s freedom,” he said. He also praised Grenell for “standing for justice and principle” and called for unity to free the PTI founder.
Separately, Kasim also took to X and slammed the incumbent government over his father’s “imprisonment and torture”. He said that his father gave everything to this country — “sacrificing comfort, peace, and safety to fight for Pakistan’s future”.
“Today, he is silenced, tortured, imprisoned, and completely cut off from us. From the moment we could understand, he taught my brother and me how devastating a corrupt government can be. To see him now accused of that very crime is a cruel, intolerable irony,” he wrote.
Meanwhile, an anti-terrorism court ordered to provide copies of challan to the present accused in protest cases registered against PTI founder Imran Khan, Shah Mehmood Qureshi and others. Judge Tahir Abbas Sapra heard the case. During the hearing, the court summoned the accused who appeared.
The court distributed copies of the challans to them, while issuing arrest warrants for the absent accused, saying that the accused will be indicted in the next hearing of the case. The court adjourned the hearing of both the cases till July 30. Two cases are registered against Imran, Shah Mehmood Qureshi and others in Khanna Police Station.
