Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan on Thursday defended a speech delivered by party founder Imran Khan\u2019s son, Kasim Khan, at the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), criticising the government\u2019s uproar over it as being \u201cunwarranted\u201d.<\/p>\n
A day ago, Kasim urged the UNHRC to intervene and press the government for the immediate release of his father. Information Minister Attaullah Tarar accused the PTI and Imran\u2019s sons of acting against Pakistan\u2019s national and economic interests today, alleging efforts to damage the country\u2019s global standing and stability after the UNHRC speech.<\/p>\n
Responding to\u00a0Tarar, Gohar told private media outlets that the efforts of Imran’s sons for their father were \u201cnon-political\u201d and should not be made controversial.<\/p>\n
\u201cAta Tarar has tried to create controversy around Kasim\u2019s speech and has adopted an inappropriate tone against PTI and the children, which I strongly condemn,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
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Gohar added that it was already on record that the PTI and Imran’s family had clearly stated that any efforts for his release would be carried out within the framework of the Constitution and the law. \u201cPTI is not waiting for any external force for Imran\u2019s release,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He noted that Imran had been imprisoned for three years and was facing restrictions, including limited access to family and medical facilities. \u201cIn such a situation, it is the duty of his children to raise their voice for their father\u2019s release. What his children have said is not wrong,\u201d Gohar said.<\/p>\n
Citing international concerns, Gohar said reports by the United Nations human rights bodies and other independent actors in Pakistan had already highlighted the conditions of Imran\u2019s detention.<\/p>\n
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He further clarified that the speech in question was broadcast live and did not contain any remarks against Pakistan\u2019s status for the European Union’s Generalised Scheme of Preferences Plus (GSP Plus) trade scheme. \u201cNot a single word was spoken against Pakistan and its GSP Plus,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Gohar urged the information minister to provide details regarding past engagements,\u00a0referring to\u00a0Volume 10 of the report\u00a0compiled by a six-member Joint Investigation Team constituted by the Supreme Court to investigate the Sharif family\u2019s offshore assets revealed by the Panama Papers.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would ask the federal minister to explain what was in Volume 10\u00a0and to share details of the meetings held in Murree, which have not been disclosed to this day,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He alleged that statements by government officials had previously been used against Pakistan in international forums, including the International Court of Justice, but the government had not issued any clarification on them so far.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt a time when Pakistan is facing a war-like situation and regional tensions are high, we are trying to set aside our differences and think about the country,\u201d Gohar said. \u201cIn such a situation, making these matters controversial reflects a pattern of actions that have not served Pakistan\u2019s interests,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan on Thursday defended a speech delivered by party founder Imran Khan\u2019s son, Kasim Khan, at the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), criticising the government\u2019s uproar over it as being \u201cunwarranted\u201d. A day ago, Kasim urged the UNHRC to intervene and press the government for the immediate …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2898,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2894","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistantimesusa.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2894","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistantimesusa.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistantimesusa.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistantimesusa.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistantimesusa.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2894"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pakistantimesusa.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2894\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2899,"href":"https:\/\/pakistantimesusa.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2894\/revisions\/2899"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistantimesusa.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2898"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistantimesusa.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2894"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistantimesusa.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2894"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistantimesusa.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2894"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}