Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf leader calls May 9 riots 'conspiracy to target Imran Khan'

ISLAMABAD: Responding to critics targeting Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) for planning and executing May 9 protests, the party's Secretary General, Omar Ayub Khan, called the incident "a conspiracy to target party founder Imran Khan," Pakistan-based Geo News reported.

Speaking at a seminar related to the protection of the Pakistani Constitution on Wednesday, Ayub said that PTI has a one-point agenda, "which is the supremacy of the Constitution and law" in Pakistan.

Omar Ayub Khan said that the incarcerated PTI founder Imran Khan asked the citizens of Pakistan not to make any compromise on the supremacy of the Constitution and law. He stated that the "Constitution also restricts the armed forces not to interfere in political affairs," Geo News reported. He criticised the registration of a series of cases against the PTI's top leader.

He said that Pakistan's former National Assembly speaker, Asad Qaiser, was booked in an X-ray machine theft case, while another party leader faced an old motorcycle theft case, along with several cases of murder, abduction and terrorism. Ayub said that they crossed a sea of fire to take forward PTI's political struggle. He alleged that registering hundreds of cases against PTI's top leadership was part of the "London plan."

Imran Khan had claimed that the "London plan" was executed to keep him away from national politics through sedition laws for at least 10 years. Speaking at the same event, PTI chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan said that "public movements take pace at a time when martial laws are imposed and the Constitution is suspended." He claimed that the Constitution was practically eliminated in Pakistan, Geo News reported.

Gohar Ali Khan rejected claims that the PTI was involved in anti-state conspiracies, as per the Geo News report. He further said that such allegations against the Imran Khan-founded party would be paramount to misleading the nation. He also expressed his opposition to increasing the retirement age of the judges.

On Tuesday, PTI announced it will hold peaceful protests across the country on May 9, the day when protests erupted following the arrest of former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan in 2023, Pakistan-based The News International reported.

Speaking to reporters after meeting PTI founder Imran Khan in Rawalpindi's Adiala Jail, PTI chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan reiterated his demand to conduct a judicial inquiry into the May 9 protests ahead of the anniversary of the protests. He said, "Even today, we are demanding to form a judicial commission [to probe] the May 9 events."

Gohar Ali Khan announced that PTI will hold rallies across the country to mark the May 9 anniversary. He said, "We will hold peaceful protests on May 9 and the ticket holders will lead them," according to The News International report. The May 9 events refer to violent protests that erupted after PTI founder Imran Khan was arrested from the premises of Islamabad High Court in a corruption case in 2023. During the protests, alleged PTI supporters caused damage to public and private properties and even targeted military installations in various parts of Pakistan.