Imran Khan signals to challenge amendments to army act in SC

Lahore: Former prime minister and PTI chairman Imran Khan said on Friday that the planned amendments to the army act by the coalition government would be challenged in the Supreme Court (SC).

He claimed the coalition leaders were making these changes “for their own benefit”.

The PTI chief claimed that President Arif Alvi had met Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa to discuss immediate and transparent elections.

In an informal interaction with journalists in Lahore today,  Khan claimed the government was bringing the amendments for its “own benefit”.

He claimed that Nawaz Sharif wanted to bring an army chief who would weaken the PTI, alleging that the government was trying to make the armed forces “like the Punjab police”.

The PTI chief also said the appointment of the army chief should take place just like that of the chief justice. According to the Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Act, 1997, the CJP and all high court judges are appointed on the basis of seniority.

The PTI chief also said that he would lead the party’s long march to Islamabad from Rawalpindi himself.

After the Wazirabad assassination attempt on November 3, Imran allowed PTI leaders Shah Mahmood Qureshi and Asad Umar to take charge of the march. He had also said that he would join marchers later this month.

Imran expressed concern over the delay in presenting the suspect in court. “I fear the evidence would have been wasted in these 14 days.

Imran further said that he will announce the date to reach Rawalpindi on Saturday, adding that he had a medical checkup tomorrow where doctors would give their opinion on his recovery.

Talking about the Toshakhana gift sale allegation, Imran said he would be approaching the court in the United Kingdom and Dubai against the Jang Group and businessman Umar Farooq Zahoor.

On November 15, Zahoor appeared on Geo News programme Aaj Shahzeb Khanzada Kay Sath and claimed the PTI government had sold an expensive Graff wristwatch — gifted to Imran by Saudi Crown Prince Moham­med Bin Salman — for $2 million, worth approximately Rs280m at the time of sale in 2019.

The Dubai-based businessman had claimed that he had bought the watch through former accoun­ta­bility minister Shahzad Akbar and Farah Khan, a close aide of Imran’s wife Bushra Bibi.

Replying to these allegations today, the PTI stalwart said the development had given him a chance to go to court. “I have the discretion to sell or keep anything after buying it from Toshakhana.”

“What about the vehicles Zardari and Nawaz took? Who will take notice of that,” he asked.

The PTI chief told journalists that he would only become the prime minister again when he has “full powers”.